Pentagram Design

The world's largest independent design consultancy.

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Pentagram is saddened to learn of the passing of the legendary blues guitarist Johnny Winter. Our partner Paula Scher worked with Johnny on cover designs for several of his seminal albums of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when she was an art director at CBS Records. Johnny was signed to Blue Sky Records, a custom label distributed by CBS Records and lead by Steve Paul, who managed Johnny and his brother Edgar Winter, as well as Muddy Waters, Rick Derringer and David Johansen. Paula designed covers for all of them.

Steve Paul liked working with the stars of the profession, and Paula collaborated with top photographers for many of the Blue Sky covers. Richard Avedon photographed the Winter brothers for the cover of “Together” (1976). The brothers were legally blind but had cover approval, and had to hold the comps very close to their faces to see them. The Winters were popular at the time and the only albinos in the record business. Paula knew they would be instantly recognizable, and she persuaded Steve Paul to run Avedon’s image without any typography.

The striking cover of “White, Hot & Blue” (1978) was photographed by Art Kane. For “Raisin’ Cain” (1980), Johnny handed a photograph he had to Paula and she hand-colored it in-house.

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Pentagram's Paula Scher shares her identity design expertise in a new online class developed in partnership with online learning community Skillshare. In the self-paced class, “Brand Identity: Design Adaptable Branding Systems,” Scher reveals her process for creating a "liquid identity"––a recognizable, dynamic branding system that can be adapted across mediums. In the 70-minute class, Scher challenges students to design and share an identity system for a not-for-profit organization of their choice, such as a theater, museum or government. Scher takes students through the steps of creating a liquid identity: researching an organization’s goals, developing a series of design solutions, simplifying them to their essence, then adapting them across applications including animation, products, signage, architecture, and more. The video lessons show how Scher has designed identities for some of her most iconic projects (including Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Type Directors Club, and Microsoft Windows), go behind-the-scenes of her latest rebranding for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and join her at the Public Theater in Manhattan––her most long-standing identity project to date.

Enroll in "Brand Identity: Design Adaptable Branding Systems" here.

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In addition to helping New Yorkers navigate the city streets, the WalkNYC Pedestrian Wayfinding we designed as part of PentaCityGroup appear to work well as blast barriers in a machine gun battle, at least according to these scenes from the trailer for the upcoming video game Tom Clancy's The Division. We're not sure we'd recommend this use in real life; while the signs have been engineered for durability, we never got around to field-testing them for the apocalypse. We're happy to see they've become a familiar and welcoming presence on the streets of New York, no matter how dire the circumstances.

Read more about the design of the WalkNYC system here.

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Join us for an evening at Pentagram with Technology Will Save Us.

Technology Will Save Us is an organisation dedicated to getting people to create their own technology. From DIY products to education and workshops, Co-founder Bethany Koby will talk about her mission to help anyone become a maker of technology.

Tickets are limited so please RSVP to [email protected] to confirm a place. 

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To create a modern and robust identity for Berry Bros. & Rudd, the world’s most respected wine merchants, Harry Pearce spent weeks researching, documenting and submersing himself in their cellars, archives and warehouses. 

What Pearce found were artefacts spanning five centuries, including handwritten labels, notes and logotypes. This photoessay shares his experience uncovering Berry Bros. & Rudd's rich history. 

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Take It Slow by Natasha Jen

Pentagram partner Natasha Jen has created a beautiful, encrypted message to inspire us to take our foot off the gas and discover our surroundings on foot, on a bike or by bus.  “When you take it slow, you will uncover the beauty of the journey,” says Natasha’s script, a wise piece of advice that you have to slow down to enjoy, just like the journey itself.

Why?

When we drive, we speed down every street assessing everything ahead of us - except the planet’s future. When we walk, we can enjoy our surroundings, and the fact that we’re travelling in a more planet-friendly way.

How?

The Guardian have a bunch of walking podcasts that are real-time audio guide for city strolls. Relive the 1968 student protests in Paris, discover the 17th century coffee houses of London or get a personal tour of Edinburgh from Ian Rankin. Press play, put one foot in front of the other and enjoy a richer journey.

Join the rest of the world in switching off your lights for Earth Hour next Saturday at 8:30 pm.

We’re selling this poster printed on FSC paper with sustainable ink for £12 plus postage and packing with all proceeds going back to the Do The Green Thing charity.

