Reading list update 3

The Brand Innovation Manifesto
John Grant
Ideas, Planning

John Grant dun-harf love a manifesto: The New Marketing Manifesto, the Green Marketing Manifesto, the Have it With Chips Manifesto* and this one, the Brand Innovation Manifesto. Manifestos have a tendency to date over night but this one’s a bit special. It takes an Integrated view of brand strategy, planning and ideas generation. It’s full of theory, supported by useful examples.  An inspiring book for anyone looking beyond siloed Digital or Advertising thinking*.

* We live in hope.

——————————————-

The Art Of Innovation: Success Through Innovation the IDEO Way 
Tom Kelley
Ideas 

Are you a member of the Church of IDEO? Because this is the IDEO bible: A snapshot of how this landmark agency functioned at the height of it’s powers. The Art of Innovation offers advice on the building blocks of good agency process, such as collaboration, brainstorming, capturing ideas… 

——————————————-

The Mind Map® Book (Full colour illustrated Edition)
Tony and Barry Buzan™ 
Ideas 

A rather enthusiastic Times reviewer claimed that this book ‘will do for the brain what Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time did for the universe’… errr no, but The Mind Map Book certainly does a good job of encouraging, and training creative thinking. The premise being that as visually-lead creatures we find it easier to think-through and understand ideas when we can see them on the page. The theory is further drawn out (sorry I couldn’t resist) into visualising the interconnectedness of systems of ideas. Published by the BBC and citing Leonardo da Vinci as a practicing mind mapper, it’s 101 for all creatives who use pen and paper.
(Kudos to Dan H for sharing). 

——————————————-

Interaction of Color
Joseph Albers 
Graphic Design 

If I possessed a fully functioning TimeMachinePro, the Weimar Bauhaus would be one of the first places I’d visit. This book is not the only visual theory text book to originate at the Bauhaus in the 1930s (another being The Colour Star by Johannes Itten). The subtle and subjective nature of colour relationships are explored concisely and demonstrated clearly in this small but perfectly formed book.

(Kudos to Pierre for slapping it down on my desk, woof!)