The Secret Life of Logos: Behind the Design of 80 Great Logos [Hardcover]

Leslie Cabarga (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 22, 2007

In their own words, 75 top-flight designers tell you how they make outstanding logos and what it took to achieve the 160 final identities shown in this book. You'll learn the secrets behind each of these logos as they develop from roughs to finals!

You'll thrill to the sight of over 700 never-before-seen sketches, roughs, preliminary comps and napkin doodles.

You'll marvel as 70 designers turn their rough first attempts into gorgeous final logos!

You won't believe your eyes as 160 sizzling-hot logos are slowly baked to golden-brown perfection!

Never before revealed: The thrills, the chills, the tears and the jeers behind the high-stakes world of professional logo design.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Leslie Cabarga is the author of over two dozen books on design, including Longo, Font and Lettering Bible, The Designer's Guide to Color Combinations, and The Designer's Guide to Global Color Combinations. He's been an illustrator and designer since 1970.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: How (February 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581808682
• ISBN-13: 978-1581808681
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #911,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For most of his life, Leslie Cabarga considered himself not so much a writer but as an illustrator and graphic designer. Yet his very first book, The Fleischer Story (a history of the Max Fleischer animation studio) was published when he was 19 years old, several years before he would become one of the most popular illustrators in New York. Leslie went on to write and/or edit over 40 books, ranging from clip art collections for Dover publications to the ever popular Logo, Font & Lettering Bible, the only manual showing how to create lettering from scratch in the digital age. But he also produced the channeled book, "Talks with Trees," which has been gaining popularity over the past 10 years. Leslie likes to take subjects (such as the Max Fleischer cartoons, and lettering and font creation) and produce the "last word" on each subject. As he says, "It's mostly just to get these topics out of my system so I can move on." And move on he has! As amazon reader reviews of his Lettering "Bible" attest, the humor throughout the instructional text is part of what makes this book so enjoyable. "So I decided to move away from design topics and go for the humor--along with a bit of forward-looking social commentary," Leslie says. The result is the recently-published "We Hold These Truths," the story of what happens when a Truth Bomb drops on the world and people everywhere are compelled to live their truths. The book is as profoundly compelling as it is amusing. Like the book "Trees," We Hold These Truths is a channeled book that Leslie first began "receiving" more than 15 years ago. The contrast between design and spirit channeling is not so far apart, for as Leslie says, "Artists are seekers of truth. We are always questioning ourselves--why should it be this way rather than that? Where is the truth in this statement? The best artists are often those who willingly subject themselves to the most unmerciful critiques of their own creations." And," he says, "my body of work in the graphics field shows that there's nothing airy-fairy about us channelers. Actually, I'm a very down-to-earth guy." Indeed, Leslie tells us he's got another dozen or so books in planning stages on subjects ranging from health and nutrition to human sexuality. Which brings up Leslie's latest book, "Topless Summer Love Girls; A Gentleman's Guide to Women, Relationships & Breasts." It is a book that looks seriously tat men's issues while at the same time satirizing men's obsessions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!!, July 3, 2007

By 

Diane "shyrelease" (midwest, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret Life of Logos: Behind the Design of 80 Great Logos (Hardcover)

I bought this book for my daughter who is studying computer graphics. I started paging through it and I couldn't put it down! It is interesting, creative, and very inspiring. It gives you a sense that it's okay to make mistakes during the process and mistakes sometimes spark more creativity. It really displays the importance of "listening" to your client. Listening is the inspiration for creativity. I loved seeing the logos that weren't selected and why they weren't and also the story behind the ones that were chosen and why they were.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for teaching or inspiration, May 20, 2007

By 

P. Schaefer "Artist" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret Life of Logos: Behind the Design of 80 Great Logos (Hardcover)

For those in the design field and those just entering it, this is the perfect book for taking you step-by-step through the process of designing a logo as described by some of the world's best designers. With a little humor and a truck load of useful information, the editor (himself a designer with a few of his logos also in the book) interviews each designer finding out their tricks of the trade and how they get inspiration. The best advice comes in how to deal with difficult clients and what to do when your logo, though awesome, doesn't make the final cut. A must read for all designers of every level.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Logo Book I've Seen, November 19, 2008

By 

T. Victor "embersyc" (Detroit) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret Life of Logos: Behind the Design of 80 Great Logos (Hardcover)

Stumbled upon this one in a real world bookstore and it jumped out at me right away. This book features various rejected designs for actual logos and the final accepted logo, as well as a story from each designer on what the client wanted, and why the rejected designs got rejected. A great book for helping you understand the design process and hopefully to help you get past those rejections. A surprising thing you'll see is that often the best designs are not chosen as the logo. My only complaint with the book is that is too short, would've loved some more examples.