Pentagram has created a new brand tagline, narrative and visual identity for DK, an award-winning publisher which specialises in illustrated reference books on a wide range of subjects including travel, science, and lifestyle. 

DK was keen to inspire its established readers and appeal to new audiences, and realised that its brand needed to evolve to reflect this. Only a handful of publishing brands have a globally recognised visual identity and it was important to retain DK’s iconic status, while bringing the old mark firmly into the digital age. 

Working closely with the in-house DK team, the design team went through a series of design iterations that refined and simplified the familiar logo to function at different scales and on multiple platforms and applications. A new brand tagline— ‘For the curious’—focuses on DK’s vision to both inspire curiosity and enable discovery.

An evolution of its previous iteration (also designed by Pentagram), the new logo retains the central open book motif which houses the ‘DK’ monogram, but simplifies it and uses bespoke modern serif letterforms. Designed to work seamlessly across all print and digital communications, the logo works at all scales with a flexible but consistent system of how it resolves within a DK cover design. Now a single colour, the logo can now be applied in whatever colours and finishes best complement each book cover, and becomes an intrinsic part of the book’s design.