Pentagram (design firm)


Pentagram is a design firm. It was founded in 1972, by Alan Fletcher, Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes, Kenneth Grange, and Mervyn Kurlansky at Needham Road, Notting Hill, London. The company has offices in London, New York City, San Francisco, Berlin and Austin, Texas.

History

Pentagram was founded on the premise of collaborative interdisciplinary designers working together in an independently owned firm of equals. Theo Crosby claimed the structure was suggested to him by his experience of working on the seminal late-1950s exhibition This Is Tomorrow: "it was my first experience at a loose, horizontal organisation of equals. We have brought it... to a kind of practical and efficient reality at Pentagram". The firm currently comprises 23 partner-designers in five cities, each managing a team of designers and sharing in common overhead and staff resources. The partners in each office share incomes equally and all the partners own an equal portion of the total firm. This equality, along with the tradition of periodically inviting new members to join, renews the firm while giving even the newest members an equal footing with the partners of long standing. This 'flat' organisation along with the self-capitalised finances of the business, allows equal participation and control of the group's destiny by the member. In 1978 Colin Forbes formed the New York office, eventually adding both graphic designers Peter Harrison and Woody Pirtle as partners. In 1990-91 Michael Bierut, Paula Scher, graphic designers, and James Biber, an architect, joined the New York office and eventually moved to a building at 204 Fifth Avenue, a building designed by C. P. H. Gilbert, where the office resided until 2017. Now in the New York office there are eight partners.
In London, all the founding partners, along with David Hillman and John McConnell have departed, leaving a second and third generation of partners working in the Needham Road office. John Rushworth, Daniel Weil, Angus Hyland, Justus Oehler, Harry Pearce, Domenic Lippa, Naresh Ramchandani, Marina Willer, Jody Hudson-Powell, Luke Powell and Sascha Lobe, along with industrial designer Jon Marshall now comprise the London office.
Notable alumni of Pentagram include Kit Hinrichs.

Scope and clientele

Pentagram does work in graphic design, identity, architecture, interiors and products. They have designed packaging and products for many well known companies. They have also developed identities for Sam Labs, Citibank, United Airlines, and The Co-operative brand in the UK, winning a silver award from the Design Business Association.
In 2007, they updated the visual identity of Saks Fifth Avenue.
In addition to graphic design work, the firm has partners working on architectural projects such as the Harley-Davidson Museum, the Alexander McQueen shops, Citibank interiors, the Adshel and Clear Channel buildings in London, a host of private residences including the Phaidon Atlas of Architecture listed Bacon Street Residence, the new London club Matter, along with a host of interior, retail, restaurant and exhibition projects.
Pentagram was hired to redesign the American cable television programme, The Daily Show's set and on-screen graphics in 2005.
Outside of commercial work, Pentagram also does pro bono work for non-profit organisations. On 12 February 2008 the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation awarded Pentagram the "DNA" award for incorporating pro bono services into business culture. Recently, Pentagram has done work for the One Laptop per Child.
Pentagram supports up-and-coming artists. Angus Hyland was a notable early supporter of illustrator Christine Berrie, and organised a display of her work at the Pentagram main office.
On 13 December 2010, the Big Ten Conference unveiled their new logo designed by Pentagram.
In 2016 Pentagram were commissioned to design the packaging for the Pink Floyd box set, The Early Years 1965–1972. The set was released in November 2016.

Partners