Pentagram
An independently owned, partner-led international design studio known for identity, graphic, product, architectural, and environmental design.
Last updated August 31, 2026
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Overview
Pentagram is an international design studio founded in London in 1972 by Alan Fletcher, Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes, Kenneth Grange, and Mervyn Kurlansky. It emerged from the earlier Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes practice and was created around an unusually egalitarian model: designers, rather than outside investors or corporate executives, own and manage the business. The name refers to the five founding partners and the five-pointed geometric figure. The firm’s defining organizational feature is its flat partnership structure. Partners lead their own client relationships and design teams while sharing central resources, operating costs, and collective responsibility for the studio. The model has historically emphasized equal ownership, shared financial participation, peer decision-making, and the recruitment of established designers whose professional reputations and ability to lead projects strengthen the partnership. Pentagram does not operate like a conventional advertising network or holding company, and it has generally resisted expansion through acquisition and outside shareholder control. Pentagram’s earliest identity was strongly associated with graphic design, corporate identity, typography, publication design, and signage. Over time, the scope broadened as new partners joined and different offices developed their own specialisms. The firm has worked in branding, packaging, digital experiences, product and industrial design, architecture, interiors, retail environments, exhibitions, wayfinding, environmental graphics, and sound design. Its clients have included commercial companies, cultural institutions, media organizations, public bodies, technology companies, retailers, and nonprofit groups. The studio has designed or revised identities for organizations including Citibank, United Airlines, Saks Fifth Avenue, the Co-operative brand, Oppo, Sam Labs, and the Big Ten Conference. Its broader portfolio includes the Harley-Davidson Museum, Alexander McQueen retail spaces, Citibank interiors, London commercial and cultural buildings, restaurants, residences, and exhibition environments. Pentagram has also undertaken prominent entertainment and cultural assignments, including the redesign of the set and on-screen graphics for The Daily Show, packaging for Pink Floyd’s The Early Years 1965–1972 box set, a Warner Bros. Pictures identity system, and a logo for the forty-eighth season of Saturday Night Live. The firm expanded beyond London in 1978 when Colin Forbes established a New York office. It later developed offices in San Francisco, Berlin, and Austin, giving Pentagram an international operating footprint while retaining its partnership-based character. Its work is often presented as a combination of strategic thinking and highly visible formal design, with each partner’s practice retaining a distinctive voice rather than being absorbed into a single standardized corporate method. Pentagram has also cultivated relationships with cultural and civic institutions and has carried out pro bono work for nonprofit organizations. Projects associated with its public-interest work include design for One Laptop per Child, the High Line, the Public Theater in New York, and the National Gallery of Art. In 2008, the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation recognized the studio with a DNA award for incorporating pro bono work into its business culture. Today, Pentagram remains a private, active design partnership with offices in London, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, and Austin. Its reputation rests on the combination of a long-established body of influential design work, a decentralized multidisciplinary practice, and an ownership system that places designers at the center of governance and client delivery.
History
Pentagram’s origins lie in the London partnership Fletcher/Forbes/Gill, established by Alan Fletcher, Colin Forbes, and Bob Gill in 1962. After Gill left in 1965, Fletcher and Forbes joined architect Theo Crosby to form Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes. Crosby’s experience with the collaborative, cross-disciplinary organization behind the 1956 This Is Tomorrow exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Gallery influenced his thinking about a less hierarchical model for creative practice. He later described that experience as an early example of a horizontal organization in which people from different disciplines worked as equals. