Design Shape

As a creative company we consider it a key role in our success that we keep the home page of our website fresh.

It’s proven successful for other agencies in the industry to have one showreel a year, but just because other people do it that way, it doesn’t mean it’s the only way of attracting an audience towards your portfolio. Actually, we pride ourselves on the fact that we might not be doing what everyone else is doing. Not only does it set us apart from the competition, it proves successful for us.

Our most recent video ‘Monkeying Around‘ consists of a group of Orangutans singing Edwin Starr’s classic – ‘War’

Why did we do this?

Because we can.

It’s completely different to the last video that was there, and it’ll be completely different to the next video that goes there. Plus who can actually claim that they don’t like singing animals?… It’s instant comedy gold. This doesn’t mean it’s not a pile of guff though.

And yes, we know, an Orangutan is an ape not a monkey… but we bent the rules slightly because they’re orange.

Why would you make guff ?

We animated this 42 second video with the intention of making it look as if it had been put together with paper cut-outs. We gave the orangutans human mouths and trilby hats. We even added in some dramatic Hollywood explosions, all happening within the seating area of our studio. We wanted it to look low budget, cheesy and terrible, while still keeping that subtle design finesse that showed that there were professionals behind this rubbish.

To boost the quality of our amateur animation we added appealing typography and compositing techniques that made this moving collage an aesthetically pleasing piece of tack. But the most important result we wanted to achieve was a simple smile from our website visitors. It’s all a piece of informative fun.

Is making guff wise?

This is a question that has a multitude of answers, but it all boils down to how much confidence you have in your work, and your capabilities.
Some people could argue that it’s vital to put your best piece of work on your home page. This is a logical statement to make. But as a design agency we’re confident enough in our work that we can make an animation like this work to our advantage. We feel we’ve added enough finesse to the composition that the irony of good design and bad animation compliment each other.

All of the above, plus the fact that we love to be different.

Our work speaks for itself.

It’s that time of year again…

We’ve had a glimmer of sunshine through the bitterly cold sky above, so it is most definitely time to start prepping for those world famous British BBQ’s.

The key to a successful BBQ is preparation, anyone who has hosted a BBQ with complete success abides by this crucial mandate. We’re not talking about your Farm Foods stock up on meat 2 days before the occasion… (if that thought even crossed your mind you should stop now, as you are not worthy of reading this post).

We’re talking about the measurement and tone of green that your grass blades are exhibiting. The choice of sauces on display ready for your delightful guests to generously spread across their freshly grilled man meat (all BBQ meat is man meat, no room for this girly meat guff). And then of course, the furniture that will take pride in your garden, carefully positioned, waiting for that pride filled moment, where they will be the foundation of an extremely comfortable buttocks.

It’s all well and good having the ravishing grass blades of a North American gardener, or the dressing selection of a French cafe owner, but without a setting to experience these decorative delights, there really isn’t much point.

Not to worry, Pentagon have orchestrated it all for you. We’ve done another pocket sized John Lewis brochure full of this years Kettler Garden Furniture range, that will save you with any BBQ comfort dilemmas. Just head to John Lewis and pick one up…

Don’t worry about it…

You’re welcome.

Christmas Shut Down from Pentagon Design on Vimeo.

Our new website is live… www.pentagondesign.com

We’ve had the absolute pleasure of working with Welsh: Singer, Broadcaster and Writer, Mari Griffiths, on the design and development of her new website.

Her site was a brilliant brief, and has turned out to be an extremely interesting read.

The site is filled with witty and humorous stories from the past throughout to the present. It also holds some beautiful vintage photography of her and her friends such as Ryan and Ronnie and Max Boyce, during their younger showbiz careers, as well as letting us know what the future holds for her and what she’s doing with herself in regards to her current projects.

For the launch of her new site, we created a 15 second interactive video that gives a taste of what the website is all about, while giving the simple option of clicking what you watch to go to the website.

(Click the ‘Mari’s Website’ button to go through to her website).

With this years Olympics just around the corner (not that it’s hard to miss), it only seemed natural to reminisce in past prestigious games and where they’ve been hosted over the years.

We’ve dug out one of the old marketing campaigns we did for British Eurosport, in the build up to 2000′s Sydney Games. It’s taken 12 years and 3 Olympic Games to travel from Sydney to us here in the UK, but it’s finally here, and we’re excited.

Let the games begin.

Intro motion sequence concept for 679Artists.

Here are some snaps of one of our latest pieces not long after it came off the press.

We decided to push the boundaries a little with this design, helping the brand move forward with the aesthetics of their Annual Report. We decided that one of the best ways to do this was to test the water with different colours, rather than resorting to the usual corporate colour pallet. It went down very well.