Pentagram "future-proofs" Thames & Hudson with latest rebrand

Pentagram has designed a fresh visual identity for publishing house Thames & Hudson that is "part modernisation and part restoration".

Design agency Pentagram was tasked with creating new branding for the British publisher that would establish it as a "forward-thinking" global company while still honouring its 70 year-long history.

Pentagram has "modernised" Thames & Hudson's logo

After researching how the Thames & Hudson logo had been reworked in previous iterations, the designers created a new wordmark and a modernised version of its original cartouche from when it was founded in 1949.

This initial branding was informed by two dolphins swimming east to west respectively, to reflect the company's heritage – as it takes its name from the primary rivers in London, the Thames, and New York, the Hudson.

The rebrand draws from an original mosaic found in the Thames & Hudson offices

The redesigned cartouche encases a T&H monogram that has been printed in a bespoke logotype typography, accompanied by the publisher's existing dolphin emblem, which sits at the top right-hand corner.

Pentagram opted for a "neutral yet sophisticated" colour palette of icy greens and blues and warmer grey tones, inspired by an original mosaic at the Thames & Hudson office in London.

The rebrand features a neutral and cool colour palette

"This new identity is part modernisation and part restoration of the brand", said Harry Pearce, partner at Pentagram.

"We recreated the cartouche to allow these elements to appear together in a single mark once more," he continued.

"The new modernist, sans wordmark has a suggestion of the artisanal nature of bookmaking through the subtle detailing of its letterforms," the designer added.

The new branding was designed to work in both print and digital formats

Thames & Hudson also wanted Pentagram to create a visual identity that could work across a various platforms both in print and digital, including different sized applications from thin book spines to wide banners.

Three sizes of the dolphins symbol were created to ensure consistency across different spine sizes. The emblem is always centre-aligned and sits on a nine millimetre baseline to give a uniform look when the books are placed together on a shelf.

"As the most complete visual shorthand of the brand, the cartouche can be used alone or in place of the logotype and symbol," the designers explained.

The cartouche is featured on sales and marketing materials, on the website masthead, on social media, on the title pages of books and embossed on hardcover binding cases.

The new visual identity was released alongside the publisher's World of Art book collection relaunch

Thames & Hudson's updated branding coincides with the relaunch of its World of Art book collection, which was begun in 1958 and now comprises over 300 titles covering topics such as art and fashion as well as children's stories.

"The World of Art relaunch presented us with a perfect opportunity to review our visual identity," said Thames & Hudson CEO Sophy Thompson.

"Taking stock of our rich heritage alongside our diverse publishing programme, Pentagram led us to a solution that not only future-proofs our visual manifestation in the digital world but also reinforces our position as a forward-thinking publisher with a significant global presence," she added.

The cartouche will be used across various Thames & Hudson's formats

Pentagram has been responsible for bringing other companies into the 21st century with rebrands, including Yahoo.

The design agency swapped out the capital letters of the logo's previous iterations for lower case letters and italicised the exclamation mark to present a "bold and confident" identity.

Other companies that received branding overhauls from Pentagram include Mastercard, workplace messaging system Slack and Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

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Shift Architecture Urbanism designs social distancing into the food market

Dutch studio Shift Architecture Urbanism has developed a model for a street food market where people can buy fresh produce without coming into contact with one another during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hyperlocal Micro Markets is a concept for a network of public markets, where customers can buy fruit and vegetables, dairy products, and meat and fish, without risking spread of coronavirus.

The design consists of 16-square grids that can be easily set up in the public squares of any town or city, allowing people to shop local while also following social distancing guidelines.

Hyperlocal Micro Markets is a concept for a network of public markets

Shift Architecture Urbanism developed the proposal in response to the decision made by many cities around the world – including Rotterdam, where it is based – to close or restrict their public markets.

This is putting additional pressure on supermarkets, which can pose just as much of a contamination risk. Some people are having to wait in long queues to enter, only to find empty shelves when they eventually get in.

"Even with protective measures it seems very difficult if not impossible to rule out the risk of contamination in traditional fresh produce markets," said architects Thijs van Bijsterveldt, Oana Rades and Harm Timmermans.

These markets would allow customers to buy fresh produce while also following social distancing guidelines

"But this is also the case at the supermarkets that do stay open," they explained. "The social distancing rules are very hard to control and many people are touching the same products."

Another issue, according to the architects, is that not everyone can afford to buy all their groceries from the supermarket.

"Many households depend on the open-air market for their basic food needs," they said. "Closing the markets forces them to switch to the more expensive supermarkets, putting further financial pressure on these more vulnerable groups."

The design consists of a 16-square grid that can be easily set up in any public square

Shift's proposal is based around the idea that existing food markets could be split up and dispersed throughout local neighbourhoods. They call them "micro markets that operate on a hyper-local scale".

Each micro market consists of just three stalls, organised around the 16-square grid. There is one entrance but two exits, and each stall has two counters, one for order and one for collection.

Each micro market consists of three stalls, accessible to a maximum of six people at once

Only six people are allowed into the space at one time, but they are able to move freely around. The only rule is that only one person may occupy a square on the grid at a time.

The stalls sell packages rather than individual products, in order to reduce the time each customer spends.

Setup and shutdown should be easy to manage too – markets traders are used to being flexible and mobile, setting up at different locations on different days.

The idea is that existing food markets could be split up and dispersed throughout local neighbourhoods

"The former model of concentration has to be replaced by a model of dispersion, both in space and time," said the architects.

"This is done by breaking down the large markets into so-called micro markets that are spread over the city and opening them up for a longer time," they added. "Instead of you going to the market, the market is coming to your neighbourhood."

People would be able to access these markets without travelling far from home

Shift is one of many architecture and design studios exploring strategies for dealing with coronavirus, but most so far have focused on healthcare. Carlo Ratti Associati and Jupe have both designed mobile hospital systems.

The architects believes the distribution of fresh food is a far easier problem to solve.

They hope their system can be put into practice. But they emphasise that, in order to work successfully, management of the markets needs to be overseen by the town or city council, to ensure that a variety of products are available every day.

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