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Switch Off Engine by Harry Pearce

Today Pentagram partner Harry Pearce takes a warning sign from the depths of the car world and reuses it to create a messages that instructs us to step away from our vehicles and go by foot instead.

“The visual language of obedience demands our attention and compliance,” says Harry. “Maybe the car industry should follow its own rules.”

Why?

London motorists spent an average of 82 hours stuck in traffic last year. That’s 82 hours in a smoke-spewing, soul-crushing box on wheels that could’ve been spent doing something better. Like walking.

How?

The days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer and the idea of walking to work is back on the cards for many of us. Walk to Work Week is happening in the UK between the 12-16 May. Sign up and put your best foot forward.

Join the world’s biggest celebration of our brilliant planet and sign up for Earth Hour on 29 March at 8.30 pm.

We’re selling this poster printed on FSC paper with sustainable ink for £12 plus postage and packing with all proceeds going back to the Do The Green Thing charity.

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Daniel Weil's upcoming exhibition at the Design Museum has been featured in TimeOut's 'Must-see at the museum'. Opening on the 14th May 2014, Time Machines: Daniel Weil and the Art of Design will showcase over three decades of his work including his personal archive, client work and his seminal Bag Radio. 

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Ask by Abbott Miller 10/29

Bold, modernist simplicity cuts through the taboo of ordering tap water in this poster from New York Pentagram partner Abbott Miller.

“I was attracted to making a poster for “Ask for tap” due to its incantatory quality, like a steady drop of water filling a glass,” says Abbott. "It reminded me of simply phrased and economically visualized posters for government campaigns from the early twentieth-century. I like the idea of creating an utterly simple icon that could function as a mnemonic device.”

Why?

No matter how many rock layers the water has filtered through, or which artesian well in Fiji it was sourced from, bottled water is just a bottled piece of hype. It’s no purer and no cleaner than tap water. It takes ridiculous amounts of energy to process, bottle and transport. Its bottles take almost the same amount of energy again to manufacture. And at 1,000 times the price of tap water, it’s a shocking waste of money. Don’t just ask for tap, beg for it.

How?

Don’t bottle it; hold your head high and ask for tap. And if a UK establishment is selling alcohol, you have the legal right to request tap water for free. 

Buy the print

We’re selling this poster printed on FSC paper with sustainable ink for £12 plus VAT, postage and packing with all proceeds going back to the Do The Green Thing charity. You can buy it here.

Join the world’s biggest celebration of our brilliant planet and sign up for Earth Hour on 29 March at 8.30 pm.

[dothegreenthing]

Little Devil by Paula Scher

Pentagram’s Paula Scher can see the satanic side of our overplugged lives. She chose the idiom of a 1940s civil action poster to inspire us to overcome our electricity demons and plug out. 

Paula was attracted by the simplicity of the action: “I chose this subject matter because it is such an easy task to accomplish and plugs have horns.”

Why?

The average American household has about 40 appliances that are always plugged in and powered up. And 10% of that electricity is wasted on vampire power - the power sucked up by appliances on standby. Here are the five most evil offenders you can fight without garlic. 

How?

Stick these far-from-devilish decals on your sockets to create amusing characters that you’ll only see when your appliances are unplugged.

Buy the print

We’re selling this poster printed on FSC paper with sustainable ink for £12 plus VAT, postage and packing with all proceeds going back to the Do The Green Thing charity. You can buy it here.

Join the world’s biggest celebration of our brilliant planet and sign up for Earth Hour on 29 March at 8.30 pm.

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17-18 Dover Street, now the site of London Dover Street Market, was once home to the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). This was the place where pop art was born, where the Independent Group was formed and where founding Pentagram partner Theo Crosby often based himself in the 1950s and 1960s.

As part of an ICA takeover, Dover Street Market is displaying a series of images from the ICA’s archive, including the poster from Crosby’s 1960 sculpture show. The show is on from now until April 6th 2014. 

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Join Pentagram partner Domenic Lippa for a Q&A session at University Arts London on February 19th from 4:30-6:00pm. Book your free ticket here. If you can't make it you can tweet in your questions for Dom using the hashtag #UALmeets.

