Recent weather notwithstanding, water remains a precious resource in New York City. Famed for its gravity-fed aqueducts, the city’s water supply is remarkably reliable and known for its quality. However, the city faces growing demand, the continual danger of system shutdowns, and the cost of increasing energy consumption for wastewater treatment. To meet these challenges, PlaNYC 2030, the city’s official strategy for sustainability, has identified conservation as fundamental to protecting the water network, and the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) has established comprehensive guidelines for efficient water use in buildings throughout the city.
Working with the DDC, Pentagram’s Eddie Opara and team have designed Water Matters: A Design Manual for Water Conservation in Buildings. Using a bold and playful system of information graphics, the book presents the city’s recommendations for this important initiative in an engaging and accessible manner. The book has been selected for AIGA’s prestigious 50 Books/50 Covers awards.
Pentagram’s Paula Scher and Eddie Opara are among the designers featured in a typography-themed episode of “Off Book,” the new web series from PBS Arts. In the video, Scher and Opara talk about using type to create identity and texture, and share some of their own typographic influences. “Words have meaning and type has spirit,” says Scher. “And the combination is spectacular.”
March is in like a lion! Today’s winds are particularly fond of the new flag that has unfurled on the façade of our New York office. Designed by Eddie Opara, the banner pictures a large letter P that wends a path through a field of hundreds of smaller Ps.
Additional views after the jump, and check out some of our previous office banners here.
