| The Art of Identity: Creating
and Managing a Successful Corporate Identity
By Mark Rowden
Ashgate Publishing Company, 2000
Reviewed by Irene Gil
The Art of Identity is an in-depth study of all the main
issues concerning corporate identity, and it is already considered
to be a seminal work on the subject. This is unusual for a management
manual, most of which are recipe books of successful case studies,
and even more unusual for a corporate identity handbook, which tend
simply to contain pictures of client work. This book is thought
provoking right from the start, and that is the intention.
The Art of Identity lives up to its name, and the author
demonstrates sound skills on the topic, skills that have been acquired
by exceptional experience and keen observation.
It is a well-planned book that shows great intellectual rigor throughout.
This is immediately evident from the table of contents, where a
single concept word perfectly summarizes each chapter. It is also
evident throughout the text, which contains no direct references
to any particular company, though the descriptions could easily
fit existing enterprises.
This discipline is further demonstrated by the decision not to
include images or obvious references to the author's own work as
a corporate identity consultant. Nevertheless, empirical knowledge
deriving from his firsthand experience comes to the surface throughout
the book, and he is thoughtful even when considering such aspects
as color, typography or dimensions. This rigor is maintained in
his profound analysis of the routes to identity and his development
of a consistent and coherent new methodology that can be applied
to every expression of identity.
In a world in which time and attention are becoming ever-scarcer
resources, Mark Rowden has written a book that is not to be rushed.
It deserves careful attention and re-reading to take full advantage
of the possibilities it offers readers to redefine and organize
their own ideas and, indeed, to come up with new ones.
Irene Gil is the Corporate Development Director
at SUMMA-Branding Consultancy, Spain
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