Now try something weirder – How to keep having great ideas and survive in the creative business by Michael Johnson of Johnson banks and published by Laurence King due for release on 20th May 2019 is jam-packed with essential advice for designers and creatives of all disciplines, written by a world-renowned designer.
“I took what I was convinced was the ‘perfect’ solution to my then creative director. ‘Nice’ he said. ‘Now’ try something weirder.” – Michael Johnson
As a person, I have learned to love the harsh reality that “good” doesn’t always make the grade and that there is always room for improvement. I purchased this book quite some years ago and read through it numerous times and constantly refer to it for a dose of inspiration or as a gentle reminder to strive for more than just being “good” at something. So lets take a look at the super awesome book It’s Not How Good You Are, its How Good You Want To Be by Paul Arden
Brutally Honest – No-bullshit business strategies to evolve your creative business is not your standard, boring business book. It is chock-full of brief, digestible yet powerful and comprehensive strategies, advice, and insights all housed in a well-designed book that even creatives will want to read.
Run Studio Run is a book that details how to manage and grow a small creative studio. The first edition was successfully funded on Kickstarter and is available for purchase through Extracurricular Press in May 2018.
Run Studio Run is a step-by-step guide that helps you look at your studio critically—as a business as opposed to an artistic endeavor. You will establish goals and paths and how to reach them. You will see that the more of your business you can commit to the process, the more you will free yourself up to do the work you really love.
Logo-a-gogo is a logo book that’s Jam Packed with almost 5,000 images, Logo-a-gogo is an inspirational visual history of the iconic brand identities created by British designer Rian Hughes who has over three decades of experience as a comic book illustrator and type designer. The book was released in the UK in April 2018.
It features iconic characters and brands such as Batman, Hed Kandi, Spider-Man, James Bond, The Avengers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
In this book review, we are reviewing Lance Wyman: Process. A proposal for the 1976 USA Bicentennial identity by Unit Editions
This book is a near reproduction of the one-off, leather-bound ‘sketchbook’ that Lance Wyman made to document his design process for the creation of a logo and identity design for the 1976 American Bicentennial celebrations to mark the creation of the USA as an independent republic. It’s a record of the creative process that Wyman went through to arrive at a refined and workable solution.
Freelance and business and stuff is a guide for creatives and it’s written by twin sisters Amy and Jennifer Hood who are the founding partners and creative directors behind Hoodzpah, a boutique brand identity and design agency based out of Newport Beach, California.
The Hood sisters have worked with clients such as Google, Disney, Facebook, 20th Century Fox, and Target so from reading that client list you know the advice within the book will be of great value.
The book has been made up of their personal research and experiences while running their own design studio.
You can also read their designer interview to provide more insights from their life as designers.
Know Your Onions by Drew de Soto is a very enlightening book offering a different view of the things you encounter every day as a designer.
Drew De Soto who is a print-focused designer has been a graphic designer for over 25 years, this book is a guide for working in the Graphic Design industry and first published by BIS Publishers in 2012.
As he says in his Introduction: “After a 25-year career in graphic design, I’ve picked up a few things and turned them into ‘custom settings’. Read this book and save yourself 25 years.”
Drew was kind enough to send us a copy of the book to review and we were looking forward to tucking into this one, Again I would like to thank Drew for sending us the book and answering our questions as part of this review. Let dive in and take a look at Know Your Onions: Graphic Design By Drew de Soto.
Continue readingIn this book review, we will be reviewing a book from Gary Vaynerchuk who is an American entrepreneur and a very influential Internet personality known as Gary Vaynerchuk So here we go… it’s time to CRUSH IT!…
Michael Johnson is one of the world’s leading graphic designers and brand consultants. His studio, johnson banks, is responsible for the rebranding of many notable clients, including Virgin Atlantic, Think London, BFI, Christian Aid, and MORE TH>N, and he has garnered a plethora of awards in the process.
In early 2014, Michael Johnson started work on a key book he felt was missing from his shelves – a definitive guide to the entire branding process that wasn’t biased to either strategy or design, but treated both as equals. Two and a half years later the project came to fruition in Branding: In Five and Half Steps, published in Autumn 2016 by Thames and Hudson.
