Rating: 
Summary: Helpful for consultants
Review: Advertising, Public Relations and other marketing communications folks will like this book. It's a great overview of the many ways to think about design and identity. It can also help you explain the identity process to clients. I'm keeping mine in the office next to the dictionary and thesaurus.
Rating:
Summary: Marc S Goldberg CPA,PFS Managing Partner RS&G CPA's
Review: An enlightening book that all business leaders should read and study. The book will give the reader insights and perspectives of the branding process and may provide alternatives to existing proposals to and presentations for your company.
I gained a better understanding of the branding process and successful implementation of business imaging and human reaction to graphic design, which is a key part of success. The book is well done and meticulously researched.
I now realize why some brands and logo's are memorable and why they look so good.
Rating:
Summary: An Indispensable Resouce
Review: An indispensable resource for designers and their clients, Designing Brand Identity is a guidebook, sourcebook, and a fascinating history of brands and their creation. This reference reveals the secrets and the inspiration that have guided the best and the brightest in designing, marketing, positioning, naming, and branding products and services.
Rating:
Summary: A Must for EBusiness
Review: Most people who study ebusiness at universities either focus on website design, marketing/logistics of ebusiness, or systems/software. This book gets to the heart of conducting business over the internet - combining brand recognition with eye catching design and a quality/product or service. University programs and businesses looking to be successful in ecommerce should make this book required reading.
Rating:
Summary: A Must for EBusiness
Review: Most people who study ebusiness at universities either focus on website design, marketing/logistics of ebusiness, or systems/software. This book gets to the heart of conducting business over the internet - combining brand recognition with eye catching design and a quality/product or service. University programs and businesses looking to be successful in ecommerce should make this book required reading.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Resource
Review: Really well done overview of the entire branding process. The book is a keeper because it covers the entire process in jargon-free straightforward language with really good visuals. The more time I spend with this book, the more I'm amazed at the depth of the material. Kudos to the author.
Rating: 
Summary: It's about identity, but not about the brand process
Review: This *is* a great book when it comes to showing how to put together a coherent, soup-to-nuts identity program. But the title of the book is misleading - there's very little in this book about actually creating, building or maintaining strong brands per se. This wilfully confuses the logo for the company behind the logo. As Paul Rand once said of his logo for the ABC television network, it wasn't a matter of whether his logo lived up to the network, but whether the network lived up to the logo! The brand process involves a lot of non-graphical thought regarding the spirit or essence of what that organization is all about. "Is that an IBM thing to do?" The brand identity is, at best, only the surface expression: the brand is the idea of the company in its customers' minds. In that sense, creating and maintaining a strong brand is really about having clear direction, consistent policies and actions, and understanding that markets are conversations, not about whether the carpet matches the business cards and the Web site.
Rating:
Summary: An essential tool for business leaders and strategists
Review: This author has tackled the vital topic of brand identity in a new way. In the beginning of the book Alina Wheeler says that she want to provide "an accessible resource that provides a road map to the process, explains some fundamental concepts, and showcases best practices." The book delivers on this promise! What differentiates it from other books on this topic is that Wheeler's book really IS accessible. This comes from the unique way in which it is organized. You can simply flip open the book to any spread and have a specific concept explained, illustrated, and illuminated by relevant quotations. This makes it an excellent reference work -- keep it by your desk to quickly look up any topic. For example, you might be advocating a particular course of action at your company that you just know is the right way to go. You can turn to Wheeler's book to marshall specific evidence and articulate rationales to make your case. In the beginning, she discusses 9 brand identity ideals: vision, meaning, authenticity, differentiation, sustainability, coherence, flexibility, commitment and value. Once you have reviewed each concept you understand how each plays a role in successful brand identities. However, this is not primarily a book of theory. Wheeler breaks down the practical steps involved and outlines each, from the legal process to signage design. Case studies of successful brand identities take up the final portion of the book. My one criticism is that book is not completely in color, as the topic demands. (There is a color insert showing many of the brands from the case studies.) No doubt this was a decision of the publisher! Professionals at agencies or design firms may think they have this material mastered, but this book gives you the distilled essentials that you'll find extremely useful. But the key audience, in my view, should be business students or leaders who seek to better understand that, as Wheeler says, "brand identity is an asset that needs to be managed, nourished, invested in, and leveraged."
Rating:
Summary: An essential tool for business leaders and strategists
Review: This author has tackled the vital topic of brand identity in a new way. In the beginning of the book Alina Wheeler says that she want to provide "an accessible resource that provides a road map to the process, explains some fundamental concepts, and showcases best practices." The book delivers on this promise! What differentiates it from other books on this topic is that Wheeler's book really IS accessible. This comes from the unique way in which it is organized. You can simply flip open the book to any spread and have a specific concept explained, illustrated, and illuminated by relevant quotations. This makes it an excellent reference work -- keep it by your desk to quickly look up any topic. For example, you might be advocating a particular course of action at your company that you just know is the right way to go. You can turn to Wheeler's book to marshall specific evidence and articulate rationales to make your case. In the beginning, she discusses 9 brand identity ideals: vision, meaning, authenticity, differentiation, sustainability, coherence, flexibility, commitment and value. Once you have reviewed each concept you understand how each plays a role in successful brand identities. However, this is not primarily a book of theory. Wheeler breaks down the practical steps involved and outlines each, from the legal process to signage design. Case studies of successful brand identities take up the final portion of the book. My one criticism is that book is not completely in color, as the topic demands. (There is a color insert showing many of the brands from the case studies.) No doubt this was a decision of the publisher! Professionals at agencies or design firms may think they have this material mastered, but this book gives you the distilled essentials that you'll find extremely useful. But the key audience, in my view, should be business students or leaders who seek to better understand that, as Wheeler says, "brand identity is an asset that needs to be managed, nourished, invested in, and leveraged."
Rating:
Summary: The Only Comprehensive Guide
Review: This book is the best "how-to" guide on brand identity -- it addresses issues no other author has. So many brand identity books are essentially coffee table books, full of illustrations with a little commentary thrown in. Not this book. It has an incredible amount of useful information (words and graphics) pertinent to anyone who has anything to do with identity, not just designers. In fact, this would be a terrific book for every marketing communications, public relations, and senior management person in corporate America.
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