Best branding books to look for in 2023

Available on January 25, 2023, Typography Design and Application in Branding is a “visual collection of business cases” and exercise materials aimed at teaching readers how to select the best typefaces and fonts for their projects. The book details typographic techniques and features work from world-renowned designers. Author Li Aihong has written other books about branding and typography, such as Japanese Style Typeface Design and Applications: A Reference from Japanese Masters and Logo Design for Beginners (see below). The author has also written well-reviewed books about interior design, including hotels, bars, luxury retail stores, and even vertical garden design.

While this book’s focus on social media influencers means it doesn’t fit as squarely in the “best branding books” category, Influenced—publishing on November 30, 2022—is surely relevant to most brand strategists, brand consultants, and others in branding and marketing. According to a starred review from Booklist, the book “covers everything anyone would ever want to know about social media influencers.” The author, “Dr. Brian” Boxer Wachler, is no newcomer to the science of perception. His previous book, Perceptual Intelligence: The Brain’s Secret to Seeing Past Illusion, Misperception, and Self-Deception, aimed to explain how we perceived the world around us and make decisions within it.

With Influenced, Dr. Boxer Wachler dives into the impact of social media on the human brain. In short, “science is proving that our addictive reliance upon social media and its influencers is having a demonstrable impact on how we think, feel, and perceive everything around us.” Given how hard every brand in the world is working to get us to click “Like,” it’s probably in our interest to understand what’s happening to our brains when we do.

Emmanuel Probst’s Assemblage will be available on February 7, 2023. Probst is an SVP at Ipsos and teaches consumer market research at UCLA. Through research and his knowledge of consumer psychology (in which he also has a PhD), he explains the “art and science of creating transformative brands by combining personal, social, and cultural components.” The book will teach readers how to shape perceptions, why we relate to antiheroes, how to deliver a personalized, human-centric consumer experiences, and how brands can make a positive impact on people, society, and the economy.

The book earns its spot on this list of best branding books partly due to the fact that it’s endorsed by a who’s who of branding and marketing experts:

• Nir Eyal, author of Hooked and Indistractable (“a clear, concise, and actionable book”);
• Jonah Berger, author of Contagious and The Catalyst (Assemblage illustrates “how brands can do good for both consumers and society”);
• Rory Sutherland, author of Alchemy (“provides us with a much more helpful and versatile mental model for the way brands are built in practice”);
• David Aaker, author of Building Strong Brands (“a real contribution”); and
• Martin Lindstrom, author of Buyology and The Ministry of Common Sense (“offers a holistic understanding of brands and perceptions” … “a must-read”)

Probst’s previous book, Brand Hacks: How to Build Brands by Fulfilling the Consumer Quest for Meaning, is also well reviewed on Amazon.

Available since November 22, 2022, 100 Symbols That Changed The World takes a closer look at the world’s most recognizable symbols, from hieroglyphics and the dollar sign to the radioactivity symbol and pictograms used in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. While not exactly a branding book, 100 Symbols makes this list of best branding books because anyone working in branding can benefit from a deeper understanding of the function, power, and history of symbols, including logos and icons.

 

There are many symbols of affiliation, not only to religious groups, but support of political causes or even brand loyalty.”

 

For the author, Colin Salter, 100 Symbols marks the eighth book in a series of “100” books, which started with 100 Books that Changed the Worldand also includes 100 Posters That Changed The World and 100 Speeches That Changed the World.

The only book on this list that’s already been published, Myths of Branding came out just a few weeks ago, on October 3, 2022. Written by Simon Bailey and Andy Milligan, a 15-year veteran of Interbrand and founding partner of The Caffeine Partnership, the book uncovers the many “misguided, mistaken and blatantly false myths that abound in the branding arena.” The first—that a brand is nothing more than a logo—likely won’t surprise any readers of this post. But other busted myths promised in the book, such as “the customer is always right” and “the digital revolution is making branding irrelevant,” may offer new insights. Myths of Branding relies case studies, examples, and anecdotes to debunk popular misconceptions, then shares “the reality of what it’s really like to work in the world of branding.”

This book is part of a “Myths” series, in which each book is written by a different author(s). Some other books in the series sound interesting—Myths of Strategy and Myths of Marketing, for example. And Andy Milligan’s previous work could probably make a list of best branding books, too: See, Feel, Think Do; Brand It Like Beckham; Uncommon Practice; Don’t Mess With the Logo; BOLD; and On Purpose.