Branding legend, Joe Duffy, examines the process of design to create a lasting and memorable brand in his latest book Brand Apart.

[1] Brand Apart, written by [2] Joe Duffy and published by [3] The One Club, provides a series of case studies and direct interviews with some of today’s most recognizable brands: Harley Davidson, The Bahamas, Citibank, MINI, Starbucks, Tazo Tea, and the agencies who launched them: Wieden & Kennedy, Fallon Worldwide, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Pentagram, BBH and of course, Duffy & Partners. The book attempts to answer the increasingly popular question asked by marketing, advertising and design professionals—”how do we penetrate today’s visual melange and engage our audiences?” Duffy explores the design behind these brands to prove that their successes are not mere coincidences, but rather, the hard work and dedication to excellence by some of the creative world’s most promising professionals.

A beutiful book inside and out

Each case study first identifies the challenge, the solution, and the result. Joe then investigates the process by interviewing the client and the design team. These interviews are held much more like conversations than formal examinations into the brands success—often feeling like you are overhearing a conversation in the waiting room of an ad agency.

Many branding books often lack in visually explaining the process involved to make a brand successful, this book however, does an excellent job of providing that connection between concept and design. Each case study is accompanied by pencil sketches, discarded concepts, and multiple deployment examples of each brand. This refreshing look into the conceptual process provides the reader with a concise visual understanding of how each brand took shape.

Readers will not have to turn many pages to find inspiration in this book. The first case study, on The Bahamas brand, provides a very unique example of the extreme challenges an agency can have when branding an entire country. Dan Olson, creative director at Duffy & Partners explains: “It had to represent the country and the individual islands, as well as some individual private sector groups.” He goes on to add, “we had to build the mark so that you could pull it apart in nearly 20 different ways. It was really an ambitious thing to try and accomplish.” Ambitious indeed, and readers will see that the process is outlined perfectly throughout the case study, illustrating the beautiful emphasis on floral iconography to represent the islands.

The only element lacking from the book is an overall view of the scope of each case study. We are told who the major stakeholders of each project are, but we are not given a true understanding of the size of the creative and deployment teams. Without putting the full team make-up in perspective, the book may hinder or, even worse, provide false hope that a small agency can take on such a large task as rebranding an entire Caribbean island. Fortunately this is the only negative to the book.

Regardless of this one negative element, the book would still make a wonderful addition to any graphic design studio’s bookshelf. It provides insight from industry leader’s, beautiful examples of the creative process, and can continually serve as a reminder of what makes a truly paramount brand.