By Gestalten & Creative Voyage
272 pages, hardcover, $60
Published by Gestalten
gestalten.com

Designing Brands: A Collaborative Approach to Creating Meaningful Identities by Gestalten and Creative Voyage offers a peek behind the curtain of the people and firms creating some of our time’s most stunning visual identities.

The 272-page hardcover book maps to eight core concepts that mirror the creative process of brand development: discovery, direction, typography, illustration, photography, design, digital and physical. Mario Depicolzuane—Croatian art director, graphic designer, photographer, publisher, and founder of both Studio8585 and Creative Voyage—kicks off each section with a breezy introduction. The chapters follow with illuminating profiles, revealing case studies and probing essays about eight of the world’s most influential and skilled brand shapers, including Sascha Lobe at Pentagram and Mouthwash Studio, as well as some of their collaborators.

The pages are lush with manicured photography framed by ample whitespace and tasteful design. Leafing through the book gives the experience of window shopping beautifully conceived brands. The pieces unfold like magazine articles, offering quick reads and convenient consumption.

But if you are looking for a blueprint or deep dive into the process of developing brands, this book is not for you. In its introduction, Designing Brands explicitly states its mission as “not a detailed how-to guide but a testament to some of the most beautiful, exciting identities that we see today and the people behind them.” The pages offer many nuggets in the form of curated displays of stunning work and descriptive notes, providing the perfect resource for those seeking high-level, modern branding inspiration. —Nancy Goulet ca