Graphic identity lovers rejoice: “an unprecedented catalogue of modern trademarks” is here

Judging from the recent brouhaha over the NASA graphic standards manual, there’s no stemming the creative community’s lust for logos of yesteryear. Thanks to Taschen, we reckon that appetite will be satiated at least temporarily in the form of its blockbuster new book Logo Modernism. The hefty red and white tome bills itself as “an unprecedented catalogue of modern trademarks." And that it is, documenting at length modernist graphic design through a series of logo marks, word marks and graphic identity systems.

There are more than 6,000 trademarks shown all in all, lovingly curated by Jens Müller and drawn from the years 1940 – 1980. The graphics are arranged by design into three sections – Geometric, Effect, and Typographic – making the book’s structure as sensible and functional as the designs it sets out to document. With work by the likes of Paul Rand, Yusaku Kamekura, and Anton Stankowsk and projects including the iconic designs for the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games, it’s a beautiful distillation of modernist ideals rendered in their most superbly crafted way.