The Next Female Pentagram Partner
When Kit Hinrichs was in Nebraska last week he gave a great presentation for the AIGA. He is a great speaker and he was very gracious and friendly to us all. When it came time for the question and answer, the old Pentagram male/female ratio question popped up again. I’m sure Kit stepped on a few toes with parts of his answer, but he was just being honest and not pulling any punches. That is not what this post is about.
What he said after he answered the main question made me curious. He said that Pentagram is reviewing a new female candidate and she will probably be approved to be a partner. Of course he gave no hint as to whom this mystery female designer would be, but wouldn’t if be fun to come up with our own short list. Which one of the great female designers out there is exchanging glances with Pentagram. She would have to add something unique to the office, run a great business and work well with others. Here is a great article in Financial Times’ Creative Business that explains how Pentagram works and what they look for in their partners. I found this excerpt especially appropriate for this discussion.
*”Design is an industry of prima donnas, and finding partners who are both of the calibre Pentagram requires and willing to participate in its unusual system can prove difficult. ‘The question you have to answer [about a prospective partner] is whether this is someone you could have dinner with and spend a weekend with,’ asserts David Hillman, partner. Each prospective partner must spend at least two years with the group as a partner-elect before being asked to stay on; many don’t make it.”*
Of course this is all under the assumption that this female would be a graphic designer and not an architect or product designer. Could there possible be a midwest office of Pentagram with Ann Willoughby? Maybe they will start another California office with Margo Chase? Or will it be someone in Europe, whom I know nothing about. Another thought is that this female designer is part of a team of designers that will merge into Pentagram. Noreen Morioka of AdamsMorioka and Robynne Raye of Modern Dog are a couple names that went through my head.
Does anyone care to postulate with me?
February 13th, 2005 at 1:30 pm
I could be wrong, but I thought he said the new partner was for the San Francisco office. This doesn’t limit the guessing too much though, as a lot of people move for a job, especially one like this if it would work out.
February 13th, 2005 at 11:28 pm
Donovan, You could be right on that one, but I’m not for sure either. It is not unheard of for a person to join Pentagram and then move to a new office. Woody Pirtle moved from Texas to New York when he became a partner. Of course there is plenty of talent to draw from in San Francisco as well.
February 15th, 2005 at 12:59 pm
This is wildly off topic, but I can’t believe this kick-butt website (great design! great content!) has *no* RSS feed of any kind!?!?!?
February 15th, 2005 at 5:37 pm
Rebort, Thanks for the kind words! Actually, we do have an RSS feed, but the link is way down on our about page. Here is the link:
Be A Design Group RSS feed
Out of curiosity, what RSS reader do you use?
February 15th, 2005 at 5:50 pm
“Design is an industry of prima donnas.”
Is anybody else offended by this generalization? The more I think about it, the more disgusting I think that sentence is.
The other interesting thing floating beneath the surface of this post is the male/female ratio that Bennett’s illustration so cunningly hints at. Did Kit say that Pentagram was only looking at female candidates, or am I reading in to it too much?
February 16th, 2005 at 4:36 pm
Design IS an industry filled with prima donnas. Absolutely. They aren’t they only people in this industry, and I’m sure there are less of them in the Midwest, but there’s a plethora of them, that’s for sure.
February 16th, 2005 at 5:30 pm
“Design IS an industry filled with prima donnas.”
If that is true, what do we do about it? You may disagree, but I don’t think that is the reputation our field should be striving for. Is there anything we can do to change this perception?
February 17th, 2005 at 12:26 am
I think the most offensive part of the “prima donna” statement is that the reporter said it and not David Hillman. It does seem a bit too subjective for a reporter to come to that conclusion. Maybe if one of the Pentagram partners would have said it, it wouldn’t be so offensive. I think to a certain extent that the statement is true. I would assume that the type of designer that Pentagram is looking for might tend to be very independent and in some instances fairly full of themselves. With the famous/successful designers that I have met through AIGA events I haven’t come across these people, but I know others have. Maybe the Prima Donnas don’t do many local AIGA chapter events. The only way to change this preconception is to not be arrogant and never forget those people that helped you along in you career.
I don’t think Kit was implying that they are only looking for female partners. I think if the right person comes along that try to get them. Although, they probably do look a little harder for women than men. I don’t necessarily think that this is a bad thing. Men and Women are very different and it can only help the diversity of their company to have a little more equality in their partners. When you realize that women out number men in our industry, it would appear that there should be plenty of females to pick from. Having said that, we only have one female author. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t looking and didn’t try to get more.
February 20th, 2005 at 12:11 pm
“The midwest has less of them”
I look at THAT statement 2 ways:
1) fewer people in general= fewer primadonnas
___
OR
—
2) There is a much smaller creative community in the midwest… because out here in California, i know many creatives who ONLY HANG OUT WITH CREATIVES. This type of clique behavior can only lead to more of this “primadonna” stereotype.
February 21st, 2005 at 4:12 pm
*When you realize that women out number men in our industry, it would appear that there should be plenty of females to pick from.*
I didn’t know women out numbered men. Interesting. I also didn’t know that men out number women in web design. Here’s an interesting post from Backup Brain on that subject:
Where are the Women of Web Design?
March 1st, 2005 at 12:29 pm
My vote would be Barbara de Wilde.
March 1st, 2005 at 4:30 pm
Do you think Jennifer Morla would be a good partner?
March 3rd, 2005 at 9:11 am
I think Barbara and Jennifer are both excellent candidates. I wonder if Jennifer Morla is a little too perfect. She seems to do a lot of the same type of work as existing partners like Kit already do. She even works for some of the same clients as Pentagram. I wonder how much significance portfolio diversity weighs on their decision.