Alina Wheeler works with leaders to accelerate brand clarity, awareness and loyalty. Her disciplined process has been used successfully by large organizations like Vanguard, and non-profit organizations like Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest. She is the author of Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team, which deconstructs the branding process into a disciplined five-phase methodology. The third edition is published in seven languages, and is used as a resource by universities, design and branding firms, entrepreneurs and corporate marketing departments.

In this audio interview with Debbie Millman, Alina Wheeler discusses branding, her father (who was a sea captain), strategic imagination, color coding souls, the Gap logo fiasco, how hard it is to be a client — and her new book, co-authored with Joel Katz, Brand Atlas. (02.25.11)

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Alina Wheeler

Design Matters by Debbie Millman features interviews with designers, artists and cultural leaders, including Lawrence Weiner, Barbara Kruger, Malcolm Gladwell, Eric Kandel, Stefan Sagmeister, John Maeda, Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones, Michael Arad, Milton Glaser, Massimo Vignelli, Paula Scher, Steven Heller, Jonah Lehrer, among others.

In 2011, Design Matters received the People’s Design Award from the prestigious Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards.

Subscribe to Design Matters for free on iTunes, where new episodes are uploaded weekly: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695