Comments on: The Next Female Pentagram Partner

By: Bennett

Bennett — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 17:11:27 +0000

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.

By: Shahla

Shahla — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 00:30:10 +0000

Do you think Jennifer Morla would be a good partner?

By: Alan Hill

Alan Hill — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 20:29:56 +0000

My vote would be Barbara de Wilde.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 00:12:46 +0000

*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?

By: Bill Kerr

Bill Kerr — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 20:11:50 +0000

“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.

By: Bennett

Bennett — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 08:26:02 +0000

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.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 01:30:31 +0000

“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?

By: nate

nate — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 00:36:40 +0000

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.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 01:50:52 +0000

“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?

By: Adrian

Adrian — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 01:37:31 +0000

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?