Pentagram
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).
Studio Disciplines
Breakdown of Work
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
- American Institute of Architects
- Citibank (3)
- Columbia University (7)
- FIFA
- Formica
- Friends of the High Line (3)
- NYC Department of Parks and Recreation
- NYC Department of Transportation
- Saks Fifth Avenue
- Saturday Night Live
- Sotheby's (2)
- The Public Theater
- The Rockefeller Foundation
- The Studio Museum in Harlem (3)
- Time Magazine (7)
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
- Design/Writing/Research (3)
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.
Previous Design Employment
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.
Previous Design Employment
- M&Co. (3)
- Number Seventeen
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
- Media Central
- I.D. Magazine
- Design/Writing/Research (3)
- New York Magazine
- Ogilvy & Mather, Brand Integration Group (2)
- Travel + Leisure
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
- Vignelli Associates (2)
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.
Previous Design Employment
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.
Previous Design Employment
- Koppel & Scher (2)
- Atlantic Records (2)
- CBS Records (2)
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