Every Christmas since 1971, Pentagram has designed and published a small annual greetings booklet and sent it to our friends, colleagues and clients. Usually designed around a game or activity, these small books are intended to provide a diversion during the hectic holiday period. The partners take turns researching and designing the books, which traditionally avoid any direct reference to the season, adopting a strong graphic vocabulary in order to set them apart from the myriad of cards received at this time of year.
Wallpaper has put together a gallery of the books from Christmases past, 1974-2008, published together for the first time. The 2009 card, currently in the mail, tweaks the format. (More on this soon.) Happy holidays!
http://www.dezeen.com/2009/12/10/competition-five-copies-of-conundrums-by-harry-pearce-to-be-won/
http://www.wallpaper.com/art/typographic-conundrums-by-harry-pearce-/4134
We’ve still got a few months left of 2009 but we’re already looking forward to 2010 with the publication of our new Typographic Calendar, available now. Designed by Kit Hinrichs, the calendar features a different typeface each month in the classic wall or desk calendar format. Each month includes a brief description about what makes the featured font distinctive and a biography of the type designer. All major holidays for the US and UK are noted, along with the birthdays of the type designers. The 2010 edition uses typefaces available from Veer.
The calendar is available in two sizes, a supersize 33-by-23 inch version suitable for wall hanging and a smaller 18-by-12 inch version appropriate for desk or wall use. The price of the supersize calendar is $44 and the smaller desk/wall calendar is $26. (Prices do not include shipping.) Both versions are available at museum shops across the US and online from kenknight.com.
Kit will continue to produce the calendar from his new venture, Studio Hinrichs.
Update: Kit talks to @Issue about designing the calendar.
http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2009/07/pentagram_paper.php
We have all seen the homeless on street corners holding hand-scrawled signs. Their messages are desperate, heartbreaking, and at times, even humorous. These naked forms of self-expression have unintentionally become some of the most basic, raw and compelling examples of graphic communication in our society today. The 39th edition of our privately published Pentagram Papers series was designed by DJ Stout. It features signs from the personal collection of the legendary musician and writer Joe Ely and photographed by Randal Ford. These images are combined with a series of large-format portraits of the homeless by Austin-based photographer Michael O’Brien, who worked with Alan Graham, president of Austin’s Mobile Loaves & Fishes, and Brother Duane Severance, a pastor to the street people. Ely wrote the book’s foreword.
We have adapted the contents of the paper online here:
Pentagram Papers 39: SIGNS
Our Austin office recently launched the publication of SIGNS with a benefit that raised $5000 to help feed the homeless. We hope that you find Ely’s essay and the photographs of O’Brien and Ford as moving as we do and we encourage you to join us in supporting one of the charities listed here or a local one of your choice.
Quick Link: Feedback on Container List
http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/issue/200904/pentagram-1.phtml
The Pentagram Paper 39: Signs book launch event last Saturday night was a rousing success. We raised money to feed the homeless and had great fun doing it. Pentagram will be sending Mobile Loaves & Fishes $5,000 collected during the benefit.
The weather was perfect for the 300 or so guests who gathered under the big tent in the parking lot of the Austin office on the last night of the SXSW music festival. Legendary Texas musician Joe Ely and photographer Michael O’Brien signed copies of the Pentagram Paper and Alan Graham of Mobile Loaves & Fishes told the crowd moving stories about many of the homeless people photographed by O’Brien for the book. Sharon Ely’s “Holy Pozole” soup and cornbread were delicious and Darden Smith and his stellar band put on a great show. Joe Ely finished out the evening with an inspiring solo. Joe leaves on April 1st for a 68-city tour with the Flatlanders.
It was an amazing evening. Pentagram would like to thank everyone who came to the event for their donations and support. For those unable to attend, signed copies of Signs are available by mail for a suggested donation of $20 to Mobile Loaves & Fishes. Please email howdy@texas.pentagram.com for details.
Continue reading “Good Signs”
DJ Stout and his team at Pentagram Austin invite you to join them on Saturday, March 21 for a fundraising party to help the homeless and to celebrate the release of Pentagram Papers 39: Signs. Designed by Stout, Signs is a collaboration with legendary Texas musician Joe Ely and renowned photographers Michael O’Brien and Randal Ford that focuses on the issue of homelessness. Donations received during the event will benefit Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a ==501(c)(3)== social outreach ministry for the homeless and indigent working poor. The event is free and open to the public—download the invitation poster here.
Stout, Ely, O’Brien and Ford hope Signs attracts attention to the current state of homelessness in our own communities and around the world. To support the book’s creation, Ely contributed a series of homeless signs he collected over the years and wrote a compelling foreword for the book that recounts his brief experience of homelessness after he jumped on a freight train out of Lubbock, Texas when he was 17 years old. Ely’s sign collection was photographed by Ford, and these images are juxtaposed with portraits of the homeless shot by O’Brien.
Complimentary copies of Signs will be distributed at the party, and Ely, O’Brien and Stout will all be on hand to sign books. Musician Darden Smith and band will be performing, and Sharon Ely will be serving up her famous Holy Pozole soup!
When: Saturday, March 21, 7 pm
Where: Pentagram Design, 1508 West 5th Street in Austin
RSVP: howdy@texas.pentagram.com
The event coincides with the final night of SXSW, so if you’re in town, please drop by! For those unable to attend, signed copies of Signs will be available by mail for a suggested donation of $20 to Mobile Loaves and Fishes. Please email howdy@texas.pentagram.com for details.
