A new edition of our red Marks book was long overdue. First published in 2010, the original featured 400 symbols and logotypes designed by Pentagram Partners since 1962.
Rather than a simple reprint, the Partners saw an opportunity to create something bolder: a new edition showcasing 1,000 marks. The format remained familiar—linen cover, French folds, and one mark per page in black or white—but the real challenge lay in producing a publication where the book block was nearly as thick as it was wide.
To bring 1,000 Marks by Pentagram to life, Pentagram teamed up with Thames & Hudson and its imprint Unit Editions, resulting in three distinct versions: a Pentagram edition (without a publisher’s logo), a T&H trade edition, and a Unit Editions version.
The question of how to represent 1,000 logos on a cover was answered in two ways. The Pentagram and T&H editions embraced minimalism—no logos, just a simple title on a flex-bound cover wrapped in the signature Pentagram red cloth.
The limited Unit Editions version called for something special and features a French-fold jacket that unfolds into an A2 poster, displaying all 1,000 logos overprinted in three Pantone colours. This striking jacketed book is housed in a black linen slipcase, making it a true collector’s piece.
Writing in the book’s introduction Pentagram partner Angus Hyland explains: “The practice of design has changed radically since 1972, but its concerns remain the same. The deceptively simple exercise of designing a mark for a client, and the elusive quest for timelessness that it entails, are still central to the challenge that graphic designers face today.”
