Pentagram favorites the New York Jets are set for another winning season this year. Last season, the Jets’ 50th, the team made the playoffs, advancing to the AFC Championship Game. Led by visionary owner Robert Wood “Woody” Johnson IV, the team has a new coach, Rex Ryan, a new stadium, and a roster of star players like QB Mark Sanchez, Nick Mangold and Santonio Holmes. Now Gang Green gets its close-up in the new season of HBO’s Hard Knocks, the sports reality series that follows a single NFL team through its pre-season training camp. The show premieres this Wednesday, August 11.
One of the Jets’ newest winning members is its training center, which serves as the remarkable setting of Hard Knocks. The building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Roger Duffy, and everything about the training center is focused on improving the performance of the players and team.
This extends to the building’s bold and aggressive graphics designed by Michael Gericke and his team at Pentagram. Using the identity we previously developed for the Jets, the graphics have been integrated into the architecture to create a holistic environment that fosters a sense of pride, focus and competition for the team and carries the spirit of the Jets onto the training field.
Officially called the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, the camp is the most modern training facility in the NFL and doubles as the corporate headquarters for the team. The 217,000-square foot, 27-acre complex in Florham Park, New Jersey, houses the practice facilities and business operations of the Jets, its players, coaches, corporate officers and medical team, and is also used for visits with sponsors, press and fans. The Jets previously trained at Hofstra University and had its corporate offices in Manhattan; the new center gives the team its own home and unites players and corporate staff under one roof, working together to win.
Continue reading “The New York Jets Training Center: A Place for ‘Hard Knocks’”
The 2010 FIFA World Cup™ closed yesterday with a thrilling final that saw Spain win its first cup with a single goal against the Netherlands in extra time.
For the US, this year’s World Cup will be remembered for taking Americans’ passion for soccer to a new level. On June 26 the US played Ghana for a spot in the quarterfinals in a match that was the most watched men’s World Cup game ever in the US.
Now US soccer fans look forward to the opportunity to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022. This December FIFA, soccer’s official governing body, will select two bids from a group of nine competing to host one of the two tournaments. (The 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil.)
Pentagram has collaborated with the USA Bid Committee on the design of the graphic program for the US bid to host the games in 2018 or 2022. Designed by Michael Gericke and Luke Hayman, the identity captures the unique spirit of a US-hosted World Cup. The campaign centers on a phrase, “The Game is in US,” and utilizes a custom-designed typeface called Game and bold color palette to convey the unmatched enthusiasm and amazing diversity of soccer fans in the US.
Continue reading “U.S. Soccer’s Next Goal”
In the five decades since it broke ground in 1959, Lincoln Center has become a model for cultural centers in cities around the world, a home to 12 constituent organizations that host 5 million visitors annually and reach millions more through broadcasts, programs, productions and educational activities. To commemorate Lincoln Center’s amazing half century, Michael Gericke and his team at Pentagram have designed Lincoln Center: Celebrating 50 Years, a major exhibition that focuses on the evolution and influence of this remarkable institution. The show is on view at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’ Oenslager Gallery on Lincoln Center’s new North Plaza.
The exhibition was developed in collaboration with curator Thomas Mellins and includes an extensive collection of some 400 historic and contemporary objects including photographs, ephemera, costumes, set pieces and props. The show includes special areas for the viewing of films about the building of the center and video recordings of performances.
Pentagram has designed identities for several of Lincoln Center’s resident organizations, including The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic and Jazz at Lincoln Center, and is currently designing environmental graphics for the renovated David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, formerly known as the Harmony Atrium.
Continue reading “New Work: ‘Lincoln Center: Celebrating 50 Years’”
Congratulations to the New York Jets, who earned a spot in the playoffs with their resounding 37-0 defeat of the Cincinnati Bengals in last night’s season finale, the last game to be played in Giants Stadium. The branding standards that Pentagram created for the team in 2002, which included an expanded color scheme, a custom typeface by Hoefler & Frere-Jones, and a flexible graphic kit of parts, is still in use today and will follow the team to their new home next year. Our favorite? The team’s popular NY insignia, which combines H & FJ’s typography with a football-shaped oval, both extrapolated from the graphics in the team’s original 1964 logo.
The playoffs start next week with a rematch against the Bengals. Good luck, Gang Green!
