Awards: Print’s Regional Design Annual 2011

Pentagram is honored to have several of our projects featured in Print’s 31st Regional Design Annual, on newsstands now. Work from our New York and Austin offices has been recognized in the awards, which is the only comprehensive U.S. design competition organized by geography.

Eight projects from our New York office placed in the annual’s New York City section: Team Michael Bierut’s mark for the Fashion Law Institute; Michael Gericke and Luke Hayman’s graphics program for the US bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022 ; Luke Hayman’s “HELLO” invite for an event welcoming Eddie Opara to Pentagram; Abbott Miller’s design for Mah Jongg: Krak Bam Dot, the book accompanying the “Project Mah Jongg” exhibition; Paula Scher’s Shakespeare in the Park 2010 campaign, map murals for Queens Metropolitan Campus, and environmental graphics for parking garage at 13-17 East 54th Street; and the website for Ennead Architects, designed by Lisa Strausfeld while she was at Pentagram. We are also happy to note current Pentagram New York intern Aron Fay is honored for his design of the catalog for the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2010 Next Wave Festival.

In the Southwest section, DJ Stout and his team at Pentagram Austin are represented by three projects: the “Building Hope” movie poster and book designs for The Gernsheim Collection and Uchi: The Cookbook.

Thanks to all our designers, teams and clients for the great work!

Pentagram Develops New Identity for Airlines for America, Formerly the Air Transport Association

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New Work: Celebrating 100 Years and 60 Million Artifacts

On May 23 the New York Public Library celebrated the 100th anniversary of its landmark Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Pentagram’s Michael Gericke and his team have designed Celebrating 100 Years, the library’s centennial exhibition, a presentation of 250 astonishing artifacts that highlight the collections and history of this remarkable institution.

With over 60 million artifacts in its holdings, the New York Public Library is one of the world’s great libraries, but it is different from its peers—places like the British Library and the Library of Congress—in that it is not a national institution, but rather a municipal library conceived as a repository of knowledge for the citizens of New York. (The library is nicknamed the “People’s Palace,” and it is the only institution in the world that always makes its collections accessible to the public.) The library has its roots in the Astor and Lenox libraries, which were combined in 1895 with the Tilden Trust and found a new home in the magnificent Beaux-Arts building now known as the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, built in 1911 and recognized for its beloved marble lions, Patience and Fortitude.

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New Work: AIA Design Revolution

Last week over 17,000 architects and industry professionals gathered at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans for the American Institute of Architects 2011 National Convention and Design Exposition. Pentagram’s Michael Gericke and his team created the graphic identity for the conference, which focused on the theme “Regional Design Revolution: Ecology Matters.” The graphics featured a raised hand holding a pencil, a bold call to action for architects to improve the built environment.

New Orleans was the perfect location for the conference, as attendees discussed how architecture can help create more resilient urban ecosystems, demonstrated by New Orlean’s remarkable resurgence post-Katrina. The conference keynote was presented by Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist, who spoke about globalization and its effects on communities in the U.S.

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Michael Gericke Receives Distinguished Alumni Award from His Alma Mater

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New Work: One Laptop per Child

Since it began issuing laptops in 2007, One Laptop per Child, the initiative to put low-cost computers in the hands of the world’s poorest children, has provided its XO laptops to an astonishing 2 million students and teachers in countries and regions all over the world. The program, founded by Nicholas Negroponte, has fostered a growing community of educators, developers and supporters, and has helped change the lives of children in Afghanistan, Paraguay, Madagascar, Kenya, India, Argentina, Nepal, Gaza and the West Bank, among others.