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As part of the design of a dynamic new Pepsi gateway for Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, Michael Gericke and his team have transformed the soft drink company’s most iconic elements––the famous Pepsi Globe logo and the recently redesigned shape of the Pepsi bottle––into a pair of sculptural landmarks that capture the fun and irreverent spirit of the brand. Made of “slices” of the Pepsi logo, the monumental, 40-foot-long bottles are almost the size of a New York City subway car or a New Jersey Transit Train. The bottles have been suspended from the building’s superstructure to give them the appearance of flying through the air––just like the game-winning pass of a football. Read more about the design of the new Pepsi Gate here.

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Pentagram partner Harry Pearce discusses the image that has haunted him since he was a boy.

Early 70’s West Country, England

I grew up in the tiny village of France Lynch, in the West Country. Our old Cotswold home was full of books, art and music; my parents surrounded us with it all. I remember being very young and spending hours sitting in my bedroom, leafing through endless books on the history of art. Some books I spent so long with that I would know the picture on the page to follow, before I turned the leaf. Many images haunted me forever, and one of these was Sidney Nolan's 1946 painting 'Ned Kelly'. I’m pretty sure the image was in Thames and Hudson’s Concise History of Modern Painting. It's dream like quality had a lasting effect, I loved it then and still do. Why this painting, out of all the images in that book, had such an effect on me I’ve never really understood, it was just a deep visceral connection. Strangely since then I’ve rarely ever returned to the picture.

May 2009 Melbourne, Australia

A lifetime later you can imagine how moved I was when I was on an Austrian radio show with Stefan Sagmiester in Melbourne and a third guest appeared - Jason Smith. Jason is the CEO of the Heide Museum of Modern Art near Melbourne, the place where 'Ned Kelly' was painted. After the show I told Jason the story of my childhood love of the 'Ned Kelly' painting and very kindly the next day, he picked me up from my hotel and took me to Heide.

(The grounds at Heide)

(The House at Heide)

(Beautiful Modern Art at Heide)

(Ashtrays designed by Alan Fletcher on display at Heide)

We explored the grounds, the original house and home of Sunday and John Reed where Sidney Nolan lived, loved and worked. I stood in the room where the original painting was created. In the grounds of Heide is the beautiful Museum of Modern Art. Here, I was then allowed into the archives and saw some wonderful lesser known paintings by Nolan, not usually on display. This was a deeply moving day, a direct return to my childhood.

September 2013 Royal Academy of Art, London

Having last year completed the new corporate identity for the Royal Academy of Art, we now design the posters for the major exhibitions. During the briefings for these projects we edit, along with the RA’s marketing team, the broad selection of mages that best represent the main theme of the show's works. As soon as the 'Ned Kelly' image appeared from the pile of potential iconic Australian art, I knew in my heart this had to be the one, and so Sidney Nolan once more haunted my life as we made the painting the centrepiece of our poster. 

Somehow I feel our story is not over yet.

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To celebrate their 40th anniversary, Canongate Publishing asked some of their authors, designers, illustrators and collaborators for a personal response to the number 40. Angus Hyland and his wife Marion Deuchars who have both worked with Canongate, responded to the brief with forty digits - prints of their own hands and feet. 

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As part of Sustainability Week at the Hospital Club, Pentagram partner Naresh Ramchandani was invited to speak about green design and his work with Do The Green Thing, the environmental charity that he co-founded in 2007. Naresh spoke about Do The Green Thing’s mission of creativity versus climate change and showed posters designed by creatives around the world. To see the posters and contribute, visit Do The Green Thing’s Tumblr. 

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Last night the winners of the 2013 Curry Stone Design Prize were announced at Architecture for Humanity's "Design Like You Give a Damn" conference in San Francisco. (AFH was honored with Curry Stone's inaugural Vision Award, previously announced.) Established in 2008 by the architect Clifford Curry and his wife, H. Delight Stone, the awards honor designs that improve people's lives and the world.

Timed to this year's announcement, Pentagram's Michael Bierut and team have designed a new website for the Prize, building on the identity they created in 2010. The site presents a group of headlines that sum up the ideas behind the winning projects and leads into a series of video documentaries. The approach quickly shows what the Curry Stone Design Prize is about and how designers are helping to change the world. We've also adapted the site graphics to a poster, seen above. Project Team: Michael Bierut, partner-in-charge and designer; Aron Fay, designer.