Designing Brand Identity: A Complete Guide to Creating, Building, and Maintaining Strong Brands

by Alina Wheeler

Book Overview

This innovative approach -- blending practicality and creativity -- is now in full-color From translating the vision of a CEO and conducting research, through designing a sustainable identity program and building online branding tools, Designing Brand Identity helps companies create stronger brands by offering real substance. With an easy-to-follow style, step-by-step considerations, and a proven, universal five-phase process for creating and implementing...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471746843
• ISBN13: 9780471746843
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 2.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.5" x 11.2"

Customer Reviews

If you want to get it done, buy this book....

Most of the branding/brand identity books out there are just theories, pictures .. and no practical substance. This books provides a practical set of concise yet understandable definitions, lists on how to achieve what you set out to do, excellent examples, comprehensive topics, ..... buy this book if you want to get your brand/id building and management done.

A Must for EBusiness

Most people who study ebusiness at universities either focus on website design, marketing/logistics of ebusiness, or systems/software. This book gets to the heart of conducting business over the internet - combining brand recognition with eye catching design and a quality/product or service. University programs and businesses looking to be successful in ecommerce should make this book required reading.

The Only Comprehensive Guide

This book is the best "how-to" guide on brand identity -- it addresses issues no other author has. So many brand identity books are essentially coffee table books, full of illustrations with a little commentary thrown in. Not this book. It has an incredible amount of useful information (words and graphics) pertinent to anyone who has anything to do with identity, not just designers. In fact, this would be a terrific book for every marketing communications, public relations, and senior management person in corporate America.

A "must read" for anyone interested in brand identity

Too many books targeted to designers err on the side of a "showcase" presentation which exposes designers to the final solutions with little or no substance illuminating the process. This book will provide a comprehensive roadmap for designers and their clients."Designing Brand Identity" provides the information and processes to empower designers to transition into a more valuable role as consultants on identity and branding, not just the creator of visual symbols and logotypes. It is a look behind the scenes at a process which others capable of addressing have chosen to protect as proprietary information. Thanks, Alina for sharing your wisdom and experience.

An essential tool for business leaders and strategists

This author has tackled the vital topic of brand identity in a new way. In the beginning of the book Alina Wheeler says that she want to provide "an accessible resource that provides a road map to the process, explains some fundamental concepts, and showcases best practices." The book delivers on this promise! What differentiates it from other books on this topic is that Wheeler's book really IS accessible. This comes from the unique way in which it is organized. You can simply flip open the book to any spread and have a specific concept explained, illustrated, and illuminated by relevant quotations. This makes it an excellent reference work -- keep it by your desk to quickly look up any topic. For example, you might be advocating a particular course of action at your company that you just know is the right way to go. You can turn to Wheeler's book to marshall specific evidence and articulate rationales to make your case.In the beginning, she discusses 9 brand identity ideals: vision, meaning, authenticity, differentiation, sustainability, coherence, flexibility, commitment and value. Once you have reviewed each concept you understand how each plays a role in successful brand identities.However, this is not primarily a book of theory. Wheeler breaks down the practical steps involved and outlines each, from the legal process to signage design. Case studies of successful brand identities take up the final portion of the book.My one criticism is that book is not completely in color, as the topic demands. (There is a color insert showing many of the brands from the case studies.) No doubt this was a decision of the publisher!Professionals at agencies or design firms may think they have this material mastered, but this book gives you the distilled essentials that you'll find extremely useful. But the key audience, in my view, should be business students or leaders who seek to better understand that, as Wheeler says, "brand identity is an asset that needs to be managed, nourished, invested in, and leveraged."