There's also a lot more jargon about it. In fact, one of the important differences between the 1997 and 2013 editions revolves around language. Mollerup states in the book that trademarks "constitute a lingua franca," but in the time since the first volume, the vocabulary, he told me, "has got thousands of new words. There are more marks and a great variety of marks, as well as more classes of owners. Design literature in general has a tendency to look at the top of an iceberg. As implied by the title, Marks of Excellence shows a biased picture of what is out there."

Nonetheless, "excellence" is a loaded term. Of the logos featured in the book, is Microsoft's logo "excellent" because the design is impeccable, or because consumers recognize it in an instant? Is Harrods' script "excellent" because it is old, or for aesthetic reasons? Is Chiquita Banana "excellent" because it deploys a dancing banana and we find her cute? And is Ray-Ban "excellent" because of all the fashion advertising buzz that has built its rep? Mollerup's response: "Well-designed logos are the work of the designers. Successful logos imply the company's use of the logo." In other words, there are instances where a logo is not pleasant to the eye but the company uses it well. "A certain measure of ugliness is attractive in some trades," Mollerup explains, "A mediocre logo in terms of design quality can be used to good effect through a great mix of consistency and variation. The Coca-Cola logo is not, and never was, an outstanding design. However, it has been used with great ingenuity."

In case "excellence" is still too vague, he also includes a short section on "Branding for Skeptics." And I'm one of those. "The cure against skepticism is knowledge," he told me. "Rather than a mystery, branding is a bunch of healthy principles. Many of these principles were previously known without ­ or with another ­ name." Successful brands are cited throughout the book, and the majority do represent successful companies, which raises the question which came first: the brand's success or the company's?

"There is no chicken-or-the-egg situation," Mollerup says. "A brand is built around a core, which together with its presentation and the resulting image, constitutes the brand. Without a core there is no brand. The core can be a company, product, event or anything else." But a logo can be a little more mysterious.

Enter what Mollerup calls the "Found Mark," which is a figurative mark that previously did not have an obvious connection with what is branded. "'There is no real reason that a computer company should have an apple as logo," he says. "As time goes by the meaning of the logo becomes the company. Paul Rand, the designer of logos for IBM, Westinghouse and UPS, told us that he designer designs the logo while the company makes it."