Quality Design Is Timeless

Quality Design Is Timeless

I got lucky with my first job right out of college. Hired as an “Art Associate” for Interiors magazine, I was suddenly perched at a drafting table (I’m aging myself here) on the 39^th floor in the heart of Times Square, looking out over the Hudson River helping to design a world-class publication. Exciting stuff.

One of the best perks of my job was the opportunity to work with our freelance art director, Colin Forbes, a founding member of Pentagram, the design studio behind iconic brands including Citibank, United Airlines and Nashville’s own Frist Art Museum.

Every week, I spent time at Pentagram’s studio alongside Colin and his senior designer, Mary Ann Levesque. I learned from the best, and I’m grateful for that education.

A longtime subscriber to Communication Arts magazine, I was happy to run into a recent article about Pentagram’s redesign of Tablet, a venerable online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture.

Pentagram’s Tablet design puts a contemporary spin on traditional elements, specifically newspapers and the temple newsletters that were so important to Jewish communities. The cream-colored background gives a retro, newsprint feel, and the three-column grid and (mostly) black-and-white presentation feels comfortably publication-like. Plenty of “white space” lets it all breathe, and a mix of traditional and modern fonts keep things fresh.

It was great to see Pentagram still delivering beautiful, meaningful work, and it really took me back. It’s been a quite a while since those wild days in NYC, and it’s good to know that, even through time, turbulence and changes, great, timeless design keeps things on course. You can check out that Communication Arts article here.