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the practice grew and discussions began about formalizing a new partnership. Product designer Kenneth Grange and designer Mervyn Kurlansky joined Fletcher, Crosby, and Forbes in establishing the new entity. In 1972, the Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes business was renamed Pentagram, a reference to the five founding partners. The new structure treated the partners as both creative leaders and owners. Each partner managed clients and projects, while overhead and selected support functions were shared. The partnership also sought to equalize participation in the firm’s financial and strategic life rather than rewarding partners solely according to the value of the accounts they personally brought in. Pentagram’s London base moved in 1982 from premises behind Paddington railway station to a former dairy on Needham Road in Notting Hill. Crosby designed the new space, which became a visible expression of the firm’s practical, communal, and architecturally minded culture. Shared meals and other collective routines reinforced the idea that the studio was a group of peers rather than a conventional agency with a strict executive chain of command. International expansion began in 1978, when Colin Forbes moved to the United States and established a New York office. Peter Harrison and Woody Pirtle later joined that office as partners, followed in the early 1990s by Michael Bierut, Paula Scher, and James Biber. The New York practice eventually occupied a building at 204 Fifth Avenue before relocating to 250 Park Avenue South in 2017. Pentagram subsequently developed offices in San Francisco, Berlin, and Austin, extending its international presence while keeping the basic partnership model. The studio’s service range expanded alongside its partnership. Its early public reputation was built on graphic design, typography, corporate identity, and publication work, but the firm increasingly took on architecture, interiors, product design, packaging, wayfinding, environmental graphics, exhibition design, and sound. This breadth allowed Pentagram to work across brand systems and the physical environments in which those systems appear. Examples cited in descriptions of the firm include the Harley-Davidson Museum, Alexander McQueen shops, Citibank interiors, London commercial and cultural buildings, restaurants, residences, and exhibition projects. Pentagram has also maintained a substantial cultural and civic practice. It has worked for institutions such as the High Line, the Public Theater, and the National Gallery of Art, and has provided pro bono services to nonprofit organizations, including work associated with One Laptop per Child. In 2008, the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation gave the studio a DNA award for its pro bono culture. The partnership model has remained central to Pentagram’s identity. The firm is privately held and designer-owned, with no publicly traded shares and no conventional corporate executive hierarchy described in the supplied reference. New partners are periodically invited to join, renewing the collective while preserving the principle that creative practitioners should retain meaningful control over the quality and direction of their work. Eddie Opara became a partner in 2010, illustrating the continuing evolution of the partnership. In the twenty-first century, Pentagram has continued to handle high-profile identity and entertainment assignments. Its documented work includes visual changes for The Daily Show, packaging for Pink Floyd’s archival recordings, a Warner Bros. Pictures rebrand in 2019, and a logo for the forty-eighth season of Saturday Night Live in 2022. The firm remains active as a multinational, multidisciplinary design partnership headquartered in London.
- 2022
Saturday Night Live season 48 logo is created
[1]Pentagram designed a new logo for the forty-eighth season of Saturday Night Live.
- 2019
Warner Bros. Pictures identity is redesigned
[1]Pentagram was commissioned to rebrand Warner Bros. Pictures.
- 2017
New York office relocates
[1]The New York office moved from 204 Fifth Avenue to 250 Park Avenue South.
- 2010
Eddie Opara becomes a partner
[1]Eddie Opara joined the partnership, contributing expertise in identity, digital, and graphic design.
- 2008
DNA award recognizes pro bono practice
[1]Pentagram received recognition from the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation for its nonprofit design work.
- 1991
Paula Scher and James Biber join
[1]Paula Scher and James Biber joined the New York office as partners.
- 1990
Michael Bierut joins the New York partnership
[1]Michael Bierut became one of the designers strengthening Pentagram’s New York office during its international development.
- 1982
London office moves to Needham Road
[1]The London partnership moved into a former dairy in Notting Hill, a space designed by Theo Crosby.
- 1978
New York office opens
[1]Colin Forbes established Pentagram’s first office outside the United Kingdom in New York.
- 1972
Pentagram is founded
[1]Fletcher, Crosby, Forbes, Grange, and Kurlansky formalized the five-partner business and adopted the Pentagram name.
Products and positioning
High-end, multidisciplinary design partnership combining internationally recognized creative practices with designer ownership, partner-led client relationships, and collaborative shared infrastructure.
Branding and graphic design
Brand identity systems
Pentagram’s best-known offering is the creation or renewal of identity systems for companies, institutions, media organizations, and cultural bodies. These assignments can include naming applications, logotypes, typography, color, guidelines, digital touchpoints, environmental graphics, and motion or broadcast use. The studio has worked on identities associated with Citibank, United Airlines, Saks Fifth Avenue, Oppo, Sam Labs, the Co-operative brand, Warner Bros. Pictures, and the Big Ten Conference.
Graphic design · 1972
Graphic and editorial design
Graphic design remains a core part of Pentagram’s practice. Partners and their teams develop publications, campaigns, posters, typography, information graphics, broadcast packages, and visual communications. The work is typically partner-led, allowing distinct design approaches within the larger Pentagram network rather than enforcing one universal house style.
