MÜLLER, JENS
By the late 19th century, trademarks began to replace traditional emblems, like coats of arms, as identifying symbols for companies. At first, logos tended to be figurative, but over time they morphed into the abstract marks that we see everywhere today. Yet many iconic brandsu2014like Rolex, BMW, Louis Vuitton, and the New York Yankeesu2014still use logos designed 100 years ago. Bringing together two previous volumesu2014Logo Beginnings and Logo Modernismu2014into one compendium, design expert Jens Müller (dubbed u201cthe logo detectiveu201d by Wired magazine) has trawled historical trademark archives and design publications to unearth 1000s of logos from as far back as 1870, including many forgotten designs and early versions of todayu2019s brand identifiers. For clarity and ease of reference, both the Beginnings and Modernism sections are divided into categories (like Pictorial, Form, Effect, and Typographic) with each category further subdivided by basic design elements, like circle, line, alphabet, overlay, dots and squares.For context, in addition to the authoru2019s essay on the history of the trademark, R. Roger Remington writes on modernism in graphic design, plus there are profiles of eight seminal designersu2014including Paul Rand, Yusaku Kamekura, and Anton Stankowski. Covering everything from media outfits to retail giants, airlines to art galleries, this is an invaluable resource for graphic designers, advertisers, and branding experts. It will also delight fans of cultural and corporate history, and anyone fascinated by the persuasive power of image and form.
