Paula Scher, inside Pentagram’s Work : Identity, Typography and Where AI Fits
Paula Scher on the problem that has followed her through every era of technology, which is not the technology.
She started in the record industry making close to a mile of record covers, roughly one a week. One approval meant the work got made. A band, their manager and their wives meant it almost never did. Everything since has been about solving that.
Through Berkeley Rep, the Memphis Art Museum, the Curtis Institute and two years designing for the US federal government, this is a working account of how she hands things over so they survive contact with everyone else. Including a government project that used AI in a way she did not expect to work, and which never launched.
It ends with what she did to cheer herself up afterwards.
For graphic designers, brand designers, design leaders and anyone whose best work keeps getting changed by committee.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
An American graphic designer, painter, and educator whose work has helped define contemporary visual culture.
She began her career in the 1970s in the record industry, designing hundreds of album covers, and later became known for bold, expressive typography inspired by constructivism, Dada, and American vernacular graphics.
Since 1991, she has been a principal at the design firm Pentagram, where she has created landmark identities and campaigns for The Public Theater, major museums, educational institutions, and global corporations. Scher is also celebrated for her large-scale, hand-painted typographic maps, which blur the boundary between information design and fine art.
ABOUT HATCH CONFERENCE
Hatch is the premier conference for experienced designers and UXers in Europe. 600+ designers gathered at Silent Green in Berlin from 16 to 18 September 2026. The 2027 edition takes place 15 to 17 September at Tempelhof Airport. Attendance is by invitation.
Apply for an invite: https://hatchconference.com/invite?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=hatch2027
#GraphicDesign #BrandDesign #DesignLeadership
She started in the record industry making close to a mile of record covers, roughly one a week. One approval meant the work got made. A band, their manager and their wives meant it almost never did. Everything since has been about solving that.
Through Berkeley Rep, the Memphis Art Museum, the Curtis Institute and two years designing for the US federal government, this is a working account of how she hands things over so they survive contact with everyone else. Including a government project that used AI in a way she did not expect to work, and which never launched.
It ends with what she did to cheer herself up afterwards.
For graphic designers, brand designers, design leaders and anyone whose best work keeps getting changed by committee.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
An American graphic designer, painter, and educator whose work has helped define contemporary visual culture.
She began her career in the 1970s in the record industry, designing hundreds of album covers, and later became known for bold, expressive typography inspired by constructivism, Dada, and American vernacular graphics.
Since 1991, she has been a principal at the design firm Pentagram, where she has created landmark identities and campaigns for The Public Theater, major museums, educational institutions, and global corporations. Scher is also celebrated for her large-scale, hand-painted typographic maps, which blur the boundary between information design and fine art.
ABOUT HATCH CONFERENCE
Hatch is the premier conference for experienced designers and UXers in Europe. 600+ designers gathered at Silent Green in Berlin from 16 to 18 September 2026. The 2027 edition takes place 15 to 17 September at Tempelhof Airport. Attendance is by invitation.
Apply for an invite: https://hatchconference.com/invite?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=hatch2027
#GraphicDesign #BrandDesign #DesignLeadership