New at Pentagram
Resetting the Doomsday Clock
This morning, the Board of Directors and the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock would be moved one minute back from five to six minutes to midnight. The group, which contains 18 Nobel laureates, cited “a more hopeful state of world affairs” in their decision to indicate the world is metaphorically one step further away from annihilation. “We are poised to bend the arc of history toward a world free of nuclear weapons.”
To mark this event, which was followed by an worldwide audience online and through global media outlets, Pentagram created a simple tabloid information piece virtually overnight. Printed on inexpensive newsprint, it explains the purpose of the Bulletin and the Doomsday Clock in clear language and blunt, unadorned graphics. The Clock, which was created in 1947, had since become a universally recognized indicator of the world’s vulnerability to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change, and emerging technologies in the life sciences. It is the focus of the Bulletin’s graphic communications effort.
This is the 19th time the Clock has been reset. The last time, in 2007, Pentagram recommended the group adopt the Clock as its symbol, and created standards for its use. In the three years since, the Bulletin community has grown considerably. This publication’s clear statement of purpose is a indication of the group’s maturity and confidence as it moves into its second 50 years, and an invitation to join the global effort to turn back the Clock.
A look inside the piece after the jump.
AkzoNobel’s ‘A’ Magazine Wins Again
‘A’ The AkzoNobel Magazine has won the ‘External Publications’ category in the European Excellence Awards. The Awards were announced at the Hofburg in Vienna on the 10th of December and honour outstanding achievement in communication on an international scale. This recognition follows a Bronze at the ADC 88th Annual Awards earlier this year. Angus Hyland and his team designed issue one and collaborated with AkzoNobel designer Pepe Vargas on the subsequent issues.
Previously: New Work: ‘A’, The AkzoNobel Magazine
New Work: ‘Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future’
The great Finnish-born architect Eero Saarinen designed several of the iconic works of Modernist architecture in the United States: the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, CBS’ “Black Rock” headquarters in New York. Amazingly, there has been no major retrospective of his work since his death in 1961. Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future is a landmark traveling exhibition organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the National Building Museum and the Yale School of Architecture that looks at his work and legacy. First shown at the Kunsthalle Helsinki in 2006, the exhibition has now arrived at the Museum of the City of New York, where it opens this week.
Michael Bierut and his team designed the graphics and catalogue for the exhibition in 2006, when it opened in Helsinki, as well as for its current show at MCNY. The designers created a "kit of parts”—typography, colors, graphic motifs—that could be used to create a consistent look at all the venues and across all communications. The catalogue was included in the AIGA's 50 Books/50 Covers of 2006.
Following its Helsinki run, the exhibition traveled to the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway; CIVA in Brussels, Belgium; and the Cranbrook Art Museum, the National Building Museum, the Walker Art Center and Washington University in the US. Next spring it moves on to its final stop at the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale School of Architecture.
New Work: Cass Art Kids
Angus Hyland has extended his work for Cass Art to include this charming promotional giveaway. A brightly coloured bag branded Cass Art Kids containing an activity book and pencils with which to fill it was designed to promote a new space dedicated to children’s art materials in Cass Art’s flagship Islington store. The activity book is the result of a collaboration between Angus and Marion Deuchars and contains her beautiful hand drawn typography. 10,000 bags have been created which will be given away to anyone who makes a purchase in either the Cass Art Kensington or Islington stores.
Spreads from the activity book after the jump
Cass Art Kids Book on CR Blog
Quick Link: Cass Art Kids Book on CR Blog
Wired’s Smart List: Michael Gericke’s Dangerous Designs
Two of Michael Gericke’s icons for Wired’s Smart List: the feature’s opening image, left, and “Embracing Human Cloning,” right.
Wired magazine annually publishes The Smart List, a roundup of 12 “dangerous” and revolutionary new ideas that could change the world. The authors are comprised of “radicals, heretics, agitators—big thinkers with controversial, game-changing propositions.” Wired asked Michael Gericke to design the key icons for this year’s list in its October issue including the opener and the “Embracing Human Cloning” and “Bust Up Big League Sports” essays.
Full spreads after the jump.
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New Work: Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy of Arts
A major solo exhibition of Anish Kapoor, one of the world’s most influential artists, opened this past weekend at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The Turner Prize-winning sculptor, known for his monumental public sculptures in cities around the world, is the first living artist to be exhibited in the entire main floor of the academy.
The visual identity for the exhibition, including posters, banners and other collateral, was designed by Harry Pearce and Associate Jason Ching in close collaboration with Anish Kapoor and the RA. Central to the identity is an image from Kapoor’s Shooting into the Corner, created by a cannon shooting red wax up against the walls and floor of the gallery space.
The exhibition remains on view until 11 December. Images of the campaign after the jump.
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New Work: House of Cards
Fifty-three of the UK’s leading artists and designers including our own Domenic Lippa have created a unique collection of art inspired by Shelter’s House of Cards campaign. Shelter is a UK charity that works to alleviate the distress caused by homelessness and bad housing. In 2008 Shelter, in association with Leo Burnett London, launched the House of Cards campaign to raise awareness of the housing insecurity facing millions of families in the UK, where more than 1.9 million households await social housing and an estimated 65,000 face repossession this year. The campaign’s acclaimed TV commercial directed by Dom and Nic uses Radiohead’s “Videotape” as its soundtrack and features a voiceover by the actress Samantha Morton, who lived in a hostel for the homeless as a young woman.
Following the success of the campaign Leo Burnett developed the idea of inviting 53 artists to design a set of playing cards. Participating artists include Damien Hirst and Marc Quinn, photographers David Bailey and Rankin and designers Kyle Cooper and M/M (Paris). The original artwork will be displayed in an exhibition at Haunch of Venison that opens today and runs through Monday, 28 September. Members of the public can place silent bids on the artwork throughout the exhibition, with a selection of the pieces going to a live auction on Monday night. All proceeds go to Shelter.
Leo Burnett approached Pentagram with the brief to create an identity for the campaign and event, an exhibition catalogue and a limited-edition box of A5 playing cards. Domenic Lippa and designer Jeremy Kunze developed a logotype that played on the idea of the rearranged letters and a symbol of a “H” that combined pictograms of the suits from the cards and a pictogram of a house. All invitations, catalogue and cards were designed with radius corners to reflect the playing cards. Patterns were printed in various colours and varnishes to give all the items a sense of desirability and quality. Lippa produced the Jack of Spades card for the set.
A show of the program and several of the cards after the jump.
Justus Oehler’s DRK Kliniken Triannual Report on FPO
Quick Link: Justus Oehler’s DRK Kliniken Triannual Report on FPO
New Work: London Design Festival 2009
The London Design Festival opened this past weekend, kicking off a week of over 163 exhibitions and 42 one-day events showcasing the city’s best in architecture, art, craft and product, graphic and digital design. For the third year running Domenic Lippa and his team have worked with the LDF to produce everything from t-shirts, bags, invitations, posters and postcards, through to the guide, signage and displays. This year’s theme of “Be Bold, Make a Statement” reflects the Festival’s stance that good design, even in difficult times, will always stand out. This year’s identity uses quotes from famous designers, including Pentagram co-founder Alan Fletcher.
This year the festival has worked closely with the V&A, which has become the hub venue and home to numerous installations, exhibitions and talks. These include a poster exhibition curated by Lippa that features work by 20 London designers, including our own Angus Hyland, and a talk by talk by New York partner Abbott Miller on the 24th.
As part of this growing annual event the team also worked on support material for the London Design Medal, as well as creating a new logo for the London Design Embassy. A look at some of the materials from this year’s program after the jump.
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