Kate Moss in a body-cast sculpture made by Allen Jones in 1978, photographed by Jones in 2013. The catalogue for a 2014 show of Jones’s work at London’s Royal Academy of Arts was designed by Harry Pearce.

A Rainforest Action Network poster, designed by Matt Willey. The text begins: “Forests are the lungs of the earth.”

A Witness poster drawing attention to the burning of villages in Burma, designed by Pearce.

A London Poster Project poster for the 2009 London Design Festival, designed by Angus Hyland.

For the opening of *The New York Times’*s Midtown Manhattan headquarters, in 2007, designer Michael Bierut and his team created a customized program of environmental graphics, including a massive landmark sign on the building’s façade.

The Bibliothèque National de Luxembourg, designed by Sascha Lobe.

Branding for New York’s first rail link to J.F.K. airport, designed by Michael Gericke.

An American Folk Art Museum poster, designed by Woody Pirtle.

The Kenwood Chef stand mixer, which became a staple in tens of thousands of British households starting in 1948, designed by Pentagram co-founder Kenneth Grange.

A Pentagram design for the Coca-Cola Company’s 1994 annual report.

*Top,* an installation view of 2019’s “Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition” at the Design Museum, in London, designed by Marina Willer; *above,* the Gakken Easy Vinyl Maker, a compact five-inch record cutter designed by Yuri Suzuki.

A Yale School of Architecture poster, designed by Bierut.

A poster for *Fucking A* at New York’s Public Theater, designed by Paula Scher.

Better by Design

A new coffee-table book celebrates 50 years of Pentagram, the world’s largest independent design consultancy

There are design studios, and then there is Pentagram. It’s nearly impossible to believe that the firm was created just over 50 years ago, partly because design firms usually do not outlast their founders (there were five of them, and it started in London) but mostly because its ongoing work remains so fresh and innovative.

There are now more than 20 partners in four cities (London, New York, Berlin, and Austin), but there is no president and no demand from on high to do something no one wants to do. From company logos to magazine design, from subway signs to cookware, to playgrounds, to billboards, to the credit cards in your wallet, Pentagram’s work surrounds us, and no matter what the project is, at its core is good design. As the adage goes, no one ever got fired for hiring Pentagram. You may be fired for other reasons, but even then Pentagram could probably design your résumé. —Jim Kelly

Pentagram: Living by Design, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of Pentagram’s founding, is published by Unit Editions

Jim Kelly is the Books Editor for AIR MAIL

Images: courtesy of Pentagram and Unit Editions