Individual Architects & Firms, Decorative Arts & Design, History & Criticism 

Pentagram is an international design consultancy founded in 1972 with offices in New York, London, San Francisco, and Austin, Texas. Pentagram Book Five is the company's fifth monograph, highlighting 50 case studies of its projects from the last five years -- 1993 through 1998 -- across the fields of graphic design, industrial design, and architecture. Pentagram Book Five is both a celebration of the creativity and a testimony to the collaboration of Pentagram's partners, each of whom brings an individual voice to the firm's idea-based design. From the start, Pentagram's partners balked at the common practice of designing in the vacuum of specialization, choosing instead to bring together a broad range of designers, disciplines and backgrounds to collaborate on projects. The combined efforts of these architects, product designers, and graphic designers have landed them coveted work with such diverse clients as the American Institute of Architects, Coca-Cola, Swatch, and Toshiba, who chose Pentagram for the unique perspective this collaboration brings. Edited and introduced by communications journalist Randall Rothenberg, Pentagram Book Five is also a how-to, giving insights to the way Pentagram's partners approach the problems given them by their clients: How to bring new audiences to a struggling theater? How to make computers a natural part of the kitchen? How to sell the Bible to readers of contemporary fiction? How to create a feeling of "heritage" in a manufactured town? Each case study takes the reader through the designers' and clients' thought processes and shows why the project is successful, in terms of both business and design requirements. Pentagram partners represented in the book include: Lorenzo Apicella, James Biber, Michael Bierut, Robert Brunner, Michael Gericke, Kenneth Grange, David Hillman, Kit Hinrichs, Angus Hyland, John McConnell, Justus Oehler, Woody Pirtle, John Rushworth, Paula Scher, Daniel Weil, and Lowell Williams. - from Amzon