The Pentagram Papers: A collection of 36 papers containing curious, entertaining, stimulating, provocative, and occasionally controversial points of view that have come to the attention of...Pentagram [Hardcover]

Pentagram Partners (Author), Delphine Hirasuna (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2006

Celebrated global design firm Pentagram has produced a series of signature annual documents, known as Pentagram Papers, exclusively for clients and colleagues since 1975. On the occasion of the firm's 35-year anniversary, these quirky and influential Papers are collected here together for the first time. Each Paper explores a unique and curious topic of interest to the Pentagram designersMao buttons, the Savoy ballroom, rural Australian mailboxes, and the pop architecture of Wildwood, New Jersey, have all been featured subjects. Included here are not only in-depth reproductions and detailed discussion of the Papers' origins, but also an exclusive new Paper created especially for the book and set into a tray inside its back cover.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Delphine Hirasuna is the principal of Hirasuna Editorial and the editor of the acclaimed design journal @ Issue. Author of several books, she has won numerous design awards. She lives in San Francisco.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (December 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811855635
• ISBN-13: 978-0811855631
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 7.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #823,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely and Inspiring, August 28, 2007

By 

L. Smith "Design Diva" (CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pentagram Papers: A collection of 36 papers containing curious, entertaining, stimulating, provocative, and occasionally controversial points of view that have come to the attention of...Pentagram (Hardcover)

You don't have to be a designer to enjoy the ecclectic array of topics and visual stimulation that is included in this book. But design professionals will truly enjoy the Pentagram backstory and insight into the creative process of this groundbreaking firm.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A keepsake cornucopia, July 28, 2007

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Pentagram Papers: A collection of 36 papers containing curious, entertaining, stimulating, provocative, and occasionally controversial points of view that have come to the attention of...Pentagram (Hardcover)

Designers and others of course, love nicely produced keepsakes. Paper companies latched onto the idea years ago of having their paper samples beautifully designed and printed. I've still got several Broad Spectrum samplers from Simpson Lee Papers designed in the early sixties and an almost complete set of the stunning Imagination series from Champion Papers issued in the sixties, seventies and eighties.

Pentagram first issued their delightful and intriguing keepsakes in 1971 given away to their clients and although it doesn't say so in the book they were also available on subscription, the first four were a £1, the next three £2 each but they gave up charging from number eight, probably too much administrative hassle.

The book is a wonderful celebration of the thirty-six Papers issued up to 2006. Each one has a few spreads shown (though not every page) so you'll get a good idea of the wide range of subjects: Paper 17: Mao badges; Paper 11: Norman Bel Geddes amazing 1937 City of Tomorrow or Paper 15: a few pages reproduced from a 1924 book about what can be seen from a train window between Paddington and Penzance, England. My favorite is Paper 16: Kingswalden Notes, a seventy-two pager showing architect Quinlan Terry's handwritten journal with his beautifully precise architectural drawings for a 1971 country house.

Kit Hinrichs, from Pentagram's San Francisco office, designed the book and from front to back it's a visual treat to look at. Excellent typography, printing (175dpi) paper and inserted into the inside of the back cover is your copy of Paper 36!

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

5.0 out of 5 stars Pentagram's creative minds, February 26, 2009

By 

Barbarasa Iancu (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pentagram Papers: A collection of 36 papers containing curious, entertaining, stimulating, provocative, and occasionally controversial points of view that have come to the attention of...Pentagram (Hardcover)

A wonderfully designed book, presenting a small insight into the creative minds of some of the best designers in the world, starting from 1975 with the first issue of Pentagram Papers and ending with the last number, the 36th, carefully inserted into the back cover. While this is no book about Pentagram's works, it's about what enchants its designers' minds. Definitely worth reading over and over throughout your life, just like Fletcher's The Art of Looking Sideways.