Why write?

I'm told there aren't many books written by designers – as though the art of designing and writing don't and can't mix.

At the time when I started this the only other books on identity were written by those one step removed from the actual drawing board – and to disguise the lack of useful content these books depended on flashy pictures rather than any credible explanation of what worked and why.

For example, one book lauded the 'tribal' British Airways identity, citing only pictures and a few glib words. This was soon seen to be missing the point entirely, for in my opinion the downhill motion of BA began not for all manner of other reasons explained by one journalist after another, but by the collapse in morale for staff as well as passengers. All because BA failed to realise the successful values that had underpinned their previous identity. Being ignorant of visual values is nothing new. I imagine their former agency knew these full well, if only instinctively on the drawing board – in other words the designers knew, even if the account executives may have been focusing on other issues. Either way there was a void of visual-value knowledge within the BA board.

Hence my avoidance of space-filling colour photographs and hopelessly romantic explanations. I decided not to show pictures. An unusual choice for a designer, but I wanted to focus on the processes of thought necessary to create and sustain a powerful identity – whether the designer is to be you or those you delegate to. Without this definition of the structure beneath an identity how could any organisation know what they were building or destroying with each new twist and turn of their marketing plans?

I was telling all my clients that there are rules that govern a successful identity or brand; a set of hidden drivers that determine its validity and success.

But one client didn't get it. 'Rules?' he replied, as though how can art and design have rules? To explain my approach I wrote what was to become the first chapter of the book. And after chapter one, well, I had to write several more.