New at Pentagram
Introducing the Black Book
Pentagram is pleased to announce the publication of the Black Book, a new 800-page overview of our recent work. The book is a compilation of over 400 projects from the last several years, arranged in alphabetical order, like a dictionary, and printed on Bible paper, like a Bible, complete with tabbed sections and ribbons for bookmarking. It covers pretty much everything we do, from architecture to graphics, buildings to websites, branding to signage, interiors, packaging, exhibitions, interfaces, furniture, products, brochures, magazines, and houses, all in simple picture-and-caption form.
CONTEST UPDATE: The Black Book giveaway contest is now closed. The 50 lucky winners will be contacted by email to confirm their information. We’ve had an overwhelming response—thanks to everyone for entering and for continuing to follow our work!
A look inside the Black Book after the jump.
Pentagram Papers 37: Forgotten Architects
In the 1920s and early 1930s, German Jewish architects created some of the greatest modern buildings in Germany, mainly in the capital Berlin. A law issued by the newly elected German National Socialist Government in 1933 banned all of them from practicing architecture in Germany. In the years after 1933, many of them managed to emigrate, while many others were deported or killed under Hitler’s regime. Pentagram Papers 37: Forgotten Architects is a survey of 43 of these architects and their groundbreaking work.
The paper is based on the extensive research of architect Myra Warhaftig, who sadly passed away last Tuesday, 4 March at age 78. Warhaftig spent twenty years investigating the fates of these architects and only recently published her findings in her book German Jewish Architects Before and After 1933: The Lexicon. An exhibition based on her work is set to open at the Jewish Museum Berlin later this year. David Sokol has written about Warhaftig and her project in an article published today in the Jewish culture blog Nextbook.
Forgotten Architects was designed by Justus Oehler and Christiane Weismüller in our Berlin office. We have adapted its content for a minisite here.
New Work: Serif Books
Justus Oehler has designed a website for Serif Books, a London-based independent publishing house. The website is the latest outcome of Pentagram’s six-year relationship with the client; Justus and his team in Berlin have designed every Serif book since 2002.
Update: Message on the Bottle
Justus Oehler’s wine label design for Message on the Bottle, organised by OnDesign Studio for this year’s Hamburg Design Festival, has been featured in Marie Claire (Italy), Creativ Verpacken and will feature in the February edition of Novum.
The Message on the Bottle exhibition will go on a tour of European design festivals in 2008.
German language readers can find comment on Justus Oehler’s recent talk for MCAD, Design with humour, humanity and passion on the organisation’s website. To navigate to the page, simply click on the ‘Open House Lectures’ icon and follow the links to Justus’ talk.
Hillman Curtis Films Pentagram
Designer and filmmaker Hillman Curtis has directed a short documentary about Pentagram. Shot at each of Pentagram’s five offices, the film features a graphic presentation of the history of the partnership by Paula Scher, alongside interviews with a number of partners.
Click here to view the film at hillmancurtis.com
The film was originally shown at the 2007 D&AD President’s Lecture in London and is Curtis’ second on Pentagram, following one he made in 2005.
Justus Oehler at Design Festival Hamburg
Justus Oehler has designed a wine label for Message on the Bottle, a wine bottle and label design exhibition held as part of Design Festival Hamburg 2007, one of the highlights of Germany’s design calendar which is now in its 50th Year. In total there were 70 contributions to the exhibition from designers in 16 countries. Message on the bottle ran from the 5th to 20th of October 2007.
Justus Oehler at MCAD, Munich
Justus Oehler will be giving a talk, entitled Design with humour, humanity and passion, as part of MCAD’s Open House lecture series at 7.30pm on Wednesday 7 November, at the Trafokeller, Martin-Luther-Straße 2, Munich, Germany.
MCAD (Masterclass Art Direction) is a privately funded initiative that offers postgraduate courses for a small number of talented designers. Their Open House lecture series has included speakers from a wide variety of German and international agencies.
Listen to Justus Oehler on TypeRadio
Justus Oehler’s radio spot for TypeRadio’s Sweet Sixteen 16-hour long radio event, recorded in May 2007, is now available to download.
In a 50-minute, live interview with Donald Beekman & Liza Enebeis, Justus discusses a range of topics; from his design education and his experiences as a Pentagram partner, to talking typefaces with the President of Sardinia.
Justus Oehler Speaks to DesignKlicks
Justus Oehler has given an interview to German design website DesignKlicks, an online platform for Creatives organised by Trendbüro and Spiegel Online.
German speakers can read Justus’ thoughts on his work for clients such as Star Alliance, Villeroy & Boch, Citibank, Trussardi, Sardegna and the Museum für Film und Fernsehen. Justus also talks about his career and the differences between working in Berlin and London.
