Alex, thanks so much for this list! It’ll be a great resource for anyone that comes across it.

Posted by Alex at ISO50:

As much as I love my Google Reader, I still prefer to get my design fix in printed form. In addition to providing the necessary dose of inspiration, magazines usually include insightful commentary and design criticism. I love this sort of writing on design and it seems like the best place to find it is still in the “unplugged” land of printed media. Additionally, with each one you get an actual piece of design to hold in your hand. It’s easy to forget how cool this is if you’re used to bouncing from blog to blog. After the jump, I’ve put together an overview of a the major players in the design magazine realm. Check out the list!

via ISO50 Blog – The Blog of Scott Hansen » Blog Archive » Design Magazine Overview.

On occasion I get confusing “brand” inquiries from clients. Comments like “we need to add this image to our logo. It’s on our Web site and it’s what people remember.” I have to back up and take a deep breath and try to educate them as to the role a logo has in their overall picture. As discussed in this article, your logo only one piece of your brand strategy. Successful brands have strong association between all points of contact (your brand) and your logo.

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via What Role Does Your Logo Play in Your Branding Strategy?.

By Laura Lake, About.com

When I speak about branding it’s not uncommon for people to mistake their logo as their “branding”. Your logo is only one piece of your branding strategy. Your logo is a symbol that can provide consumers with instant and powerful brand recognitionof your business and the services or products that you offer.

Before beginning the process of logo creation be sure that you have developed your brand strategy. Why? Your logo is like a small ad for your company, without the strategy behind it a logo can put across the wrong message and in return weaken your strategy. You want to keep your brand message consistent to help increase consumer recognition.

How do you know when you are ready to move to the process of having your logo created?

* The mission of your logo is to portray the values and goals of your company. Make sure that these are clearly established before venturing out to find a logo designer.

* Be clear about the message you want your brand to convey so that your logo can clearly reflect that message. You must have a strong association between your brand and your logo. Remember it is only one piece of your branding strategy.

* Your logo should reflect professionalism and growth no matter how small your company is.

* If you are designing your logo in-house to save money be sure to market-test your efforts.

* Make sure that the logo you select is not dated but can be used effectively year after year. Keep in mind it is how consumers will recognize your company.

The conclusion of the role your logo plays in your branding strategy can be summed up in the following statement.

Confident branding and a strong branding strategy uses design to communicate a message that attracts the target audience that you want to attract – a message that creates confidence in your brand while differentiating between you and your competitors. Does your logo fulfill this mission? If your answer is no it may be time to consider strengthening your brand strategy and looking at a new logo to re-position your company.

Brazilian architecture has produced interesting works in the business/retail area, often limited to just interior design. Recent works by Marcio Kogan, Marcelo Alvarango or Tao Arquitetura are good examples of a tradition that, in my personal opinion, has a peak at Mendes da Rocha’s Forma store in Sao Paulo. If you ever go to Sao Paulo to visit local architecture, don´t be afraid of your girlfriend/wife taking you to shopping, there´s lots to see there.

Leonardo Finotti shared with us an interesting project by local architect Isay Weinfeld that is up to this brazilian standard, the Libraria da Vila bookstore in Sao Paulo. An hermetic volume with a pivoting book facade contains an interesting space filled with books distributed over 3 levels as you can see on the photos:

via Livraria da Vila / Isay Weinfeld | ArchDaily.
photos by: Leonardo Finotti

I’ve always admired and have been intrigued by much of the work Segura Inc in Chicago does. Segura Inc was the beginning of a series of commercial ventures that expanded Carlos Segura’s creative efforts. In 1994, the T26 Digital Type Foundry was born to explore the typographical side of the business. T26 fonts are now distributed throughout the world. And since then, 5 additional ventures have been created. 5inch and Cartype with further expansions of the typographical segment with Biketype, Mototype, and Trucktype. Websites featuring a comprehensive collection of emblems, bike/car/truck company histories, logos, typographical & graphical reviews, design features and just about anything that is related. An online museum! Thank you Segura and all.

Biketype
Mototype
5inch
Cartype
Trucktype

It’s refreshing to see a designer step out on a limb and use his history as inspiration for a contemporary logo. I can only imagine the conversations around this one. BUT, I have a feeling Carlos is the kind of guy who brought this ad in to the office one day and said… “our new logo”. Done. I love the spontaneity and think it fits them perfectly. Curious what their old logo was… pls post it if you can find it.

Read more at Segura Inc

I’m fan of this concept. I once worked at a firm in NYC that implemented a similar approach…. but, only in the summer months. 4 10s and Friday off. It was so nice to have 3 day weekends. The environmental impact wasn’t too great, as we were a small firm. But, imagine if the entire country did this!

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Last August, Utah instituted a four-day workweek for 17,000 government employees. They started working four 10-hour days instead of five eight-hour days. They all get every Friday off and their pay is unaffected. The hope was that, with many agencies closed on Friday, the state could save money on utilities:

Check this GOOD piece on “Utah’s Four-day Workweek Experiment: Did It Work?”