aesthetic portrait
photo portrait
A-Z: Chris Adamick, Shigeto Akiyama, Lucie Alig, Gary Atwell, Michael Beirut, Don Bilodeau, Amy Boyd, Tracey Cameron, Rebecca Chabot, Yoon-Young Chai, Belinda Chen, Daniel Cilmi, Michael Clarke, Jeff Close, Britt Cobb, Young Sun Compton, Jonathan Correira, Ken Deegan, Sarah Dobson, Kate Elazegui, Aron Fay, Anne Ferril, Victoria Feygelman, Aaron Garza, Michael Gericke, Courtney Gooch, Stan Goodman, Beth Gotham, Kerry Griner, Brankica Harvey, Luke Hayman, Laitsz Ho, Vivian Hodge, Kayla Jang, Natasha Jen, Regan Johnson, Nicolas Kalousdian, Jesse Kidwell, Elizabeth Kim, Janet Kim, Rich Kim, Julia Knight, Kurt Koepfle, Jeffrey Lacoboni, Frank Larocca, Noemie Le Coz, Julia Lindpainter, Mark Lindsay, Yen-Wei Liu, Claudia Mandlik, Matt McInerney, Tamara McKenna, Pedro Mendes, Abbott Miller, Hope Morris, Ali Nazim, Pei Y Ni, Emily Oberman, Suguru Ogata, Eddie Opara, Deva Pardue, CY Park, Brian Parker, Ellen Peterson, Sharon Rawls, Jesse Reed, Yo-E Ryou, Paula Scher, Clara Scruggs, Mika Seongmi, Hamish Smyth, Lucea Spinelli, Franziska Stetter, Alex Stikeleather, Qian Sun, Kelly Sung, Jessica Svendsen, Lingxiao Tan, Erin Wahed, Jeffrey Waldman, Elliott Walker, Kim Walker, Andrew Walters, Piotr Woronkowicz

About

Studio Size

Large (21+)

Year founded

1972

Borough

Manhattan

Studio Bio/Philosophy

Pentagram is the world's largest independent design consultancy. We work in London, New York, San Francisco, Berlin and Austin. The firm is owned and run by a group of partners who are all leaders in their individual creative fields. We believe that great design cannot happen without passion, intelligence, and personal commitment.

The Team

Pentagram has 88 people. Of those, 8 are studio heads.

15% of studios are large-sized (21+ people).

Conversations

The creative philosophy here is that there isn’t one.

Watch

Studio Disciplines

Breakdown of Work

15%

Motion

42%

Interactive

Primary Specialties

  • Art Direction (58)
  • Books (52)
  • Brand Strategy (42)
  • Branding & Identity (77)
  • Broadcast Graphics (18)
  • Editorial/Publication Design (51)
  • Environmental Design (38)
  • Exhibition Design (33)
  • Experience Design (33)
  • Information Graphics (41)
  • Interaction Design (36)
  • Mobile Design (30)
  • Motion (29)
  • Packaging (45)
  • Print (75)
  • Web Design (59)

Clients’ Industries

  • Education (40)
  • Fashion (45)
  • Finance & Investment (26)
  • Healthcare (18)
  • Local & community organizations (41)
  • Media & Publishing (58)
  • Movies/Film (19)
  • Real Estate (24)
  • Restaurants & Food (29)
  • Retail (43)
  • Sports (22)
  • Technology (37)
  • The Arts/Cultural Institutions (71)
  • Transportation (9)
  • TV (17)

Pentagram’s Clients

Abbott Miller, Partner

Demographics

From Gary, Indiana , United States, now lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Primary design education is school (Cooper Union ).

What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?

Cooper Union and my teachers there: Niki Logis (sculpture), Robert Breer (film), George Sadek (design), Hans Haacke (art), P. Adams Sitney (film history and theory).

Previous Design Employment

Teaching Design

  • Maryland Institute College of Art — 15 years

Board Member on Professional Design Organizations

  • Society of Environmental Graphic Designers (SEGD) — 13 years
  • Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) — 15 years

Eddie Opara, Partner

Demographics

From London, England, United Kingdom, now lives in Bed-Stuy, do or die. , Brooklyn, New York . Primary design education is school (London College of Printing).

What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?

My mum because she allowed me draw at church to shut me up.

Teaching Design

  • Yale University — 14 years
  • University of the Arts — 1 years
  • Rhode Island School of Design — 1 years
  • Columbia University — 2 years

Board Member on Professional Design Organizations

  • AIGA — 2 years

Emily Oberman

Demographics

From Yonkers, New York, United States, now lives in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York. Primary design education is school (Cooper Union).

What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?