Berlin Launch for Pentagram Papers 37
Pentagram’s Berlin office hosted a party last night to celebrate the launch of Forgotten Architects, Pentagram Papers 37. The guest of honor was architect Dr. Myra Warhaftig, whose compendium German Jewish Architects Before and After 1933 was the inspiration for Forgotten Architects, the latest in the series of self-published points of view known as the Pentagram Papers. Forgotten Architects surveys the work of German Jewish architects who disappeared during the years of the Third Reich and is accompanied by rarely seen photographs of their residential and commercial work.
Among the 100 guests who attended were Dr. Ulrich Klopsch, director of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Dr. Lieselotte Kugler, director of the Museum für Kommunikation and Dr. Rainer Rother, director of the Deutsche Kinemathek Museum für Film und Fernsehen. After an introduction and welcome by Pentagram partner Justus Oehler and a speech by Berlin’s State Secretary of Culture, André Schmitz, the guests enjoyed food, drinks and a special exhibition the Pentagram Berlin team organized for the evening.
State Secretary of Culture, André Schmitz welcomes guests.
Justus Oehler, Dr.-Ing. Myra Warhaftig, André Schmitz, State Secretary of Culture.
Justus Oehler Designs for the Deutsche Kinemathek
Justus Oehler and his team have designed posters, invitations, flyers and advertising for four recent exhibitions at the Deutsche Kinemathek Museum für Film und Fernsehen (the German Film and Television Museum) including the current exhibition about German filmmaker and photographer Ulrike Ottinger. Oehler also designed the museum’s identity and its bi-annual journal, Recherche Film und Fernsehen (RFF).
Ulrike Ottinger is internationally known as an experimental female filmmaker whose work is characterized by surrealistic-theatrical and stylized-artificial elements as well as by ethnological depictions of foreign places and people taken from her many travels through Europe, North America and particularly China and Mongolia. The exhibition is the first in a series that will highlight extraordinary German speaking filmmakers.
New Work: vivo
Justus Oehler and his Berlin design team have created a new tableware brand called vivo for the German porcelain company Villeroy & Boch. Oehler named, created an identity for and designed the new brand that includes ceramic, glass and cutlery products. Designed to appeal to a young audience, the tableware is contemporary in aesthetic, multifunctional, durable and will sell at a lower price than the company’s other, more traditional, lines.
Point of Pride
Vivantes, a Berlin based health care provider and current Pentagram client, asked Justus Oehler to design a special graphic for the city’s Christopher Street Day festivities, the annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride event. The visual depicts the Berliner Fernsehturm, a prominent feature of the city’s skyline known as TV Tower, sheathed in a giant pink condom. The campaign’s message: “diversity without fear.”
Applications after the jump.
Pentagram Turns 35
Tuesday 12 June was Pentagram’s 35th Birthday and to celebrate, Daniel Weil and Julia Wyatt organised a mystery day out for partners and staff from the London and Berlin offices.
More photos from the celebrations after the jump
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.
Continue reading "Humboldt Identity Short Listed for Designpreis"
New Work: Nigel Parry’s ‘Blunt’
Cover of Nigel Parry’s latest book designed by Justus Oehler.
Justus Oehler and his team in the Berlin office have designed Blunt, the latest monograph from celebrity photographer Nigel Parry. The book pairs iconic black and white portraits together in a thought-provoking sequence that is paced with memorable quotes from the photo shoots.
New Work: Sardegna
Identity designed for the popular Italian destination.
Just in time for summer: Justus Oehler has designed an identity for the Italian island of Sardegna (Sardinia). The identity is based on a carefully modified version of the typeface Eurostile, designed in 1962 by Aldo Novarese. The colors are derived from the richly embroidered traditional Sardinian costumes.
The modern shape of the letters, combined with the patchwork of warm colors, reflects the two sides of Sardinia: history and tradition on the one hand, modernity and openness on the other. “We wanted to create a symbol which would not depict sun and sea—like most of the other Mediterranean countries’ identities do, but which would look grown-up and confident, yet at the same time playful and warm,” says Oehler.
New Work: Deutsche Kinemathek
Justus Oehler and his team have designed the new identity for the Deutsche Kinemathek — Museum für Film und Fernsehen (German Museum of Film and Television) in Berlin. Located in the Potsdamer Platz, in the heart of the city, the museum celebrates Germany’s contribution to world cinema and is comparable to institutions like the British Film Institute in London and the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. Holdings from Marlene Dietrich’s estate form the core of the permanent collection.
The museum was formerly named the Filmmuseum Berlin, but relaunched recently with a parallel focus on television. It needed an identity that would reflect both media, and the new logo features two screens intersecting to form a silvery-grey letter “M.” The program includes the design of posters, brochures and promotional collateral, signage, merchandising, and eventually, the website.
An application after the jump.
New Work: Halle F
(Click image for larger view)
Justus Oehler and his team have designed the identity and wayfinding signage for Halle F, a new 2,000-seat concert hall at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna.
More images after the jump.
Syndication feed