Rhetoric of logos ; a primer for visual language

The volume will enable students and professionals in the fiels of graphic design and visual communication to better understand existing marks and logos and use the principles of rhetoric to create persuasive new ones. It offers a descriptive model that offers practical guidelines for systematic and structured working. The creation of a logo as one of the most important elements of corporate design is a demanding design task. The concept that a good logo is by definition a persuasive logotype creates a direct link to the genre of rhetoric, which, according to Aristotle, has the power of observing the means of persuasion on almost any subject. It follows that rhetoric concepts and methods are ideally suited for understanding the effectiveness of logos and to expand the horizon of applied design work. After an overview of the history of logos and how corporate design has evolved since its inception, Eduard Helmann illustrates how designers can utilize the tools of rhetoric, a science that dates back more than 2,500 years. Stylistic devices play a central role in this as logos are analyzed and classified to determine which communicative strategies and intended effects they fulfill. The theoretical insights gained from this provide designers with a wealth of knowledge that facilitates analysis, ideas generation, and argumentation along with a deeper understanding of the design process.