Pentagram has designed Great Women Artists, a new book published by Phaidon. The 464-page hardback volume spans five centuries of female creativity and features over 400 female artists from 50 different countries, including previously overlooked artists whose work is now achieving acclaim and prominence in galleries and museums. The artists appear alphabetically and are each represented with a significant piece of artwork, which takes centre stage in the understated layout.

The bold cover reflects the diversity of creative voices presented in the book. One of the horizontal bars acts as a strike-through device for the word ‘Women’, a nod to the fact that ideally there would already be equal representation of male and female artists in the art world (making the gender specification a redundant conceit).