New at Pentagram

An Extra Helping of Maudie’s

Pentagram’s DJ Stout and his team at the Austin office rebranded Maudie’s Tex-Mex three years ago and have continued working with the iconic local restaurant chain ever since. Maudie’s, which began as a tiny Mexican food cafe in a strip-mall shopping center not far from the Austin office, has now expanded to six locations. Tex-Mex is an original Texas invention, a close cousin to the traditional cuisine of the Lone Star State’s neighbor to the south, but a truly unique culinary art all its own. Maudie’s has continued the Tex-Mex tradition but with a very “Austin” twist: It is the only all-natural Tex-Mex restaurant in the region. Unlike its Mexican brethren, Maudie’s uses all-natural beef and chicken and organic eggs. Maudie’s has mastered the art of Tex-Mex, and Pentagram has mastered the art of Maudie’s.

New Work: Luminato Festival

The 2013 Luminato Festival opened in Toronto this past weekend for the start of a 10-day celebration of music, theater, dance, visual arts, literature and film. Launched in 2007, Luminato has grown into one of the largest arts festivals in North America; in its short six years, the event has commissioned 66 new works of art and featured 7,500 artists from 40 countries, highlighting Toronto as a cultural capital. Luminaries scheduled to appear at this year’s festival include the musicians Joni Mitchell and Laurie Anderson, performance artist Marina Abramovic, choreographer Mark Morris, architects Liz Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, and filmmaker Atom Egoyan, among many others.

Pentagram’s Michael Bierut and Hamish Smyth have designed a colorful new identity for Luminato that captures the vibrancy of the festival and its programming. The designers worked closely with Luminato Artistic Director Jorn Weisbrodt, CEO Janice Price, and Mary Ann Farrell, Senior Director, Marketing and Communications, on the project. To implement the identity, Pentagram collaborated with a group of Toronto-based creative partners that included Cosmic Design, who produced all the final artwork for advertising, brochures and other promotions, and Lunch, who designed and built the new Luminato website.

New Work: Mouki

William Russell was approached by Maria Lemos, founder of Rainbowwave Showroom, to develop the in-store experience for her new concept store, Mouki. Located on up-and-coming Chiltern street in the Marylebone area of London, the boutique houses hand-picked fashion, accessories, beauty and lifestyle goods from around the world.

The interior of the store was of great importance to Maria – she wanted a space that was quiet and minimal to reflect the nature of the collections.

Pentagram Gives NYC Beaches a Post-Sandy Makeover

Quick Link: Pentagram Gives NYC Beaches a Post-Sandy Makeover

Let’s Fill This Town With Artists

Since 2001, Pentagram partner, Angus Hyland, has worked with Cass Art to develop their graphic language. In 2007, he was joined by fellow Pentagram partner, and architect William Russell, who created the retail experience of the new stores. This video case study shares the story of the long standing collaboration between Pentagram and Cass Art.

This is the second video in a series of case studies ‘Designed by Pentagram’. Watch the first one, about William Russell’s work with Alexander McQueen here.

New Work: NYC Beaches

When Hurricane Sandy hit New York last October, the city’s 14 miles of beaches took the brunt of the storm, with boardwalk structures destroyed and millions of tons of sand displaced. Following an extraordinary effort by the Mayor’s Office, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, and the NYC Department of Design and Construction, the city’s eight public swimming beaches were reopened on Memorial Day, only seven months after being devastated by the storm.

As part of the restoration, Pentagram’s Paula Scher has created a program of signage and environmental graphics that welcome New Yorkers back to their beaches. Pentagram has worked on the project in collaboration with a team of architects and designers that includes McLaren Engineering Group, Garrison Architects, Sage and Coombe Architects, LTL Architects and Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects.

New Work: 21st Century Fox

The searchlights of Twentieth Century Fox are one of the most recognized icons in the world. Pentagram’s Michael Gericke and Emily Oberman have drawn on this rich heritage and Fox’s contemporary innovations in media to create the logo and develop the name for 21st Century Fox. The new media and entertainment company will be established following the proposed separation of News Corporation into two companies. 21st Century Fox will serve as the umbrella company for Twentieth Century Fox and the rest of the group’s entertainment and media properties, all of which will retain their existing well-known names and logos.

Pentagram worked closely with the 21st Century Fox team on the development of the identity, which is designed to honor the creative legacy of Twentieth Century Fox and celebrate the company’s vital future. The name and symbol distill the elements of Fox’s familiar searchlights-and-monument logo into a dynamic new identity. The 21st Century Fox logo features a pair of sweeping searchlights that suggest entertainment, broadcasting and limitless possibilities within a circle shape inspired by a lens. Iconic and distinctive, the symbol is accompanied by a wordmark set in strong, stacked lettering that is derived from the typographic pedestal of the Twentieth Century Fox logo and Fox Broadcasting’s wordmark.

New Work: Oklahoma City University

Partner DJ Stout and designer Carla Delgado in Pentagram’s Austin office have recently completed a new identity and a rebranding of Oklahoma City University (OCU). The private urban college, located in the Uptown District of its namesake city, is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and offers a wide variety of degrees in the liberal arts, fine arts, science and business. The only Oklahoma institution listed in the top tier of the regional, master’s-level university category by U.S. News and World Report, OCU is also listed in Forbes’ “Best Christian Colleges” and “100 Best College Buys.”

Oklahoma City University is also known for its top-notch dance, music and theater programs and its impressive track-record of placing graduates in Broadway musicals and theatrical productions, most notably in the lineups of the Radio City Rockettes. In addition to its performing arts prowess OCU is renowned for its many beauty pageant contestants, contributing $2.2 million in educational scholarships to more than 340 pageant contestants over the last 55 years. Fondly dubbed “Miss America U” for its tradition of winning pageants, OCU boasts 24 Miss Oklahomas and holds the record for Miss America winners. A larger than life-size bronze statue portraying the school’s three former Miss Americas—Jane Jayroe, Susan Powell and Shawntel Smith—stands guard at the entrance to the campus.

New Work: Tantrum

Tantrum, a new retail concept aimed at teenage girls, has launched its flagship store at Westfield Stratford in London. Pentagram partners William Russell and Domenic Lippa collaborated to develop the interior store design, brand identity and graphic language.

The logotype, designed by Lippa was based around Din rounded, with some characters re-drawn to give the identity personality. In addition, Lippa and his team decided that the identity could be moved, overlapped, made into outlines and played with to keep it fresh.

Awards: Art Directors Club 92nd Annual

Pentagram has been honored by the Art Directors Club with several winners in the ADC 92nd Annual Awards, presented last week at the ADC Festival in Miami Beach.

Our new identity for Mohawk, designed by Michael Bierut and team, took home the Silver Cube for Corporate Design. Paula Scher’s work on the revitalization of The Public Theater was was honored in two categories: the environmental graphics of the renovated lobby received a Bronze Cube in the Environmental Design category, while the “Open Public” campaign timed to the theater’s reopening was recognized with a Merit in Poster Design. Last but not least, the Nuts.com identity designed by Michael Bierut and team was honored with a Merit in Package Design. Pentagram’s own Eddie Opara served on the Design Jury of this year’s competition.

Thanks to all our designers, teams and clients for the fantastic work!