50 best logos ever

50bestlogos_cover_1000Graphic designers love looking at and discussing logos, and this premium quality, 180-page publication positively wallowed in that whole area of brand identity and logo design. Put together in 2013, it remains a lovely example of print with the logos in spot UV on its stark cover; the lovely endpapers; nice clean layout; and text that is clear, concise and informative.

Rob Carney edited this ‘bookazine’ with me alongside him as associate editor. My first task was to canvas opinion from up and down the design industry as to which logos should be included. Once we had a shortlist, I contacted six industry experts to help us bring that list down to 50 and put the logos into a credible order. I devised a weighted voting system that Rob was very pleased with – he even suggested we trademark the idea… but for that we’d have needed a logo.

As well as commissioning our expert panel to give opinion pieces on their favourite logos on the list, I briefed several journalists who helped us research and write up entries for the logos inside, which included organisations as varied as Reuters, Coca Cola, the Red Cross, Starbucks and NASA. For some of the marks – like Shell and Mercedes-Benz – we created timelines and demonstrated their visual development. For others short features were written detailing key design decisions, and I also interviewed the creator of the original Apple logo, Rob Janoff, and Lindon Leader, who was responsible for the number one logo: FedEx.

It’s nice to create a real object of desire in print. I certainly received a lot of requests for copies from my designer friends.

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2 thoughts on “50 best logos ever

  • This was so much fun. And Garrick was a joy to work with. Ever the professional! As usual!

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