Visual Branding: A Rhetorical and Historical Analysis

Visual Branding pulls together analyses of logos, typeface, color, and spokes-characters to give a comprehensive account of the visual devices used in branding and advertising. The book places each avenue for visual branding within a rhetorical framework that explains what that device can accomplish for the brand. It lays out the available possibilities for constructing logos and distinguishes basic types along with examples of their use and evolution over time.

Authors Edward McQuarrie and Barbara Phillips place visual branding within its historical context, covering the 120-year period since brand advertising first took modern form in the United States. Using copious real-life examples to illustrate how branding has evolved with the introduction of new technologies and opportunities, the book also critiques purely psychological perspectives on branding and explains how historical and rhetorical analyses can contribute new insights.

This exploration of rhetoric as an alternative to economic and psychological perspectives in marketing, advertising, and consumer scholarship will be essential reading for students and scholars in graduate programs in marketing, advertising, and consumer psychology.

Edward F. McQuarrie, Professor Emeritus, Santa Clara University, US and Barbara J. Phillips, formerly Rawlco Scholar in Advertising and Professor of Marketing, University of Saskatchewan, Canada