"This book presents a thorough exploration of the trademark, its history, development, style, classification and relevance in today's world. A brief history is given of the origins of the trademark in heraldry, monograms, owner's marks and certificates of origin. The next chapters study corporate identity and communication design with an emphasis on sign theory. The core of the book is a comprehensive taxonomy of trademarks covering name marks, abbreviations and all kinds of picture marks. Following the taxonomy, the classification leads to an alphabetical index of trademark themes from animals to word puzzles. This index is illustrated by a selection of the world's best trademarks - the marks of excellence from which this book takes its name. The final section of the book covers the development of trademarks over time and across the boundaries of language and space."--BOOK JACKET.