Pentagram 2010 Typographic Calendar Now Available

We’ve still got a few months left of 2009 but we’re already looking forward to 2010 with the publication of our new Typographic Calendar, available now. Designed by Kit Hinrichs, the calendar features a different typeface each month in the classic wall or desk calendar format. Each month includes a brief description about what makes the featured font distinctive and a biography of the type designer. All major holidays for the US and UK are noted, along with the birthdays of the type designers. The 2010 edition uses typefaces available from Veer.

The calendar is available in two sizes, a supersize 33-by-23 inch version suitable for wall hanging and a smaller 18-by-12 inch version appropriate for desk or wall use. The price of the supersize calendar is $44 and the smaller desk/wall calendar is $26. (Prices do not include shipping.) Both versions are available at museum shops across the US and online from kenknight.com.

Kit will continue to produce the calendar from his new venture, Studio Hinrichs.

Update: Kit talks to @Issue about designing the calendar.

New Work: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Kit Hinrichs and Belle How in San Francisco have redesigned Discoveries, a semi-annual publication of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the largest non-profit academic hospital in the United States. Pentagram’s challenge was to invigorate and redefine the magazine’s graphic and editorial viewpoint to better articulate the major research initiatives of the institution and simultaneously make it more compelling, flexible and distinctive to its audience.

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New Work: Sappi

Kit Hinrichs and Belle How have just completed the ultimate guide to designing with varnish and coatings: The Standard, Volume 3, issued by Sappi Fine Paper and printed on its premium McCoy.

Advances in paper chemistry and printing technology over the past five years have made it possible to expand the role of varnish and coatings beyond merely protecting the printed surface to using these processes to evoke tactile, three-dimensional qualities. Designed to serve as a comprehensive reference tool, Standard 3 demonstrates a full range of techniques, with instructive notes, price/complexity ratings, a glossary of important terms, and a paper finish comparison. The book features images (food, fashion, etc.) where such techniques would make a powerful impression and covers the gamut from simple to complex.

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Awards: Communication Arts 2009 Design Annual

From cycles to sweeteners, stars to stripes: Nine outstanding projects from our portfolio have been selected to appear in the Communication Arts 2009 Design Annual.

The work covers five categories within the competition. The Harley-Davidson Museum is represented twice in the environmental graphics category, for Abbott Miller’s permanent exhibitions and for Michael Bierut’s signage for the museum. Also honored in the category are Miller’s design for the exhibition Brno Echo: Ornament and Crime from Adolf Loos to Now at the Moravian Gallery and Kit Hinrichs’ exhibition Long May She Wave at the Nevada Museum.

Bierut’s identities for Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) and The Oak Room have been selected in the integrated branding category. Paula Scher’s work for Truvia sweetens the packaging category, where Bierut’s ream wrap for Strathmore Paper (with Marian Bantjes) is also highlighted. Michael Gericke’s design of “A Number of Numbers”, our 2008 holiday card, is a winner in the self-promotion category.

The Design Annual is due out at the end of the year in the November/December issue of Communication Arts. It is an honor to be recognized by CA and we are extremely proud of the brilliant work put forth by our teams.

Awards: 365: AIGA Annual Design Competition 30

Each year the long, cold winter of competition submissions pays off (hopefully) with a little winning in the warmer months. This year our US offices have had a lucky 13 projects selected in the 365: AIGA Annual Design Competition 30, announced today.

Pentagram has winners in all four categories, or “channels,” of 365. In Branding, our selections include the identities for the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), Bobby’s Burger Palace and The Oak Room, all designed by Michael Bierut; the identity for OLIN, designed by Abbott Miller; and the refresh of The Public Theater identity, designed by Paula Scher. Scher’s 2008 Shakespeare in the Park campaign was honored in the Promoting channel, as were Michael Bierut’s viewbook for Yale College and our very own Pentagram Papers 39: Signs, designed by DJ Stout, and holiday book, A Number of Numbers, designed by Michael Gericke. Abbott Miller’s False Start issue of 2wice was selected in the Entertaining category, and Kit Hinrich’s Long May She Wave: A Graphic History of the American Flag exhibition at the Nevada Museum of Art was honored in Informing.

Our winners in the AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers section of the competition are Writings on Architecture, the collection of essays by Paul Rudolph, designed by Michael Bierut; and Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, the exhibition catalogue for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, designed by Abbott Miller.

The winning projects will be published in the annual AIGA: 365 Year in Design, out later this year.

‘@Issue’ Becomes a Blog

The brainchild of Kit Hinrichs, writer Delphine Hirasuna and Peter Lawrence of the Corporate Design Foundation, @Issue: Journal of Business and Design has now been turned into a blog, at the URL atissuejournal.com.

Fifteen years ago, the three founded the print version to present visually rich case studies of how good design has contributed to business success. The journal, officially published by Corporate Design Foundation, became a huge success, peaking at a circulation of 100,000. The print edition of @Issue has had to take a hiatus due to the downturn in the economy. Both to keep the brand alive and to seize the opportunity to expand the reach of the publication, the journal has gone online as a blog. The site has already attracted thousands of visitors from 66 countries. “Atissuejournal.com is not meant to replace the print journal,” Kit says. “Our intention is to publish shorter, more topical stories on the blog, and more indepth, analytical pieces in print.”

Kit Hinrichs in One

Quick Link: Kit Hinrichs in One

Kit Hinrichs Retrospective on View at Art Center

The Storyteller’s Art, an exhibition of the work of Kit Hinrichs, is on view at the Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena through May 3. The retrospective showcases Hinrichs’ influence on America’s graphic landscape over the past 40 years, displaying a broad spectrum of work that includes annual reports, magazines, exhibitions, signage and environmental graphics, catalogs, publications and identity programs. The exhibition design juxtaposes large-scale images with actual printed pieces.

A look at The Storyteller’s Art after the jump.

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Kit Hinrichs at Art Center

Quick Link: Kit Hinrichs at Art Center

‘Long May She Wave’ at the Nevada Museum of Art

After a successful run at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, Kit Hinrichs’ Stars & Stripes collection is now on display at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. The exhibition, Long May She Wave: A Graphic History of the American Flag, was given an entire floor (almost 8,500 square feet) so that Hinrichs was able to include 5,000 pieces—roughly 60 percent of the collection that he has accumulated over the past forty years. Objects on display include Civil War-era flags, handmade quilts, hundreds of toy flag bearer soldiers, weather vanes, jewelry, Native American weavings, political campaign memorabilia, clothing and protest banners, packaging labels and fine arts photographs.

In his search to understand what is iconic, Hinrichs has been fascinated with the many graphic interpretations of the American flag and how the elements in its design can be parsed into individual colors and patterns and yet be recognizable to millions around the world. The Stars and Stripes is a national brand, a logo and a symbol that is filled with emotion and levels of meaning that change with the political and cultural climate of the times.

The exhibition, curated by Hinrichs, is on view through 15 March 2009.

Hinrichs has written two books about his collection, Long May She Wave: A Graphic History of the American Flag and 100 American Flags: A Unique Collection of Old Glory Memorabilia, both published by Ten Speed Press in 2001 and 2008, respectively.

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