Top branding books
Often, when wanting to keep up to date with the world of branding, we delve into the websites of the best in the industry. But every now and again, it's always nice to flick through a good book, and enjoy a more curated experience. We thought a list of the books we constantly navigate to would be a nice idea for a blog post, and have selected the books for how useful they've been to our creative processes, rather than all being strictly about branding.
The best branding books
The books we reference lots:
- Branding: In Five and a Half Steps
- How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things, Explain Things, Make Things Look Better, Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and (every Once in a While) Change the World
- Symbol
- The Brand Handbook
- A Smile in the Mind: Witty Thinking in Graphic Design
- Start with Why
The books we have enjoyed reading, but they aren’t our ‘go to’s:
- [Link to amazon] Creating a Brand Identity: A guide for designers
- [Link to amazon] The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design
- [Link to amazon] Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits
- [Link to amazon] Identity Designed: The Definitive Guide to Visual Branding
Image credit: johnsonbanks.co.uk
Branding: In Five and a Half Steps
Often, branding books fall into two categories; brand strategy and brand identity. But, some would argue that the tricky thing about the creative process is learning how to manage the gap between the strategy and identity. This book covers exactly that.
A very practical read that is useful for both designers as well as company owners – we recommend!
Image credit: pentagram.com
How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things, Explain Things, Make Things Look Better, Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and (every Once in a While) Change the World
A coffee table book that is a joy to flick through. It covers Bierut’s career over three decades with over thirty case studies that explore different ways to approach projects. Michael Bierut is a world class designer and this book gives an insight into his process – as a designer, it’s great to see some initial sketches in particular.
Image credit: amazon.ca
Symbol
by Angus Hyland and Steven Bateman
Symbol does what it says on the tin! A book full of loads of symbols. If I’m honest, we sometime use this book to have a quick flick through to check whether a symbol we’ve designed has been designed before!
But, it’s always interesting to see what can be communicated in a few shapes.
Image credit: thamesandhudson.com
The Brand Handbook
by Wally Olins
Any book by Wally Olins deserves a slot on this list. On Brand, The Brand Handbook and Brand New are the ones we reference loads. He imparts lots of wisdom, but in a manner that feels more ‘common sense’ and is a brilliant book for anyone that is new to branding and looking for the unspoken rules of the industry.
Image credit: amazon.com
A Smile in the Mind: Witty Thinking in Graphic Design
by Beryl McAlhone, David Stuart, Greg Quinton and Nick Asbury
This book definitely makes you smile. More graphic design than branding, but the principles are similar. Loads of witty designs that are genius. I guarantee you’ll flick through the pages and think ‘I wish I’d thought of that’!
Image credit: simonsinek.com
Start with Why
by Simon Sinek
And then the one that crops up on more people’s business book lists – start with why. But, its cropped up on our branding books list as Sinek has so simply communicated how important knowing your brand purpose is for your organisation.