LOGO in Real Life: Notes for a Social History of Visual Identity

An eloquent and critical reading of graphic design's icon, the logo, in its actual lived context

This book is a social history of logos, from corporate branding to appropriation. It chronicles the untold story in which logos take on a life of their own, moving away from corporate identity manuals and brand guidelines. Tracing the graphic influence of logos on memes, counterfeits, protests, fashion, pop culture or counterculture more broadly, this book calls for a new understanding of logos. Logo in Real Life archives and studies the artifacts that symbolize the history of graphic design--namely, logos, logotypes, brands, marks, trademarks--investigating their informal circulation and exploring the consequences of their existence in the lived environment. The result is a different story: one conceived by the public that consumes, uses and reappropriates logos. A participatory narrative that gives voice to mispronunciations, dupes, knockoffs, imitations and détournements, the book discusses logos in a new light: not as intact objects resulting from the genius of professionals and masters, but as a liquid form. Logo in Real Life reframes the narrative around logos, positing that graphic design icons are "open works," and that the public actively participates in the evolving life of brands, graphic design and visual culture.
Born in Francavilla Fontana, Brindisi, and currently based in Milan, Michele Galluzzo (born 1985) is an Italian graphic designer and researcher who specializes in logos. Since 2018 he has been part of the editorial board of the international graphic magazine Progetto Grafico. He curates the Instagram page @logo_irl and in 2020 he founded--together with Franziska Weitgruber--the design-research duo Fantasia Type. He also teaches at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.