Michael Bierut Wins National Design Award

Michael Bierut has won the Design Mind Award in this year’s National Design Awards presented by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

The Design Mind Award recognizes a visionary who has affected a paradigm shift in design thinking or practice through writing, research and scholarship. “Bierut’s ability to articulate and deconstruct the design process has raised the consciousness of an entire field and sparked a national dialogue,” states the NDA release. Bierut is a cofounder of Design Observer and his book Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design was published last year by Princeton Architectural Press. (And he deejayed the NDA After-Party in 2006.)

Bierut’s fellow 2008 NDA laureates include Scott Stowell for communications design, Antenna for product design, Tom Kundig for architecture design, Ralph Rucci for fashion design, Rockwell Group for interior design, Olin Partnership for landscape design, Google for corporate achievement and Charles Harrison for lifetime achievement. Bruce Nussbaum and Michael Sorkin were finalists in the Design Mind category. The National Design Awards program “seeks to increase national awareness of design by educating the public and promoting excellence, innovation and lasting achievement.” The award will be presented in a ceremony at the NDA gala on 23 October.

Announcement coverage: The New York Times, Design Observer

United Seating Wins ‘Condé Nast Traveller’ Innovation and Design Award

United’s First (top) and Business class (bottom) airline seats recline into completely flat, 180° beds
and are now in service on international flights. Click on the images for enlargements.

United’s new First and Business class cabin environments, developed by Pentagram partner Daniel Weil and B/E Aerospace, have won first prize in the aviation category of the Condé Nast Traveller Innovation and Design Awards 2008.

The United seating was shortlisted for the award by a panel of travel experts and commentators, before being put to the public vote alongside the other finalists. Readers of Condé Nast Traveller voted online for the winners, who also included David Chipperfield in the Culture category for his Museum of Modern Literature in Germany; Ross Lovegrove in the Sustainable category for his Solar Tree street lighting system and Heston Blumenthal in the Gourmet category.

Daniel Weil said of the award: “This is a great opportunity to celebrate the success of the collaboration between United, B/E Aerospace and ourselves. I see this award as the product of a unique combination of talent, expertise and commitment that every member of the team has contributed to.”

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‘Creative Review’ Names Pentagram Design Studio of the Year

Pentagram has been named Design Studio of the Year by Creative Review. The award is announced in the Creative Review Annual 2008, which represents the magazine’s choice of the highlights of the past year in visual communication. The Design Studio of the Year Award is given to the studio with the most work accepted into the annual.

Five Pentagram projects were selected by the judging panel for inclusion in the annual; images and links after the jump.

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Pentagram Honored for Leadership in Pro Bono Service

Pentagram’s New York office was honored last night by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation for its work for nonprofit organizations. Paula Scher and Jim Biber were on hand to accept the honor during a ceremony held at the Harvard Club. Pentagram received the first annual “DNA” award for “its exceptional incorporation of pro bono service into its business culture.” Recent Pentagram pro bono projects include work for the Robin Hood Foundation, the Madison Square Park Conservancy, the Public Theater and the One Laptop Per Child initiative.

The award ceremony is part of a two-day Pro Bono Summit that has brought together 150 top corporate, government and nonprofit leaders to launch a multi-year campaign to dramatically increase the amount of skilled volunteering and pro bono service employees give to nonprofits and their communities. The leaders are discussing strategies for making the idea of “pro bono” as common in marketing, finance, technology, HR, logistics and other professions as it is in the legal field.

Speaking about the business advantages of doing pro bono work Scher stated: “A lot of the work we’ve done is outside, public, it’s very visible, and so clients will call us because they’ve seen the design. I can’t tell you how many jobs I’ve gotten through [pro bono work with] the Public Theater. We’re connected to virtually every cultural institution in the city. We are rewarded in recommendations; we’re included in groups where we find out information about things—it’s all very good business.”

Pro bono work has been part of the culture at Pentagram for decades as the partners and their teams donate their talents and time to enhance the design programs of cultural institutions and nonprofit organizations all over the city. “Pentagram Design is setting a powerful example of corporate citizenship that we hope other companies will follow,” said Jean Case, Chair of the Council. “Embracing a pro bono approach is good for employees, the community and the bottom line. America’s businesses have an extraordinary pool of skilled talent, and engaging corporate volunteers on a large scale could make a profound difference in the well-being of our communities and our country.”

