Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits [Hardcover]

Debbie Millman (Author), Rob Walker (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2011

Insights and provocations from world-renowned brand consultants, thought leaders, designers, and strategists.

We are now living in a world with over one hundred brands of bottled water. The United States alone is home to over 45,000 shopping malls. And there are more than 19 million customized beverage choices a barista can whip up at your local Starbucks. Whether it’s good or bad, the real question is why we behave this way in the first place. Why do we telegraph our affiliations or our beliefs with symbols, signs, and codes?

Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits contains twenty interviews with the world’s leading designers and thinkers in branding. The interviews contain spirited views on how and why humans have branded the world around us, and the ideas, inventions, and insight inherent in the search.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“

Transcends business implications to dive into the very nature of human behavior. . . . a powerful look at the role brand plays in society, politics, economics, psychology and technology. 

” (Nadia Tuma - Forbes.com )

About the Author

Debbie Millman has worked in the design business for more than twenty-five years. She is president of the design division at Sterling Brands. She has been there for nearly fifteen years and in that time she has worked on the redesign of global brands for Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Colgate, Nestle, and Hasbro. Millman is President of the AIGA, the largest professional association for design in the world. She is a contributing editor at Print Magazine, a design writer at FastCompany.com, and co-founder and chair of the Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her books are How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer, The Essential Principles of Graphic Design, Look Both Ways: Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life and Design, and Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits. She lives in New York City.

Rob Walker contributes to The New York Times Magazine and Design Observer, among others. He is the author of Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are, and Letters from New Orleans. More at www.robwalker.net.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Allworth Press; 1 edition (October 10, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581158645
• ISBN-13: 978-1581158649
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Arts & Photography > Graphic Design > Commercial > Branding & Logo Design

More About the Author

Debbie Millman has worked in the design business for over 25 years. She is President of the design division at Sterling Brands. She has been there for nearly 15 years and in that time she has worked on the redesign of global brands for Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Colgate, Nestle and Hasbro.

Debbie is President of the AIGA, the largest professional association for design. She is a contributing editor at Print Magazine, a design writer at FastCompany.com and BrandNew.com, and Chair of the Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. In 2005, she began hosting the first weekly radio talk show about design on the Internet. The show is titled "Design Matters with Debbie Millman" and it is now featured on DesignObserver.com.

She is the author of three books, "How To Think Like A Great Graphic Designer" (Allworth Press, 2007), "The Essential Principles of Graphic Design" (Rotovision, 2008) and "Look Both Ways: Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life and Design," (HOW Books, 2009).

Her latest book, the long awaited "Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits," will be published by Allworth Press in 2011.

You can see more of Debbie's work at www.debbiemillman.com and www.sterlingbrands.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great insights. A very enjoyable read October 17, 2011

By Grazia Ozu

Format:Hardcover

My husband, a corporate design strategist, bought this book recently and couldn't stop talking about it. I borrowed it and read it cover to cover in what felt like five minutes. Not only is it entertaining, it's full of insights about our culture now and how it has developed over the course of the past century. The anthropological side of branding and design is even more fascinating than I had realized, and Millman and the people she interviews (including Malcolm Gladwell, my all-time favorite New Yorker writer next to Calvin Trillin) interpret and articulate it beautifully. Enthusiastically recommend!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought stimulating treasure trove! October 12, 2011

By J. C. Kritic

Format:Hardcover

Brand Thinking is a remarkable addtion to the books on branding. With a star list of participants (iincluding Tom Peters, Malcolm Gladwell and twenty others), the book searches into all aspects of branding. The cultural components, the need and desire for brands, the speed at which branding has grown, the good and the bad of branding and much more are discussed by many experts drawn from numerous disciplines. As a back cover blurb from Rob Walker says, "I arrived at the end having learned quite a bit. . . . It's like a buzzing dinner party, where you never know who is going to say what."

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another literary success by Debbie Millman! October 18, 2011

By Bernardo Margulis

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great continuation to How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer. This book is full of great interviews with some of the best minds in branding today by one of the top design thinkers and supporters of our field.

The format is similar to How to Think and Debbie's Design Matters podcasts. The interviews have a casual tone, almost as if we were were joining a conversation with friends over coffee, except these friends are some of the smartest experts on branding and beyond, and the conversation is an exciting discussion about the state of branding today. Rather than a dry interview, Debbie drives the conversation through interesting routes, sometimes leading to what initially seems curiously off-topic, but always comes full circle to expand on the main idea. As you read the interviews, it's easy to pick up on Debbie's insight, but she always focuses on her guest and his or her perspective. Combine this with am impressive roster of interviewees, from Sean Adams, to Malcolm Gladwell to Deedee Gordon, Alex Bogusky, (just to mention a few), and you get this gem of a book.

It's easy to read, yet very smart and informative. I particularly enjoy the way Debbie interacts with her guests, making the text so much more approachable, honest and enjoyable. The book approaches branding through every-day eyes, making it both a very educational and recreational read.

And of course, as a visual person, I mustn't forget to mention the beautiful cover, for which Debbie did the lettering herself.