The name of the book is Graphic Design, Referenced and it is authored by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit. I would describe the book as a broad overview of the Graphic Design industry. It touches on the principles of Graphic Design, the History, the people who’ve made it important and excelled at it, and the ways it is being and has been used all around us.

This book is not a comprehensive history of Graphic Design, nor does it claim to be. That is one of the things that I really like about it. It really has a major focus on things that are most relevant in Graphic Design today, but still acknowledges what got us (the design industry) to where we are now.

The design of the book is really great. The page layouts are wonderful. The organization is impeccable. This book about design is really a great piece of design itself. The pages fly by and are full of great images and illustrations.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in design. Whether you are a designer or just someone who appreciates it, I think you’ll agree that this book is a great one to have.

You can find more information about the book HERE. If you just want to know where to buy it, check it out on Amazon HERE. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am. I’d love to hear comments from people who also have the book or are looking into getting it.

The divisions include: Brand New, Quipsologies, The Design Encyclopedia, Speak Up, Word It, and FPO (For Print Only). The people behind Under Consideration recently made the decision to cease continued publication of the Speak Up division. Word It sprouted from Speak Up and is now being maintained as it’s own division, and FPO was launched as an entirely new venture.

FPO displays a collection of print projects as blog entry type posts. The range of projects includes business cards, books, posters, etc. Each entry says a little about the project, it’s developments, technicalities, and what makes it unique.

Ok, what’s so special? Well, in my opinion, what looks to be the most promising and unique portion of this new blog are the production details provided with each entry.

The production details provided include the cost of the project, production time, and various other pertinent information. What makes this information so valuable is that it “puts a face” to the project. We’ve all seen various pictures of extravagent print projects all over the web but what does that mean to us without knowing the practicality of it all? Not much.

I’m looking forward to following this promising new blog! Check it out for yourself here: http://www.underconsideration.com/fpo/ I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Hopefully their rebranding was a bit more successful. Well, I’m happy to say that it was, but that wasn’t hard to do. Overall, I am satisfied with the logo. I let the design marinate for a while before deciding how I felt about it. With time, the logo grew on me some.

Things have to be put into perspective. On one hand, I am disappointed that they did not take this opportunity to refresh their whole image as opposed to the subtle tweaks they landed on. On the other hand, I feel like I should be happy that they did not completely screw it up. Just look at the Pistons’ monstrosity of a rebranding in the mid 90s.

(Yeah… that happened)

So, to sum up, overall I’m pretty happy with the change. Below is a before and after:

The old “leaping lion” looks very flat and inanimate. The update gives it some ferocity (lets hope the team will take on this characteristic). The old “LIONS” text looks like it came from the circus. It also has an early 90s Dallas vibe to me. The new text is a much needed improvement.

There are some small things I would change about the new logo:

• Lose the black outline! I’m sure this was a declaration of Matt Millen’s back when they started the project, but they should have dropped it when he was canned.

• Lose the “flowy” lines within the mane area. They are completely unnecessary and look like a mistake in the logo or a MS paint experiment when it is shown at small sizes.

• There’s an extra line in the “crotch region” that doesn’t make sense with the form, lose it.

• The space in between the “N” and the “S” seems to be too much. I’d move the “S” slightly back in towards the rest of the letters.

• Keep the white outline around the lion, and add a white outline around the “LIONS” text when the logo is shown on a non-white background.

I’ve done a quick, crude mock up of these changes below. I only had a low res image to work with, and didn’t want to put a lot of time into it, but you’ll get the idea.

Here are some other great write-ups regarding the logo:

Brand New: A Fiercer Detroit Lion

Uni Watch: Hasn’t This Poor City Suffered Enough?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the logo refresh! Post your comments below!

In no particular order:

Under Consideration > Brand New | www.underconsideration.com/brandnew
A great round up of some of recent rebranding projects.

Under Consideration > Quipsologies | www.underconsideration.com/quipsologies
A collection of many different design bits from around the web. A great place for inspiration and understanding current trends.

Under Consideration > Speak Up | www.underconsideration.com/speakup
Speak Up is an author-based, reader-supported community devoted to graphic design open to conversation and dialogue. It stresses and questions the importance of the profession in our culture.

Pentagram | www.pentagram.com
A famous design firm based in New York City. I am a huge fan of Pentagram’s design philosophy. They are always pushing new and fresh trends and their blog shares these ideas with the world.

David Airey | www.davidairey.com
One of the first design blogs I started following consistently. In my opinion, David is one of the best logo designers out there doing work on his own. His identities are solutions to brand communication and his blog is a generous offering of ideas for other designers.

Logo Design Love | www.logodesignlove.com
A second blog created by David Airey. Logo Design Love focuses on logo design, and presents a great forum for communication on the latest in brand identity.

Kristen Carlson, K. Holly Photography | www.khollystudios.com/blog
Kristen is a friend of mine who has recently taken the jump to doing it alone. Her business has taken off due to her immense talent and hard work! Kristen, thank you for all of your help in getting me started!

Brian Merwin Photography | www.brianmerwin.com
Brian is a co-worker who’s freelance career is in its beginning stages. He is a great person to bounce ideas off of. His technical background is a great asset and his photography talent is going to take him a long way!

Smashing Magazine | www.smashingmagazine.com
An amazing collection of tutorials, design showcases, and inspiration. The site is an all-around great resource for designers.

Jacob Cass, Just Creative Design | www.justcreativedesign.com
Jacob is a talented designer living in Australia who does great work for clients all over the world. He enjoys presenting an idea and collecting opinions from other designers.

I love Typography | www.ilovetypography.com
Typography may be the most essential aspect of graphic design. I strive to better my typography skills all the time and this blog helps push me in the right direction.

Swiss Miss | www.swiss-miss.com
I really admire Swiss style graphic design. It epitomizes the idea of efficient communicative design. Swiss Miss is a design studio in New York City run by Tina Roth Eisenberg. She is a Swiss designer who’s blog contains many great bits of inspiration on a consistent basis.

Penflare | www.penflare.com
The blog of another great designer based in Michigan. He is full of great ideas for brand identity. His online presence is growing constantly, and his blog does a great job of sharing his ideas.

Aisle One | www.aisleone.net
The blog of an amazing designer who is “obsessed with the grid system.” His style is similar to what I strive for: clean, and somewhat minimalist. Great site design!

The Dieline | www.thedieline.com/blog
A great resource for the latest in packaging design. I have done some packaging design for my current employer. It is one of the most rewarding aspects of design when you are able to see a final package working.

I don’t intend this to be a list of the best design blogs, only ones that have inspired me most. I know there are many more great inspiring blogs out there. For a fairly good (but of course not comprehensive) compilation, check out David Airey’s blog entry: Top 50+ Graphic Design Blogs.