Sports Illustrated has named the University of Phoenix Stadium the best new sports venue of the decade. The bold environmental graphics for the Arizona Cardinals’ home were developed by Michael Gericke and his team and have received a long series of honors. The 1.7 million-square-foot stadium has quickly become one of the central venues in the sports world and was the site of Super Bowl XLII. The Cardinals have sold out every game they have played in four seasons at the stadium. Congratulations to the Cardinals, who were the NFC champs in last season’s Super Bowl, have just clinched the NFC West Division and are now headed to the playoffs. Go Big Red!
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.
Continue reading “Wired’s Smart List: Michael Gericke’s Dangerous Designs”
Pentagram has designed the graphic program for the United States bid to host the FIFA World Cup™ games in 2018 and 2022. In December 2010, FIFA, soccer’s official governing body, will select two countries from a group of eleven that are now bidding to host one of the two tournaments. The games are the world’s largest sporting event.
Over the past several months Michael Gericke and Luke Hayman have collaborated with the USA Bid Committee to create a vibrant and cohesive graphic program that captures the unique spirit of a US-hosted World Cup™. The identity centers on a phrase, “The Game is in US,” and utilizes a custom-designed typeface called Game and a bold multicultural color palette to convey the unmatched enthusiasm and amazing diversity of soccer fans in the US.
We’re longstanding soccer fans. Michael Gericke designed the identity for the 1994 FIFA World Cup™ that was held in the United States. The ’94 World Cup™ still holds the record for the highest attendance in history, with 3.6 million attendees overall. The games led the evolution of soccer in the US, with Major League Soccer being kicked off two years later and 24.4 million people playing the sport in the country today.
Pentagram is also designing the official bid book, promotional materials and the core graphic program for the host cities. A campaign is launching this week with a website, designed by Blue State Digital, where visitors can sign a petition to help bring the games to the US.
From cycles to sweeteners, stars to stripes: Nine outstanding projects from our portfolio have been selected to appear in the Communication Arts 2009 Design Annual.
The work covers five categories within the competition. The Harley-Davidson Museum is represented twice in the environmental graphics category, for Abbott Miller’s permanent exhibitions and for Michael Bierut’s signage for the museum. Also honored in the category are Miller’s design for the exhibition Brno Echo: Ornament and Crime from Adolf Loos to Now at the Moravian Gallery and Kit Hinrichs’ exhibition Long May She Wave at the Nevada Museum.
Bierut’s identities for Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) and The Oak Room have been selected in the integrated branding category. Paula Scher’s work for Truvia sweetens the packaging category, where Bierut’s ream wrap for Strathmore Paper (with Marian Bantjes) is also highlighted. Michael Gericke’s design of “A Number of Numbers”, our 2008 holiday card, is a winner in the self-promotion category.
The Design Annual is due out at the end of the year in the November/December issue of Communication Arts. It is an honor to be recognized by CA and we are extremely proud of the brilliant work put forth by our teams.
Four hundred years ago this September, the Englishman Henry Hudson, sailing for the Dutch East India Company, discovered what we now know as New York Harbor, Manhattan Island and the Hudson River.
Designed by Michael Gericke and his team, the new exhibition Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson at the Museum of the City of New York examines Hudson’s historic journey and the cultural link between Amsterdam and New York that are an integral part of the city today.
Gericke’s exhibition design uses large, modern curvilinear forms inspired by Hudson’s ship de Halve Maen (the Half Moon) to create a compelling context for interpreting this rich history. The design was cited as a highlight of the exhibition in a review in The New York Times.
Continue reading “New Work: ‘Amsterdam/New Amsterdam’”
Michael Gericke has been named the recipient of the Harry B. Rutkins Award for his design, service and professional contributions to the AIA and its New York Chapter’s activities.
Michael has collaborated with the AIA since 1994. His work includes the Center for Architecture’s iconic key symbol, posters, and graphics for many of the New York Chapter’s publications, initiatives and events.
Honorees for other AIA New York awards at this year’s annual meeting included Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Ada Louise Huxtable, Robert Yaro, Susan Szenasy, Jerilyn Perine, David Resnick and Chris Ward.
A sampling of Michael’s design for the AIA follows after the jump.
Continue reading “Michael Gericke Honored by the American Institute of Architects”
