(Image retrieved from: https://www.pentagram.com/)
By Selena Alvarado
This week we decided to take a look at an agency outside of west Michigan and explore the graphic design side agency, by taking a look at Pentagram. After being founded in London in 1972 they have gone on to become the world’s largest graphic and have moved all over the world, now having agencies in cities like London and New York City. Although they are listed as a graphic design agency the company is still known for it’s work in advertising, communications, websites, and more through it’s expert use of design.
Pentagram has worked with so many companies, many that you will recognize. They do work for Mastercard, Saturday Night Live, Lululemon, Yahoo, Windows, it’s incredible to look at all the brands they’ve worked with you’d spend hours looking through the pages. Let’s take a loot at some of their best work to show how a graphic design agency may differ from other ad agencies.
(Check out the links provided to see the full artwork for the projects they did, this blog only glosses over them.)
Wako & Seiko Christmas Window Display
This is Pentagrams Wako & Seiko Christmas Window Display in Tokyo. Isn’t this so inventive? What a fun way to advertise for Christmas. I love the way the circle panels are constantly spinning and changing the picture on it, always keeping you looking and waiting for what’s to come next. It’s such a playfully display, especially the fun illustrations in the background. You can see how they take a focus on creating ads and brands through designs and other projects such as this. Wouldn’t you love for this to be your job? Just me? Ok.
Saks Fifth Avenue
Look at the branding for Saks Fifth Avenue in New york. It’s amazing how simple the design is yet they’ve made it look so intricate. They’ve taken the logo for the brand and broke it up into a grid and randomly placed them to create almost a checkerboard pattern. This just takes the eye everywhere on the bag, always keeping me interested in what letter leads where, when other bags have their logo simply placed in the middle. BORING. This is all I ever want to do in my life, make packaging design, wow, does this not give you goosebumps? Sorry, I’ll move on.
FisherPrice Brand Identity
Ok last one I promise. This is the FisherPrice Brand Identity they’ve made. It’s so fun and playful looking at all the different designs they’ve made and the ways they’ve incorporated them into designs, ads, and even T-shirts. It’s amazing how they create such a welcoming/fun atmosphere just with the typography it just reminds me of playing with the Fisher Price toys and how I felt playing with them.
That’s just the surface of what Pentagram does, isn’t their work so fun? With advertising being overtaken by strategy and data mining, it’s refreshing to see an agency perform such creative work through their design. Would you want to work for a company like them? To create something that makes the viewer feel something, to send a message without any words, to put your creative energy into works of art through branding and advertising? It’s my dream, what are yours?
I hope you all find the job that is right for you whether it be analytics or graphic design, but it’s great to know that there are agencies that specialize on all the different sides of the industry. If you have a passion for something and know it’s in your future, find the agency that shares that passion, because they would love to have you!
This is my dream agency, what’s yours?
References
https://www.pentagram.com/work/wako-and-seiko-christmas-window-display?rel=discipline&rel-id=4
Because things get real, real fast 
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