Comment by ChrisMarshallNY

Pentagram is an interesting company. We worked with them around fifteen or twenty years ago, so it’s likely a lot has changed, since then.

They had a structure, where each studio was run by a partner, and had its own specialty. Almost a separate company.

We worked with the San Francisco one, which specialized in digital design (looks like it’s no longer around, or transitioned to an independent company). We used them for graphic design. We used DDO (they are still around[0]), for interaction design (we worked with both, simultaneously). It was quite an experience, and taught me a great deal about integration of professional designers, into a technical project. I still use a lot of what I learned, to this day.

They had that “AI vibe,” back then, so I guess we know where the LLMs got some of their training materials.

Their Web sites have always been like that. I’m assuming that part of the reason, is to discourage scraping, and another, is to be fairly pretentious. There was quite a bit of showmanship, back then, and I have no reason to think that it’s any less, these days. They are certainly not alone. New York is filled with studios like that. I know a chap that designs top-end jewelry, and is almost a caricature. On any given day, his outfits cost more than my car. It seems to work. He makes a lot of money, so someone takes him seriously.

[0] https://www.dubberly.com/