Built environment
Architecture and interiors
Pentagram’s multidisciplinary scope includes architecture, interiors, retail environments, restaurants, exhibitions, and cultural spaces. Documented projects include the Harley-Davidson Museum, Alexander McQueen shops, Citibank interiors, London commercial buildings, private residences, and the Matter club. These projects extend identity work into physical environments and visitor experience.
Product design
Product, packaging, and industrial design
Partners with product and industrial design backgrounds have enabled Pentagram to work on objects, packaging, and physical brand expressions. The studio’s packaging portfolio includes the 2016 Pink Floyd The Early Years 1965–1972 box set, while its broader product practice connects form, usability, manufacturing considerations, and identity.
Environmental design
Wayfinding and environmental graphics
Pentagram designs systems that help people navigate and understand buildings, campuses, public spaces, and commercial environments. Such work can combine signage, maps, typography, spatial planning, architectural interfaces, and identity standards. It forms a bridge between conventional graphic design and the experience of a physical place.
Marketing campaigns
- 2022Saturday Night Live season 48 identity
United States · International
Pentagram created a logo for the forty-eighth season of Saturday Night Live.
Outcome. Provided the season’s principal graphic identity.
- 2019Warner Bros. Pictures rebrand
International
Pentagram redesigned the identity of Warner Bros. Pictures for use across the film studio’s corporate and entertainment communications.
Outcome. Delivered a new studio identity system.
- 2008Pro bono design program
International
Pentagram’s continuing nonprofit work included projects connected with One Laptop per Child, the High Line, New York’s Public Theater, and the National Gallery of Art.
Outcome. The studio received a DNA award recognizing its pro bono culture.
- 2005The Daily Show graphics redesign
United States
Pentagram redesigned the television program’s set and on-screen graphics, applying the studio’s identity and broadcast-design capabilities to a major American cable program.
Outcome. Delivered a refreshed broadcast visual environment.
Brand decisions
2019
Undertake Warner Bros. Pictures identity redesignOtherBackground
Warner Bros. Pictures commissioned Pentagram for a comprehensive redesign of the film studio’s identity.
Action taken
Pentagram developed a new identity system for Warner Bros. Pictures.
Aftermath
The assignment added a major global entertainment brand to Pentagram’s portfolio of identity work.
1993
Remain privately ownedStrategyBackground
Pentagram considered the implications of public ownership and growth through acquisition for a design business whose success was measured primarily through quality of work.
Action taken
The firm retained private, designer-controlled ownership rather than giving control to outside shareholders.
Aftermath
Private ownership continued to support the studio’s independence and its resistance to acquisition-led consolidation.
1978
Expand to New YorkStrategyBackground
Pentagram sought an international presence while maintaining its partner-led operating model.
Action taken
Colin Forbes established the firm’s first United States office in New York.
Aftermath
The New York office became a major base for the firm and was followed by offices in San Francisco, Berlin, and Austin.
1972
Adopt a designer-owned partnership modelStrategyBackground
The founders wanted a structure based on collaboration among equal creative practitioners rather than a conventional hierarchical agency.
Action taken
Pentagram was organized around partner-designers who managed their own teams and clients while sharing central resources, costs, and ownership.
Aftermath
The model became the firm’s central differentiator and continued to shape its recruitment, governance, and creative operations.
Recent events
- Unconfirmed
Iltchi receives a new visual identity[3]
Pentagram partner Sascha Lobe worked on a rebrand for yacht company Iltchi, creating a visual identity drawing on nautical navigation, geographic coordinates and satellite imagery.
- Unconfirmed
Esprit unveils redesigned visual identity[4]
Fashion brand Esprit redesigned its visual identity, including a custom typeface based on its stencil word mark and a new 72-colour palette.
- Unconfirmed
Jane Austen’s House rebrands with a new visual identity[5]
Pentagram rebranded Jane Austen’s House with a new visual identity, including a new monogram, typography and colour palette. The project also changed the site’s name from Jane Austen’s House Museum to Jane Austen’s House.
The New Republic launches a redesigned visual identity[6]
Reported:
The New Republic introduced a redesign with its March 2020 issue, including a new logo and changes to typography, layout, photography, and illustration. The redesign was conceived in partnership with Pentagram.
Sources6 sources
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