Pentagram’s Lisa Strausfeld and her team have designed a new site for OLPC that helps focus on this new phase of the project: the use of the laptops and how they are helping to empower children. Previous versions of the OLPC site emphasized the organization’s mission and laptop technology. Now that the laptops are in use, the new site details the accomplishments of the program, helps create a sense of community and encourages continued support. The site has an editorial focus and acts as a kind of OLPC “mother ship,” or hub, that serves to aggregate news and information about OLPC and surface the communities that have grown up around the program. The homepage shares stories and photos of children and classrooms that use the laptops. News updates are color-coded by source, and the site features an interactive map of the world that shows the countries and regions that have signed on to the initiative, with links to local updates via the OLPC Wiki. The site uses the language of simple graphic icons that Pentagram’s Michael Gericke developed for the organization’s identity. The new site was developed by Upstatement.

Pentagram has been involved with OLPC since the organization’s inception. This is the third time we’ve designed the OLPC site, following the initial launch in 2007 and an update in 2008. Michael Gericke designed the OLPC identity, and Lisa Strausfeld designed Sugar, the XO laptop’s graphical user interface.

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Michael Gericke to Speak at AIGA Wisconsin

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New Work: Big Ten Conference

The Big Ten Conference is the U.S.’ oldest and largest Division I college athletic association. Founded in 1896, the conference is comprised of schools located mainly in the Midwest and includes world-class academic institutions such as Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue, Northwestern, and University of Wisconsin–Madison. Big Ten schools compete at the highest level of NCAA competition in basketball and football, and over the past decade the Big Ten has led all conferences with national titles in different sports including volleyball, track and field, cross country, wrestling, hockey, soccer, tennis and golf. Despite its name, the conference has included 11 member schools since Penn State joined in 1990, and it will add University of Nebraska – Lincoln as its 12th member in July 2011.

Pentagram’s Michael Gericke (a graduate of the University of Wisconsin) and Michael Bierut (husband of 30 years to an Ohio State alumna) have designed the new logo for the conference, announced today. The conference’s previous logo hid an “11” in the negative space around the “T” in “Ten.” The new logo evolved from this use of negative space and is built on the conference’s iconic name without reference to the number of member institutions. “Seeing two numbers at once is clever, but it means redesigning the logo every time the conference expands,” says Bierut. “It was time for something direct and simple.” The resulting logo features contemporary collegiate lettering with an embedded numeral “10” in the word “BIG,” which allows fans to see “BIG” and “10” in a single word.

“The new logo was developed to symbolize the conference’s future, as well as its heritage and tradition of competition,” says Gericke. “Going forward, fans will know The Big Ten will always be the Big Ten.”

“The new Big Ten logo provides a contemporary identifying mark unifying twelve outstanding institutions,” said Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany. “It conveys some elements from the past while simultaneously introducing new features. We think the new logo is fun and has something for everyone.”

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USA Bid Makes Final Presentation to Host 2022 FIFA World Cup™

Today the USA Bid Committee made its final presentation to FIFA to host the FIFA World Cup™ in the US in 2022. President Bill Clinton, actor Morgan Freeman, U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Landon Donovan, and USA Bid Committee Chairman and U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati, with a video message from President Barack Obama, helped make the presentation in Zurich. The US is one of five countries bidding to host the 2022 games.

Pentagram’s Michael Gericke, Luke Hayman and Lisa Strausfeld have been working closely with the USA Bid Committee for the last 18 months on the identity, bid materials and final presentation to win the games for the US. For the presentation, the designers created an animated timeline of soccer’s explosive growth in the US since the country last hosted the games in 1994.

Tomorrow the four countries bidding to host the 2018 World Cup will make their presentations, and the FIFA Executive Committee members will cast their final votes for the selected host nations for the 2018 and 2022 games. The announcement of FIFA’s decision is expected at approximately 10 am EST.

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SEGD at Pentagram’s London office

Today Pentagram’s London office is delighted to welcome the Board of SEGD (Society for Environmental Graphic Design) in advance of their International Symposium at the V&A on Friday 22 October. The Symposium, entitled “Minding the Gap: Views from both Sides of the Pond”, features a session led by Michael Gericke and Daniel Weil who will discuss whether their approach to design differs according to which side of the pond they are on.

Following the meeting a drinks reception will be held for those attending the Symposium.