The Secret Life of Logos & Gotham Books

While browsing at a bookstore yesterday, I came across an interesting book called The Secret Life of Logos by Leslie Cabarga. 75 designers contributed their opinions and experiences with logo creation. My favorite part is the sketches and logo variations of each identity, showing the evolution of the logo. One of my favorite identities is for Gotham Books, an imprint of publishing giant Penguin Group. According to the design firm responsible for the piece, Eric Baker Design Associates, "the logo both captures New York City, which the name Gotham implies, but distinctly refers to publishing with the book forms used to create the skyscraper icon."

Designers: Eric Baker and Eric Strohl

Permima

This comes from the Conran Design Group in London for their client Permira, a private equity firm. This is in a publication piece that the group created for the company. The quotation from Permima's CEO is relevant to any type of business but I find it especially relatable to advertising. Strategy must be easy to understand, plain and simple. Not dumb simple but clear-cut and to the point. If you can't get your strategy out clearly, then your final advertisements will fail due to their complexity of understanding. Don't make a consumer work too hard at comprehending your ad, else you will lose them.
On a design note, the orange color makes the important information pop nicely. The layout is also not what I would expect from a private equity firm but that is to the company's advantage. The brand becomes less stodgy with such bold typeface and the stacking of the text. I also think that the placement of the quotation marks is a plus and their rounded edges help to soften the sharp typeface.