How did the Coca-Cola logo come into being? Where did the Michelin man come from? What was the idea behind the Pirelli logotype? The new Lawrence King book, TM, explains the explains the development, design, usage and purpose of 29 of the world’s most famous logos.

The book’s author is Creative Review’s deputy editor, Mark Sinclair, and is the result of eighteen months’ research and interviews by his team with the designers responsible for the visual identities where possible. It contains a number of archival and previously unpublished images.

Logos featured include Woolmark, Deutsche Bank, British Rail, Michelin, the V&A Museum British Steel, Centre Pompidou, ERCO, Musée d’Orsay, Pirelli, UPS, Canadian National, CBS and London Underground.

To create the stories, interviews were conducted with designers such as David Gentleman (British Steel), Mike Dempsey (ENO), Bruno Monguzzi (Musée d’Orsay) and Ben Bos (Randstad), like Coordt von Mannstein, the designer who reworked Otl Aicher’s original symbol for the Munich Olympics in 1972, and Ignacio Vasallo, who had the idea of asking artist Joan Miró to create an abstract sun design for Spain’s fledgling tourist industry when he was a junior minister for tourism there.

Want to buy the book? Click here.