New Work: President Lincoln’s Cottage
In honor of President Lincoln’s 200th birthday (not to mention the recent discovery that he was perhaps an early adapter of emoticons), we bring you a new identity designed by Pentagram. President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home is a historic Gothic Revival house on a hilltop on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. to which Lincoln and his family often repaired during the wartime years of his presidency. Recently having undergone a seven-year $15 million restoration by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the house opened to the public last year for the first time in its history. The new identity employs an eloquent example of penmanship adapted from Lincoln’s own signature — the 16th President spent much time writing at the Cottage, and drafted the Emancipation Proclamation during his first summer living there — which provides a personal focus to the site’s somewhat complicated name.
Michael Bierut and his team, who worked on this project, also designed the identity for the National Trust as well as the Philip Johnson Glass House. Like the Cottage, the Glass House is also a National Trust site.
Applications of the identity after the jump.
Abbott Miller at FUSE
Quick Link: Abbott Miller at FUSE
Pentagram Named One of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in Design
Quick Link: Pentagram Named One of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in Design
New Work: 2wice Everybody Dance Now
Given the current state of the world, who couldn't use a little dancing? Everybody Dance Now, the latest edition of 2wice designed by Abbott Miller, is a portfolio of photographs by Martin Parr that capture the universal delight in getting down. Photographed over the past 35 years, the color-saturated pictures, including a few early black and white images, document the twisting, twirling, shimmying and shaking that take place in nightclubs, dance competitions, parades and celebrations from Blackpool to São Paolo.
"After so many collaborations with choreographers and dancers, it was fun to remember that dancing happens everywhere and is done by everyone," says Miller. "Working with Parr's photographs during this particularly gloomy time provided a bright spot, and we hope the publication provides the same lift to others."
Come dancing after the jump.
Abbott Miller at Princeton’s Better Design Conference
Quick Link: Abbott Miller at Princeton’s Better Design Conference
New Work: The Museum of Modern Art
Along with the many signature artworks in its collection, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) possesses one of the most recognizable logotypes of any cultural institution in the world. In recent years, however, the application of this identity across the museum’s broader graphics program has been indistinct. Now MoMA has recast its identity, building on its familiar logotype to create a powerful and cohesive institutional voice. The new graphic identity has been designed by Paula Scher, and further developed and applied by Julia Hoffmann, MoMA’s Creative Director for Graphics and Advertising (and a Pentagram alumna).
While the MoMA logo is iconic, it alone is not enough to continually carry the spirit of the institution. An organized and flexible system was required that would support program material across print, web and environmental applications. The new system designed by Scher and Hoffmann employs prominent use of the MoMA logo as a graphic device, dramatic cropping and juxtapositions of artwork, and a brighter color palette to create a bold, contemporary image. The identity also underscores the museum’s leadership role in the field of design.
A look at the new identity after the jump. All pictured applications designed by Julia Hoffmann and her team at MoMA.
New Work: ‘The City in 2050’
What will cities be like in the not-too-distant year of 2050? For the Urban Land Institute, Michael Gericke and his team created the exhibition The City in 2050. Designed to educate the public about the variety of economic, social and environmental factors that will shape the future design and development of cities worldwide, the exhibition was installed at the institute’s Urban Land Expo in Miami and will travel to other locations in the year ahead. A pair of large-scale arrows creates the structure for the exhibition’s galleries and symbolically points to the future.
A look at the exhibition after the jump.
New Work: OLIN
Abbott Miller has designed a new graphic identity and website for OLIN, a landscape architecture, urban design and planning firm based in Philadelphia. OLIN is the recipient of the 2008 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Landscape Design and is internationally recognized for creating spaces that promote social interaction as well as for emphasizing environmental, economic and social sustainability in their work.
The firm was previously known as Olin Partnership, and the identity and website coincide with the introduction of the abbreviated name. The identity comprises an icon of two perfect circles and a signature in Gotham Black characterized by its redrawn “O.” The simplicity of the name and mark are counterbalanced by vibrant color options and flexible logo compositions that allow for a customizable identity. The OLIN website extends the identity into a navigable experience that encourages users to view the firm’s work through a series of different lenses. The result is an intuitive environment that complements the firm’s deep understanding of public space.
A closer look after the jump.
Quick Links
- Harry Pearce to Speak at Designer Breakfast
- Harry Pearce and Naresh Ramchandani's Identity for Hong Kong Luxury Destination Launches
- Meet Marina Willer, Pentagram's Newest Partner
- Inside Pentagram's Archive
- Michael Bierut to Speak at TYPO San Francisco
- "Today I'm Feeling Turquoise" Featured on New York Magazine's Approval Matrix
- The Story Behind the New Microsoft Windows 8 Logo