Synopses & Reviews
The NBC peacock. Chase Bank's blue octagon. Mobil Oil's arresting red 'o'. PBS's poetic silhouettes of the everyman. Though Chermayeff & Geismar may not be a household name, its logos are pervasive in every corner of the world. (One identity -- the official logo for the U.S. Bicentennial -- even sits on Mars). The firm's visual identities are an integral part of American culture, and instantly recognizable by countless millions.
Responsible for creating dozens of the most famous trademarks of all time ? from those for the Smithsonian Institution and Showtime to Barneys New York and Pan Am ? Chermayeff & Geismar sets the standard for successful identity design.
Authored by legendary designers Tom Geismar and Ivan Chermayeff, and their partner, rising star Sagi Haviv (called a logo prodigy by The New Yorker) Identify is the ultimate authoritative examination of the process, approach, and principles that result, time and time again, in identity design with the potential to become iconic, and thus succeed in representing a brand in the mind of the public for generations.
In Identify Haviv, Geismar and Chermayeff open their studio up for the first time in the firm's 55-year history and reveal the inner workings of the production of 40 of the firm's world famous trademarks, from the oldest (Chase Bank and Mobil Oil in the 1960s) to the more recent (Armani Exchange and Library of Congress in the 2000s).
Featuring behind-the-scenes essays by the designers; over 300 full-color images; and never-before-seen early hand-drawn sketches of marks that went on to make history (Chase, PBS, NBC, Mobil), the team demonstrates how their process has remained unaltered by the winds of cultural and technological change, and is in fact more successful than ever in today's online and digital media applications due to the powerful simplicity that is the hallmark of the firm's work.
A showcase of the world's most famous trademarks; a first-time reveal of how they came to be; an examination of successful logo design written by the practitioners themselves; and an unprecedented industry insider's peek into a legendary branding and graphic design firm, Identify: Basic Principles of Identity Design in the Iconic Trademarks of Chermayeff & Geismar unveils the true identity of identity design that works.
Synopsis
The NBC peacock. Chase Bank's blue octagon. Mobil Oil's arresting red O. PBS's poetic silhouettes of Everyman.
Chermayeff &#amp; Geismar's visual identities are instantly recognizable by countless millions around the world (one identity--the official logo for the U.S. Bicentennial--even sits on Mars) and set the standard for what a successful trademark is.
In Identify, celebrated designers Tom Geismar and Ivan Chermayeff, and partner, rising star Sagi Haviv (called a logo prodigy by The New Yorker) open up their studio for the first time in the firm's 55-year history and reveal the creative process that lead to the firm's iconic visual identities, from the oldest (Chase Bank and Mobil Oil in the 1960s) to the more recent (Armani Exchange and the Library of Congress in the 2000s).
The team demonstrates how their approach to design has remained unaltered by cultural and technological change and is in fact more successful than ever in today's online and digital applications, due to the powerful simplicity that is the hallmark of the firm's work.
A showcase of some of the world's most famous and enduring trademarks, an account of how they came to be, and an unprecented insider's peek into a legendary branding and graphic design firm. Identify: Basic Principles of Identity Design in the Iconic Trademarks of Chermayeff & Geismar' unveils the thinking and the process behind identity design that works.