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Finamore Design

Graphic Design • Web Development

Bookshelf

Identity Crisis: 100 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands

November 6th, 2007

Posted in Bookshelf, News

Identity Crisis: 100 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands

Jeff Fisher of LogoMotives with How Publishing just published Identity Crisis: 100 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands which showcases recent identity rebranding work for as variety of industries. This book acts as a guide designers can use to show their clients the power of rethinking and redesigning their identities. Identity design (logos, [...]

The Anatomy of Design by Steven Heller & Mirko Ilic

March 14th, 2007

Posted in Bookshelf

The Anatomy of Design by Steven Heller & Mirko Ilic

Steven Heller does it again! He is credited with authoring, co-authoring and editing over 100 books. While I personally own quite a few from his library, this new addition (pub February 2007) is one of my favorite. In this book Steven Heller and Mirko Ilic analyze fifty great pieces of graphic design (posters, books, catalogs. [...]

Whatever You Think…

October 19th, 2006

Posted in Bookshelf

Whatever You Think…

Do you find it difficult to “Think Outside The Box?” Not sure what it is going to take to succeed in a creative position? Or possibly just curious about what it is that those people in the creative department do on a day to day basis? Paul Arden, Executive Creative Director for 14 years at [...]

Two things you need to survive in todays business world… Balls & Guts

September 21st, 2006

Posted in Bookshelf, Business, SmileFile

Two things you need to survive in todays business world… Balls & Guts

These books are a definite asset to any business person, creative or not, who wants to score extreme success. These books are well written, extremely insightful, and fun to look at. I find these two books work well together, while GUT focuses on how to listen to and understand your gut instinct, BALLSY gives you [...]

Ideaspotting: How to Find Your Next Great Ideaby Sam Harrison

September 11th, 2006

Posted in Bookshelf

Ideaspotting: How to Find Your Next Great Ideaby Sam Harrison

This book is full of motivational stories about unconventional places where some of the world’s greatest ideas have been spotted. These stories are intermingled with small easy to complete exercises that are guaranteed to stimulate your creative juices and open your mind to the possibilities that are sitting right in front of you. This book [...]

Some People Can’t Surfby Art Chantry

August 31st, 2006

Posted in Bookshelf

Some People Can’t Surfby Art Chantry

Art Chantry’s work is a perfect example of how to send a specific message through a simple coherent design. People who do not know of him will look at his work and label it retro-punk when in fact he is one of the founding fathers of this style of design. Undoubtedly he creates his work [...]

Masters of Deception : Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusion

June 27th, 2006

Posted in Bookshelf, SmileFile

Masters of Deception : Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusion

While this book is technically on my Bookshelf it also falls in the SmileFile category. I have been drawn to optical illustions and visual trickery ever since I was a little kid. This book explains the why, what and how of the “Masters of Deception” like; Guiseppe Arcimboldo, Salvador Dali, Sandro Del-Prete, M.C. Escher, Scott [...]

Wordplay: The Philosophy, Art, and Science of Ambigramsby John Langdon

June 27th, 2006

Posted in Bookshelf

Wordplay: The Philosophy, Art, and Science of Ambigramsby John Langdon

I hunted used bookstores and scoured the web for this book about four years ago. It turned out that this book was out of print. I finally managed to find it in a used bookstore in a suburb of Chicago and happily bought is for approx $25. Just recently I recently found out that this [...]

The Brand Gapby Marty Neumeier

June 23rd, 2006

Posted in Bookshelf

The Brand Gapby Marty Neumeier

You know it’s going to be a good book when you see the AIGA logo on the spine. Normally I do not hesitate when I see that little back square with the four white letters, but for some reason this book eluded me for two years. When I was in the mood for another branding [...]

Talent Is Not Enoughby Shel Perkins

May 23rd, 2006

Posted in Bookshelf

Talent Is Not Enoughby Shel Perkins

Finally, someone wrote this book so I don’t have to. I know that most designers are like me, they want to spend all their time creating good designs for good clients. But the truth of the matter is that aside from being a good creative, there is a fair amount of business acumen designers must [...]