Harry Pearce creates global marque for Pen

International Pen appointed Pearce without a pitch on the strength of his previous work with the organisation, including branding its first Free the Word festival in 2008.

The association, which has offices in 144 countries, briefed Pearce about two years ago to create a unified marque that could be applied across all of its branches.

Currently, each office has its own identity, ’with nothing more in common than the three letters that make up the word “pen”,’ says John Simmons of 26, which collaborates on the Free the Word festival with International Pen.

’We need to increase our visibility across the world and create some unity between the centres to strengthen our position,’ says Emily Bromfield, communications director of International Pen.

The organisation already has a logo that is used across its offices worldwide, in addition to the separate marques used by the individual centres. But Bromfield says, ’Our work in the past three to five years has changed so much, so we wanted an all-inclusive, fresh logo that addresses how we use words.’

Pearce’s visual identity will feature letters and alphabets from every International Pen centre, brought together in ’a visual representation of a conversation, shaped into what will look like a globe’, says Bromfield.

The marque is in the process of being ratified by all 144 offices, and will be unveiled in six to eight weeks.

Pearce has also created a limited-edition poster (pictured) to be sold at this year’s Free the Word festival, which runs until 18 April at the Southbank Centre, London SE1.