The Council’s Pro Bono Award is given annually to six companies who are considered to be setting the standards of excellence in offering pro bono corporate skills to solve social challenges. This year’s other awardees are the Advertising Council; General Electric; Harvard Business School Community Partners; McKinsey & Company; and the Monitor Group.

Luke Hayman Wins Golden Boa

Luke Hayman has been awarded a prestigious, if not unconventional, Golden Boa Award from Mediabistro. He is one of ten honorees chosen to receive the award, one from each of the various media outlets Mediabistro serves. Others include Stephen Colbert for The Colbert Report, Adam Moss of New York Magazine and Craig Newmark of Craigslist. The awards, bronzed feather boas inspired by Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby’s penchant for the adornment, will be presented on 4 October in Manhattan.

Organized to celebrate Mediabistro’s tenth anniversary, the award recognizes individuals who have made significant strides in their media careers since the company’s founding. “So much has changed in the media landscape over the last decade – it’s an entirely new world. I wanted to honor some of the people who have contributed to that,” says Touby.

Montauk Residence Wins American Architecture Award

The Montauk Residence, designed by James Biber and his team, has won an American Architecture Award for distinguished buildings. Sponsored by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, the award is co-presented annually by The European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies and Abitare magazine to 35 new buildings either located in the United States or built abroad by American architects. The award serves to identify “the new cutting-edge design direction, urban philosophy, design approach, style and intellectual substance in American architecture today.”

Images of the award-winning projects can be found at the Chicago Athenaeum website.

William Russell Scoops Two Commercial Architecture Awards

William Russell has received two Commercial Architecture Awards for his designs for retail environments for Cass Art Warehouse and Margaret Howell’s Fulham Road store. The Commercial Architecture Awards are an annual prize for work in the UK commercial sector and seek to recognise “…schemes that have managed to achieve the balance between meeting a client’s commercial objectives, while producing the best quality architecture and interior design.”

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One Laptop Per Child Wins INDEX: Award

INDEX, a non-profit organization based in Copenhagen whose mission is to support design that substantially improves human life, has presented One Laptop Per Child with a prestigious INDEX: Award. Every two years, one award is given in each of five categories: Body, Home, Work, Play and Community. OLPC won in the Community category, as the jury surmised: “Without a computer-literate population, developing countries will continue to struggle to compete in a rapidly evolving, global information economy.” Pentagram developed the laptop’s interface and designed the organization’s identity and website.

Interactive Model of Lower Manhattan Wins IDSA Award

Wall Street Rising’s interactive model of Lower Manhattan.

The interactive architectural model of Lower Manhattan designed by Lisa Strausfeld and her team for Wall Street Rising’s Downtown Information Center won an Industrial Design Excellence Award, the Industrial Designers Society of America announced today. Co-sponsored by BusinessWeek magazine and the IDSA, the awards recognize the best product designs of the year.

Founded in the wake of 9/11, Wall Street Rising is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the historic, cultural and economic interests of Lower Manhattan. The model, developed on the concept of a communal table, creates a shared space where visitors to the center can gather to learn about the history and opportunities of the area. Using a gyro-mouse, users can highlight streets, buildings and other points of interest, receive practical information about local museums, restaurants, shops and neighborhood events, view historic and contemporary photographs or watch short documentary films. These graphics are all seamlessly projected onto the 3-D model from two digital projectors hung from the ceiling.

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Sonance Exhibit Wins Top Award

The Sonance exhibit won the Edge Award from Exhibitor Magazine.

Lorenzo Apicella’s exhibit design for Sonance won Exhibitor Magazine’s Edge Award, the magazine’s top honor across all exhibition design competition categories. The award, juried by an esteemed panel of design leaders, is the highest recognition for exhibit design and graphics excellence within the global exhibit industry.

The award-winning exhibit, originally designed for the CEDIA Expo, marked the launch of the company’s new graphic identity, as well as a range of new architectural in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, also designed by Pentagram. “This prestigious award reinforces our belief in how a holistic branding and design strategy can help a company deliver a powerful message in a way that is differentiating and emotionally compelling,” says Sonance founder Scott Struthers.

Read “New Work: Sonance”

Humboldt Identity Short Listed for Designpreis

Identity designed for the Wilhelm von Humboldt Stiftung.

