Inspired by the pioneering design work of Paul Rand, Herb Lubalin, Wally Olins,  Saul Bass, Milton Glaser and Neville Brody I became a graphic designer and worked primarily in branding for the first 10 years of my career. This was back in the day when the ‘designers are gods’ mentality still held true and being a bit ‘precious’ was the norm… which suited me fine, thank you very much.

Doodling away in a sketch pad (usually in the pub) and hunched over a drawing board armed with paper, fine point pen and a steady hand didn’t really feel like work to me (the apple macs were still not commonplace in design studios at this point). The process fascinated me and still does to this day.

Until recently the Marketing process had never really been a concern of mine, as long as the finished piece looked great, conveyed an emotional response in me and it answered the brief… I felt like my work was done. I now realise that the creative is only a small part of the process.

Why do some corporate identities work? Why does 3 stripes and a word make us want to trust a company to sell us shoes? The answer is because it is effectively marketed. The image is unique enough to know that it is Adidas, but not overly blatant or complex.

The Hamburg design studio Mutabor has gained a reputable name in the field of visual communication and visual trends. This logo and icon design book documents, surveys and illustrates the broad spectrum of Mutabor’s iconoclastic works.

For years, Mutabor has consistently created formative logos and icons for clients like Adidas and Greenpeace. The logo and icon book Lingua Grafica documents, surveys and richly illustrates the broad spectrum of Mutabor’s works. The introductory preface is meant to be as universally understood as the subject itself and is thus printed in Latin, English, German, Spanish, French and Japanese.

Lingua Grafica  is structured into three visually underpinned chapters:

01] How are icons used

02] Instructions

03] A total icon overview presented as a tabular listing.

Mutabor’s Brand design follow a clear working procedure called the Mutabor Cycle which they have perfected over many years.

It is divided into four phases:

1. Profiling
2. Strategy
3 . Creation
4. Communication

The aim of this procedure is to create the story of a Brand and make people fascinated by the Brand.

There is nothing that fascinates people more than a well narrated story. Design is like telling a story. The writer sits down in front of a white page and through his creative power the idea that constitutes a great story emerges. A Brand is also like a great story that one enjoys hearing again and again. These stories and their values, which a brand communicates are the most important qualities of a Brand. Companies and the Market are changing continuously; Brands need a unique brand story to enable them to react to these changes. Mutabor is a design agency with a strategic way of thinking, a feel for trends and the will to achieve top creative performance and create and present these brand stories. Mutabor turns trends into Brand presences; Brands that say “I’m going to change”.

This book illustrates the basic concepts involved in creating a successful icon or logo. It is also printed in red and black only, illustrating that a logo needs to be able to work in its simplest form to work successfully. Mutabor’s house style is instantly recognisable and they are bold enough to acknowledge the influence of the computer program they use in their process. So much so that they even go so far as to dedicate Lingua Grafica to “everyone who contributed to the development of this wonderful programme”. To top it all off, the book is packaged in a wonderful bright red rubber cover which makes it easy to wipe down after drooling over Mutabor’s award-winning creations. A must for all you corporate identity fetishists.

Lingua Grafica has an inexaustable wealth of visually stimulating ideas and is a great inspiration for designers who are stuck in the creative mud and looking for a bit of divine inspiration.

Time for us all to move on… oh and in case you are wondering: Mutabor’s definition: From moveō (“‘move, stir’”).

Tags: Advertising Agency Manchester, Branding, Creativity, Design, Design Agency, Direct Marketing Agency, Graphic Design, Herb Lubalin, Lingua Grafica, Logo Design, Marketing, Marketing Agency, Milton Glaser, Neville Brody, Paul Rand, Saul Bass, Wally Olins

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 9:07 am and is filed under We Like. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.