Arline and Marvin Oberman - two very talented designers / painters / illustrators / raconteurs / charming / Cooper grads, who happen to be my parents. and also: Tibor and Maira Kalman, Paul Rand, Paul Sahre, Paula Scher, Scott Stowell, Bonnie Siegler, Michael Bierut, Abbott Miller, Luke Hayman, Michael Gericke, Eddie Opara, Natasha Jen, Ed Ruscha, and Alfred E Neuman.

Teaching Design

  • Cooper Union — 8 years
  • Yale University — 8 years
  • Parsons The New School for Design — 5 years

Board Member on Professional Design Organizations

  • AIGA — 19 years

Luke Hayman, Partner

Demographics

From Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom, now lives in Upper East Side, New York City, New York . Primary design education is school (Central St. Martin's School of Art ).

What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?

Simon Esterson, Tony Arefin, Abbott Miller, Peter Saville, Lester Beall, Creative Review Magazine, Eye Magazine, Jan Tschichold, Pushpin Studios, Derek Birdsall, Pentagram, Angus Hyland, Graphic Thought Facility (GTF), Studio Boggeri, Eros Magazine, Willy Fleckhaus, Anthony Froshaug, Blueprint Magazine, The Bauhaus, Roger Dean, Mouse & Kelly, Alan Aldridge, Alwyn Crawsaw, Tony Hart, Rolf Harris, Fabien Baron

Previous Design Employment

Teaching Design

  • Columbia University — 6 years
  • School of Visual Arts — 5 years

Board Member on Professional Design Organizations

  • Society of Publication Designers (SPD) — 18 years
  • AIGA — 14 years

Michael Bierut, Partner

Demographics

From Cleveland , Ohio, United States, now lives in Westchester County, New York . Primary design education is school (University of Cincinnati).

What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?

I moved from Ohio to New York the week after I graduated from design school to start my first job: working for Massimo Vignelli. To be brand new in New York and to work for the designer of the signs in the subway and the logo on the Bloomingdale's bag was a thrill for a kid from the suburbs of Cleveland. It was like being dropped smack dab in the middle of Oz. In some ways I've never gotten over it and in some ways I hope I never do.

Previous Design Employment

Teaching Design

  • Yale School of Art — 20 years

Board Member on Professional Design Organizations

  • American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) — 15 years
  • Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) — 24 years
  • Architectural League of New York — 21 years

Michael Gericke, Partner

Demographics

From Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, now lives in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York. Primary design education is school (University of Wisconsin).

What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?

The idea driven designers, who crossed dimensions, changed my view of the world - Colin Forbes, Alan Fletcher, Charles and Ray Eames.

Previous Design Employment

  • Communication Arts

Teaching Design

  • Cooper Union — 2 years

Board Member on Professional Design Organizations

  • Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) — 15 years
  • Advisory Council of the Center for Architecture — 10 years
  • Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) — 16 years
  • American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) — 29 years

Natasha Jen, Partner

Demographics

From Taipei, Taiwan, now lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York . Primary design education is school (School of Visual Arts).

What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?

I can't possibly answer this question as a list of names or things. I see my professional life as an extension of my personal curiosity, and this curiosity keeps me absorbing things around me. There are certain areas that interest me more: art history, modern/contemporary architecture, photography history, fashion in the 20th century: these seemingly autonomous disciplines are all interconnected. I feel that I am drawn to Surrealist approach, but that does not always have a direct influence on my work. In conclusion I believe in learning and absorbing always, all the time, so when a project comes our way we are ready to explode.

Paula Scher, Partner

Demographics

From Washington, District of Columbia, United States, now lives in Chelsea, New York, NY. Primary design education is school (Tyler School of Art).

What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?

My teacher, Stanislaw Zagorski who first got me to work with typography. My husband, Seymour Chwast, who taught me how to see typography. My partner, Michael Bierut, who taught me how to explain it to a client.

Teaching Design

  • School of Visual Arts — 33 years
  • Cooper Union — 1 years
  • Yale University — 2 years
  • Tyler School of Art — 2 years

Board Member on Professional Design Organizations

  • American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) — 15 years
  • Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) — 20 years
  • Design Commission of the City of New York — 7 years

Location

Austin, TX
United States

Berlin
Germany

London
United Kingdom

San Francisco, CA
United States

The Space

It’s on 5 floors.

Total people in space

88

Culture

Biking to work

3

127 bikers across all studios

Overall Noise Level

Average

59% of studios are average

Working groups

100%

Groups

Encourage freelance work?

Indifferent

Internal studio meetings

Never

Critiquing Process

Studio Outings

Attend conferences, Rooftop parties

Studio Rituals

Lunch together 3 days a week

Hashtags

  • #cantstopwontstop
  • #earlymornings
  • #latenights
  • #livingbydesign
  • #makeitbigger
  • #marks
  • #openbook
  • #typography