Spin: branding the LOGO book

Patrick Eley and Ian Macfarlane of Spin gave a talk last week on some of their recent studio projects, including work for West-end gallery Haunch of Venison, and new self-initiated publishing project Unit Editions. The project that particularly stood out for me though was their design of Michael Evamy's book on logo branding for publisher Laurence King. Their approach was to reflect the content of the book by creating a brand identity for it. Early ideas included a cover spread of small reproductions of featured logos, much like the that which appears inside the dust jacket of the finished design, and a more detailed logo derived from the title of the book, which was rejected for looking too plausible and generic.
Black and white reproduction throughout most of the book, enables the reader to concentrate upon differences in form without the distraction of brightly-coloured logos leaping off the page. The use of a tight grid complements a navigational system that allows the 1,300+ logos to be divided into 75 categories without appearing cluttered or fussy. And the logo chosen for the title itself performs extremly well - the blacked-out shapes suggest an interchangeable identity, which represents potentially all and yet none of those contained within, and a black dot performing as a stand-in for the trademark symbol, itself a logo indicating the legality of brand ownership.