Beyond Logos

Corporate identity, the design and marketing buzzphrase of the 80s and 90s, has undergone a revolution in the last five years. Now the talk is of branding. With the growth of globalisation and the increasing realization among corporations large and small that this is their only way of distinguishing themselves, large sections of the design industry have adapted to offer new services and meet the new branding challenges.

Arranged in thematic chapters with an introduction, Beyond Logos identifies and deconstructs the kind of corporate move that turns a footwear store into a æcathedralÆ and a cigarette brand into a smokerÆs retreat. It tracks the rise of the brand and pinpoints the role played by design companies in creating the experience economy -- a world in which corporations do not have identities but brands, visions, big ideas. Beyond Logos shows how, as we enter the 21st century, we are being taken beyond logos.

Clare Dowdy is the former features editor of UK design industry journal Design Week and now news editor of wallpaper* magazine. She writes on design and branding for the Financial Times, Blueprint and Graphics International.