When a scruffy after-hours comedy show debuted in NBC’s Studio 8H on October 11, 1975, no one could have known that the entertainment world was about to be changed forever. Over the next half century, Saturday Night Live would launch the careers of countless global stars, create indelible catch phrases, and consolidate the reputations of musical acts from Talking Heads to Kendrick Lamar. Since 1994, Pentagram partner Emily Oberman has been the steward of SNL’s graphic image, from the show’s iconic opening titles, to books celebrating its legacy. With each project, she meets the challenge of acknowledging the franchise’s extraordinary legacy while keeping its profile fresh, surprising, and funny.
When a scruffy after-hours comedy show debuted in NBC’s Studio 8H on October 11, 1975, no one could have known that the entertainment world was about to be changed forever. Over the next half century, Saturday Night Live would launch the careers of countless global stars, create indelible catch phrases, and consolidate the reputations of musical acts from Talking Heads to Kendrick Lamar. Since 1994, Pentagram partner Emily Oberman has been the steward of SNL’s graphic image, from the show’s iconic opening titles, to books celebrating its legacy. With each project, she meets the challenge of acknowledging the franchise’s extraordinary legacy while keeping its profile fresh, surprising, and funny.
Dramatic change doesn't always mean throwing everything out. In fact, a company's heritage can provide the best foundation for imagining the future. Looking deep into the past, we uncover important clues about what makes each brand special. But the goal is never timid, incremental compromise. Instead, it's a confident and energetic consolidation of an organization's fundamental - and absolutely unique - personality.
Type Has Spirit
As Pentagram partner Paula Scher said, "Words have meaning. Type has spirit." Even for those who know nothing about fonts, the design of typography shapes the way we receive a message no less than an actor's performance shapes a script. Digital technology has made it possible - and even cost effective - to create a custom typeface, proprietary to an organization or even to one project. This ensures that whatever you say, you speak in a language that's all your own.
Before we design anything we need to understand how the brand is experienced by customers, where it lives, how it functions and what its future is, asking the necessary questions to find a project’s true context.
Pentagram has been an essential part of the London design scene for over half a century. Its founding partners came of age in postwar Britain, and the original formation of their design studio was very much a product of the vibrant 1960s. Today, evidence of Pentagram’s influence can be found all over London - in logos, brand identities, signage systems and campaigns - a reflection of the symbiotic relationship that informs so many creative enterprises in this most inspiring of cities.
Here is New York
Pentagram opened its New York office at an auspicious moment, just as the city was emerging from its 1970s nadir and commencing a renaissance that in many ways has never ended. Working with a wide range of clients over the last five decades – corporate, cultural, civic and commercial – Pentagram has decisively shaped New York City’s visual brand and enthusiastically participated in the city’s continuous redefinition as an irresistible urban magnet.
London Design Festival has been an annual celebration of the power of creativity for over 20 years. Since 2008, Pentagram partner Domenic Lippa has served as the LDF’s creative director, responsible every September for the design of a new visual identity. By inventively remixing a few key elements — typography, a signature red ("the colour of London"), and LDF's simple monogram — the program unifies hundreds of events while reaffirming London’s status as a global design capital.
London Design Festival has been an annual celebration of the power of creativity for over 20 years. Since 2008, Pentagram partner Domenic Lippa has served as the LDF’s creative director, responsible every September for the design of a new visual identity. By inventively remixing a few key elements — typography, a signature red ("the colour of London"), and LDF's simple monogram — the program unifies hundreds of events while reaffirming London’s status as a global design capital.
In 1954, impresario Joe Papp began a summer tradition of staging free outdoor performances of Shakespeare, inaugurating the Public Theater’s beloved Shakespeare in the Park festival. Pentagram partner Paula Scher, whose relationship with the Public spans four decades, has designed a new identity for the series for thirty consecutive summers. Each campaign is customized to the season’s theme, creating a highly visible graphic vocabulary for outdoor advertising, social media, and on-site signage.
In 1954, impresario Joe Papp began a summer tradition of staging free outdoor performances of Shakespeare, inaugurating the Public Theater’s beloved Shakespeare in the Park festival. Pentagram partner Paula Scher, whose relationship with the Public spans four decades, has designed a new identity for the series for thirty consecutive summers. Each campaign is customized to the season’s theme, creating a highly visible graphic vocabulary for outdoor advertising, social media, and on-site signage.