Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler | Book Review & Summary
Summary
Perhaps one of the most wide-spread design education books, Designing Brand Identity: an essential guide for the whole branding team by Alina Wheeler lays out a framework for how to approach brand design from beginning to end. Starting by looking at who the stakeholders are, all the way through what elements should go into your brand standards, and how to share them with your teams and the world.
A Quick Reference Guide
The book contains expert quick reference guidance on a wide range of branding topics including: conducting research, clarifying strategy, designing identity, creating touchpoints, and managing assets. For newer designers, brand managers, and team leaders this book provides a great starting point on what questions to ask at the beginning, middle, and end of a project. For more experienced brand specialists this book offers reminders and quick tips to help keep the brand process moving forward.
In addition to the quick reference materials the book provides case studies. This includes insights into how many iconic brands have redeveloped their image to reach audiences and build better recognition. Highlighted brands include the likes of Fedex, Starbucks, Spectrum Health, IBM Watson, and Kleenex.
Critiques
The main critique that I have for this book is while it provides a solid overview, it’s not a go-to for all of the details. Some steps in the process require knowledge and terminology specific to the industry. Others could use more robust frameworks for how to apply concepts to new creative ideas. However, diving deep into every step is not the intent of this book. Wheeler states alongside the book’s detailed index “Designing Brand Identity is a quick reference guide” and for that purpose this book is perfect.
I would recommend some of the other books I’ve been reading in conjunction with this one. See these other articles I’ve written:
More coming soon!
Industry Reception
Other reviewers have also had great things to say about Designing Brand Identity. It has been called the Robert’s Rules of Order for brand-builders (Marty Neumeier The Brand Gap) and “a recipe book for brand-builders” (Patricia Martin, RenGen).
Should I buy this book?
This book would make a valuable addition to the bookshelf of anyone who is responsible for branding efforts within a company, designing new brand guidelines, or building brands for others. If you are considering buying a brand book, this is definitely a good place to start.
