Master Project Bibliography

BOOK 1

A book that shows how illustrations can tell stories and explain abstract concepts. Illustrations had layers that enrich brand identities offering brand the ability to be memorable and desirable. The book displays how illustrator’s work complements a brand’s philosophy and objectives through different media from business cards, fashion labels, packaging, posters to restaurant’s ventures.

The book is a collection of case studies where illustrations were involved in creating a unique and memorable consumer experience. Ultimately, the consumer will first judge a brand from its look and feel. By creating a recognisable brand through strong visual language, the consumer will feel engaged in the narrative of what it means to buy into a brand.

Thus, this book is a great started to start thinking about the use of illustration to build a (personal) brand through original and narrative visuals. I am excited to read through these different case studies to inspire me to create my own personal brand identity and possibly to create a brand identity for my master project.

Victionary. (2014, November). Illustrative Branding, Smashing illustrations for brands. Hong Kong, China:  Victionary Workshop.

BOOK 2

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Business Model You is the book is based on the Business Model Canvas methodology, which guides the reader on how to define a personal business model.  It provides several tools which aim to help the reader to reinvent himself/herself or redefine a brand. The book is divided into 4 sections covering the following topics:

Section 1: Canvas including chapters on Business Model Thinking: Adapting to a Changing World, Business Model Canvas and Personal Business Model Canvas

Section 2: Reflect including chapters on Who Are You?, and Identify Your Career purpose.

Section 3: Revise including chapters on Getting Ready to Reinvent Yourself, and Re-Draw Your Personal Business Model.

Section 4: Act including chapters on Calculate Your Business Value, Test Your Model in the Market, and What’s Next.

This book is particularly useful because I am considering to develop and strengthen my personal brand. I believe that this book can be a great tool to sharpen my understanding of a personal brand but also act as a guide into defining it. This book may be useful for my master project if not to develop my own identity in order to set myself apart on the market.

Clark, T., Osterwalder, A. and Pigneur, Y. (2012). Business Model You. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

BOOK 3

Photo credit: Bis Publishers (n.d.)

The book explains the branding process step by step supported by a dozen examples of successful brands/ study cases. It also includes 23 tools and exercises to build your own brand. Miltenburg explains how branding can be a powerful tool to help ‘sell’ ideas for change and make a real impact.

This book is a great resource to understand how to build and develop a strong, successful brand using different exercises in the book. I used her book, Branding Toolkit For Change Makers, during my internship when creating a client’s blog identity. Thanks to her exercises, I could focus on important elements when creating a new brand identity. I am looking forward to combining Miltenburg’s books to develop my own personal brand identity and maybe use it as a tool for my master project.

Miltenburg, A. (2018). Brand the Change. 3rd edn. Den Bosch, the Netherlands: BIS Publishers.

Photo credit: Anje Jager (n.d.)

Similar to her latest book, Branding Toolkit For Change Makers, helps to understand what needs to be communicated clearly, who is your audience, what do they do, why does it matter to them. The book focuses on the anatomy of a brand and the branding process. Again, this is illustrated through the use of various case studies of successful change-making brands.

Miltenburg, A. (2016). Branding Toolkit For Change Makers. Den Bosch, the Netherlands: The Brandling.

BOOK 4

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Storytelling became an effective tool for creating an entire brand concept and can be used for both on a product and corporate level. Brands have increasingly used this tool to create a bond with the consumers and the brand itself.

Storytelling: Branding in Practice looks at how brands can use storytelling to strengthen the bond with consumers and employees. Structured in two parts: 1) Toolbox and 2) Storytelling applied, the first part might be interesting particularly chapters 2 ( Four Elements of Storytelling), 3 (Storytelling in Business), and 4 (Company Cor Story). This book good foundation on how to build and develop a strong, successful brand story by showcasing different case studies.

Fog, K., Budtz, C., Munch, P., and Blanchette, S. (2010). Storytelling: Branding in Practice. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer-Verlag.

BOOK 5

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According to Lupton (2017), a good design is bringing an idea to life, thus through good storytelling. The book gives an overview of how to use narrative techniques to create graphics, products, services and experiences by looking at the psychology of visual perception, again from a narrative point of view.

I particularly like this book because a couple of chapters cover the topic of emotions by looking at models like the emotional journey, the use of persona, and colours & emotions. It also gives a brief introduction to behavioural economics, the study of human decision-making.

Lupton, E. (2017). Design is Storytelling. New-York, the USA: Cooper Hewitt.

BOOK 6

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Designing For Social Change was written by Andre Shea a graphic designer that aimed to use problem-solving skills to help others. He wrote a book, which presents 10 proven strategies for working with community organisations. The book should be seen as a toolkit of strategies covering the following strategies: Immersing yourself, building trust, promising only what you can deliver, prioritising the process, confronting controversy, identifying the community’s strength, utilising local sources, designing with the community’s voice, giving communities ownership and sustaining engagement with communities.

The book gives a kick start for another interest of mine, social design/ concept. Keywords related to this theme can be ”design for social impact”, ”human-centered design” and ”design for social change”. However, this book may be too orientated on the design process of working with social enterprises, NGOs, foundations, corporations and governments.

Shea, A. (2012). Designing for Social Change, Strategies for Community-Based Graphic Design. New-York, the USA: Princeton Architectural Press.