The identity designed by Justus Oehler and his team for the Wilhelm von Humboldt Stiftung (Wilhelm von Humboldt Foundation) in Berlin has been short listed for the prestigious Designpreis, the 2008 Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany, the official design award of the German government. The identity already received the MFG Award of the Federal Association of Print and Media in Germany.

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Paula Scher Is 2007 National Design Awards Finalist

Paula Scher has been selected as a finalist in the Communications Design section of this year’s National Design Awards presented by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. She was previously a finalist in 2005.

Luke Hayman Wins SPD Magazine of the Year

Silver Medal winning cover of New York’s December 4, 2006 issue.

Luke Hayman’s design direction for New York was the big winner at the Society of Publication Designers’ 42nd Annual Awards, taking six medals, including Magazine of the Year. New York’s final tally (all in the division for magazines with circulation under 500,000):

Gold Medal, Magazine of the Year

Gold Medal, Design, Entire Story: “Blogs to Riches”

Gold Medal, Illustration, Entire Story: “Some Dark Thoughts on Happiness”

Silver Medal, Cover: December 4, 2006 issue (pictured above)

Silver Medal, Photography, Spread/Single Page: “Strategist: Mallomars”

Silver Medal, Photography, Entire Story: “The Summer Issue”

In addition, 2wice magazine’s “How To Kick, Pass, Fall and Run” issue designed by Abbott Miller received a Merit award.

Luke Hayman Wins at the Ellies

Luke Hayman’s work for New York magazine won the Design category of the 2007 National Magazine Awards, or Ellies, presented last night in New York. This is the second consecutive year that Hayman and New York have won the prestigious award. Hayman was design director of New York from 2004 to 2006. The Ellies are sponsored by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Congratulations also go to our client The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, who won the award for General Excellence (under 100,000 circulation).

Fuego Wins iF Product Design Award

Fuego in action

The Fuego grill has received the prestigious iF Product Design Award.

Awards: Mohawk Show 7

Spread from Swarm, printed on Mohawk

Abbott Miller’s Swarm exhibition catalog for the Fabric Workshop and Museum was selected as one of five winners in this year’s Mohawk Show, honoring work printed on Mohawk paper. The award comes with the choice of a trip to the Sundance Film Festival or a cash prize of $3,000.

The 2wice Armitage issue was one of the top 20 finalists.

Awards: Neenah Paper

The Ford Foundation 2005 Annual Report designed by Abbott Miller and John Kudos has received a Silver in Neenah Paper's quarterly Text and Cover Contest. The prize comes with $300.

Awards: AIA NY State Design Awards

The Montauk Residence designed by Pentagram Architecture has received a Citation for Design in the 2006 AIA New York State Design Awards. Project design by James Biber, Michael Zweck-Bronner, Alex Mergold, Suzanne Holt and Denise Ramzy.

Awards: AIGA 365 27

Poster design by Paula Scher and Lenny Naar

The following projects have been selected for 365: AIGA Annual Design Competitions 27:

“Swarm” exhibition catalog for the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Information Design category)
Bloomberg L.P. environmental graphics and dynamic displays (Information Design)
“All the News That Fits” portfolio for Print magazine (Editorial Design & Illustration)
“Paula Scher in Chaumont” poster (Typographic Design)

Pentagrammer Takes Adobe Award

Nina Boesch, a designer on Lisa Strausfeld’s team in our New York office, has received a prestigious Adobe Design Achievement Award. Nina won the Interactive Design category with her RISD degree project “Manhattan Dissected”, an interactive CD-ROM that guides users through a subjectively viewed Manhattan. (Demo here.) Nina was presented with the award—which includes a $5000 prize—at a special event held at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto last Thursday.

Awards: Print Regional Design Annual 2006

Catalog design by Michael Bierut and Jena Sher

The following projects have been selected for this year’s Print Regional Design Annual, to be published in the magazine’s November/December issue:

“Where We Stand” capital campaign book for NYU School of Law
“Designing the Taxi” exhibition catalog for the Design Trust for Public Space
“Swarm” exhibition catalog for the Fabric Museum and Workshop
Boudin Bakery signage
Boudin Museum and Bakery Tour exhibition design
PLUS logo
The Art of Gaman book

Awards: Creativity Art & Design Annual

The environmental graphics for the Bloomberg L.P. corporate headquarters have been selected for this year’s Creativity Art and Design Annual, published in the May 2006 issue.

