Pentagram hits 40

May 24, 2012 4:48 AM

Stodgy design institution does animated supercut video. “The Forty Story” uses iconic snapshots from seemingly every client from Pentagram’s first 40 years to tell the life story of a boy brought into the world when Pentagram was.
posted by joeclark (16 comments total)

Very nice.
Pentagram has always been both the benchmark and the backdrop for me, throughout my career (which began, more or less, around the same time as Pentagram) Always a bright spot for inspiration and direction.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:00 AM on May 24, 2012

When did they become stodgy? I remember back when I was in design school (the first time around) that Pentagram and Frog were the two big global brands (late eighties, early nineties)
posted by infini at 5:54 AM on May 24, 2012

I was wondering about the choice of "stodgy", too. That's never been a term I would associate with Pentagram.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:06 AM on May 24, 2012

My spidey sense is tingling about the use of the word stodgy. Dunno why.. lets see what happens
posted by infini at 6:11 AM on May 24, 2012

I don't know from stodgy but how is this not just an ad for Pentagram?
posted by DU at 6:17 AM on May 24, 2012

I think they're at the point (been around for 40 years, doing work for everything from the cutting-edge to the establishment to the ridiculous) that stodgy works just fine. Though really, anything that can be described as a "firm" is necessarily stodgy in at least some respects.
posted by Jon_Evil at 6:39 AM on May 24, 2012

narration feels Royal Tenenbaums-y ?
posted by rollerball at 6:39 AM on May 24, 2012

I wanted to use “Establishment” as an adjective. On preview several times, it wasn’t working. I admit “stodgy” is imprecise.
posted by joeclark at 6:54 AM on May 24, 2012

"mature" perhaps? "Stodgy" to me, always implies a certain amount of conservatism, calcification and stuck-in-the-past-ishness.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:57 AM on May 24, 2012

The Elder Folk?
posted by infini at 7:21 AM on May 24, 2012

Does the narrator say "concertis"? tsk.
posted by kenko at 7:40 AM on May 24, 2012

They are so not stodgy! As for many posting here, they were the epitome of a design when I was starting out. The design they created shaped the world you grew up in, whippersnappers!
posted by fellene at 9:05 AM on May 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

Let’s try “blue-chip.”

Better?
posted by joeclark at 10:32 AM on May 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't know how ANYONE could call these guys 'stodgy'.
posted by FatherDagon at 10:49 AM on May 24, 2012

Any image that is "forbidden" FatherDagon must not indeed be stodgy.
posted by infini at 11:25 AM on May 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

Written by Naresh Ramchandani and Tom Edmonds
Directed by Christian Carlsson
Additional animation by Simone Nunziato
Sound design by Iain Grant and Wam London
Music by Graeme Miller
Titles by John Rushworth
Design by Pentagram
Voiceover by Daniel Lapaine
posted by infini at 7:04 AM on May 26, 2012