The Pocket Universal Principles of Branding
100 Key Concepts for Defining, Building, and Delivering Brands
Published on 5. June 2025
Book
Hardback
216 pages
978-0-7603-9382-6 (ISBN)
Description
This pocket-size version of Universal Principles of Branding presents 100 concepts, theories, and guidelines that are critical for understanding brands and branding in a handy, condensed take-along format.
*Winner of the 2023 American Graphic Design Award for Book Design from Graphic Design USA*
Richly illustrated and easy to navigate, this comprehensive reference pairs clear one-page explanations of each principle with visual examples of it applied in practice on the facing page. By considering these concepts and examples, you can learn to make more informed, and ultimately better, branding decisions.
Featured principles are as diverse as:
Authenticity
Social Responsibility
World Building
Gatekeepers
Rituals and routine
Each principle is presented in a two-page format. The left-hand page contains a succinct definition, a full description of the principle, examples of its use, and guidelines for use. Sidenotes appear to the right of the text, and provide elaborations and references. The right-hand page contains visual examples and related graphics to support a deeper understanding of the principle.
The titles in the Rockport Universal series offer comprehensive and authoritative information and edifying and inspiring visual examples on multidisciplinary subjects for designers, architects, engineers, students, and anyone who is interested in expanding and enriching their design knowledge.
*Winner of the 2023 American Graphic Design Award for Book Design from Graphic Design USA*
Richly illustrated and easy to navigate, this comprehensive reference pairs clear one-page explanations of each principle with visual examples of it applied in practice on the facing page. By considering these concepts and examples, you can learn to make more informed, and ultimately better, branding decisions.
Featured principles are as diverse as:
Authenticity
Social Responsibility
World Building
Gatekeepers
Rituals and routine
Each principle is presented in a two-page format. The left-hand page contains a succinct definition, a full description of the principle, examples of its use, and guidelines for use. Sidenotes appear to the right of the text, and provide elaborations and references. The right-hand page contains visual examples and related graphics to support a deeper understanding of the principle.
The titles in the Rockport Universal series offer comprehensive and authoritative information and edifying and inspiring visual examples on multidisciplinary subjects for designers, architects, engineers, students, and anyone who is interested in expanding and enriching their design knowledge.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
color photos & illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 127 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
179 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7603-9382-6 (9780760393826)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Mark Kingsley
The Pocket Universal Principles of Branding
100 Key Concepts for Defining, Building, and Delivering Brands
E-Book
06/2025
Rockport Publishers
€15.49
Available for download
Person
Mark Kingsley got his start in the music industry, designing packages for the likes of John Coltrane, Pat Metheny, Quincy Jones, Ginger Baker, and Jewel. In 2001, his work for Blue Note Records received a Grammy nomination. Mark then transitioned into the world of corporate branding. At Landor, he was the global creative lead on the Citi account, and as executive strategy director at Collins, he developed the new global positioning for Ogilvy and helped Equinox enter the luxury hotel business. His boutique studio, Malcontent, serves independent filmmakers, global advertising firms, fintech startups, arts organizations, living legends, and Pulitzer Prize winners. Mark teaches at the School of Visual Arts Masters in Branding program and recently held the endowed Melbert B. Cary Professorship in Graphic Arts at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is currently head of brand for the fashion brand Oumlil.
Content
Abstraction
Anthropology / Ethnography
Association
Authenticity
Bandits and robots
Beauty, not beautification
The Big Five
Black box or scientific method
Blurring
Body of work
Brand architecture
Brands are a technology
Branded Unconscious
Campaigns
Case studies
Celebrities
Character
Comfort
Commit to the bit
Conflict
Context
Crafty creativity
Customer journey
Delivery
Difference and Differance
Digital to social strategist
Disaggregated data
Do no harm
Don't fear the audit
Ecosystem
Engagement
Environment/Anti-environment
Erotics of brands
Everybody lives in a body
Everyone works in branding
Flexing
Frameworks
Framing
Gathering (and dividing)
Generosity (and humility)
Go outside your lane
Haptics
Hearing voices
History and genealogy
Heterogeneity
How you say it
Identity
Influencers are a racket
Intimacy
Jargon (and fear)
Jungian-ish archetypes
Kill the Human
Let's put on a show
Magic and superstition
Management
The Master Narrative Problem
Mystery is sexy
Naming is knowing
No such place as "away"
Nostalgia
Observation
One ______ fallacy
Out of Home, but in the Mind
Parody is a sign of success
Party people
Permission
Playtime
Politics
Professionalism second
Relationships
Render unto Caesar
Repair and age
Repetition and syncopation
Retinal / non-retinal
Rituals and routine
Scoping
Semantic infiltration
Signals
Skepticism
Social Responsibility
Standards
Strategy
Tag, you're it
Take me home
Talk to the gatekeepers
Taste the rainbow
Tension
Thinking over wisdom
Time
Touchpoints
Values
Valuation
Viruses and variants
War Language
Weakest link
What if your logo was a drum pattern?
What is the product?
World-building
You are not a brand
Zany, cute and informative
Anthropology / Ethnography
Association
Authenticity
Bandits and robots
Beauty, not beautification
The Big Five
Black box or scientific method
Blurring
Body of work
Brand architecture
Brands are a technology
Branded Unconscious
Campaigns
Case studies
Celebrities
Character
Comfort
Commit to the bit
Conflict
Context
Crafty creativity
Customer journey
Delivery
Difference and Differance
Digital to social strategist
Disaggregated data
Do no harm
Don't fear the audit
Ecosystem
Engagement
Environment/Anti-environment
Erotics of brands
Everybody lives in a body
Everyone works in branding
Flexing
Frameworks
Framing
Gathering (and dividing)
Generosity (and humility)
Go outside your lane
Haptics
Hearing voices
History and genealogy
Heterogeneity
How you say it
Identity
Influencers are a racket
Intimacy
Jargon (and fear)
Jungian-ish archetypes
Kill the Human
Let's put on a show
Magic and superstition
Management
The Master Narrative Problem
Mystery is sexy
Naming is knowing
No such place as "away"
Nostalgia
Observation
One ______ fallacy
Out of Home, but in the Mind
Parody is a sign of success
Party people
Permission
Playtime
Politics
Professionalism second
Relationships
Render unto Caesar
Repair and age
Repetition and syncopation
Retinal / non-retinal
Rituals and routine
Scoping
Semantic infiltration
Signals
Skepticism
Social Responsibility
Standards
Strategy
Tag, you're it
Take me home
Talk to the gatekeepers
Taste the rainbow
Tension
Thinking over wisdom
Time
Touchpoints
Values
Valuation
Viruses and variants
War Language
Weakest link
What if your logo was a drum pattern?
What is the product?
World-building
You are not a brand
Zany, cute and informative