Paula Scher to Receive TDC Medal

Paula Scher has been announced as a recipient of the Type Directors Club Medal, in recognition of her achievements in and contributions to the art and craft of type and typography. She will be presented with the award at a ceremony this fall. One of the distinctions of the award is its relative infrequency: Since its inception in 1967, there have been only 22 recipients, the last being Martin Solomon in 2003. Paula is the first Pentagram partner to receive the honor. Official release here.

Awards: The One Show

Selected for the One Show 2006, presented by the One Club:

Pentagram 2006 Typography Calendar (Finalist in the Design, Self-Promotion category)

Awards Update: Society of Publication Designers

Design by Kit Hinrichs

Selected for SPD41, in addition to winners previously announced (one, two):

USC Law viewbook (Merit Award in the Institutional, Entire Issue category)

Awards Update: Society of Publication Designers

MFAH Today designed by DJ Stout

Selected for SPD41, in addition to winners previously announced:

MFAH Today (Silver Medal for Design, Entire Issue)
Austin Arts (Merit Award, Design, Entire Issue)

Awards: Art Directors Club 85th Annual

“Swarm” catalogue designed by Abbott Miller

Selected for the ADC 85th Annual Awards:

“Swarm” exhibition catalogue for the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Merit Award, Book Design: Museum, Gallery or Library Book category)

Awards: I.D. Annual Design Review 2006

Hermès “El Río” poster by Fernando Gutiérrez

The following projects have been selected for this year’s I.D. Annual Design Review, to be published in the magazine’s July/August issue:

2wice Armitage Alphabet issue (Design Distinction, Graphics category)
2wice Gold issue (Design Distinction, Graphics)
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh environmental graphics (Design Distinction, Environments)
Hermès “El Río” poster (Honorable Mention, Graphics)
The Myths book series for Canongate (Honorable Mention, Graphics)
Bloomberg L.P. headquarters environmental graphics (Honorable Mention, Environments)

Awards: IDEA 2006

Exterior view of media wall at Bloomberg

Our signage and dynamic digital displays for Bloomberg’s New York headquarters took the Gold in the Environments category of this year’s Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), the influential competition sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and BusinessWeek magazine. Winners will be featured in the magazine’s July 3rd issue.

More Bloomberg after the jump.

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Awards: Society for Environmental Graphic Design

Dynamic projection at the Walker Art Center. Photo: Paul Warchol

The following have been selected for the SEGD 2006 Design Awards:

Bloomberg L.P. environmental graphics and dynamic displays (Honor Award)
Walker Art Center dynamic projection (Merit Award)
“Esto Now” exhibition at the Center for Architecture (“Doing a Lot with a Little” Award)

Michael Bierut to Receive AIGA Medal

Michael Bierut will be presented with the AIGA Medal at the Design Legends Gala this fall. The medal is considered the profession’s highest honor and is awarded to individuals in recognition of their contributions to the field of graphic design and visual communication.

For those keeping track, Michael will be Pentagram's fifth partner to receive the honor, following Colin Forbes (1991), Paula Scher (2001), Woody Pirtle (2003), and Kit Hinrichs (2004). Michael was named to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 2003.

Awards Update: Type Directors Club

In addition to the winners previously announced, the book First Down, Houston has been selected for TDC52.

Awards: Society of Publication Designers

Selected for SPD41, the Society of Publication Designers’ 41st Annual Competition:
2wice Gold issue (Merit Award, Entire Issue)

Awards Coverage

Pentagram is all over the current issue of SEGD Design — the quarterly journal of the Society for Environmental Graphic Design — which highlights the winners of the 2005 SEGD Design Awards. Included are articles about our work for the Shake Shack, the Temporary WTC PATH Station, the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh and Wave Hill, all Honor award recipients. Also noted are Merit award winners the L!BRARY Initiative, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the NYU Wagner School, and the “New York’s Moynihan” exhibition for the Museum of the City of New York.

Awards: Type Directors Club

Signage for NYU Wagner

Selected for TDC52, the 52nd Annual Type Directors Club Exhibition:
NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service signage program
Yale School of Architecture Open House 2005 poster

Awards: Tokyo TDC

Dynamic display for Bloomberg L.P.

Selected for the Tokyo Type Directors Club Annual Awards 2006:
Bloomberg L.P. Corporate Headquarters signage and dynamic digital displays
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh signage and environmental graphics