Pentagram gives NPG Insights a contemporary feel

The National Portrait Gallery in London is launching a series of illustrated books, entitled Insights, based on literary themes and designed by Pentagram Design.

Insights, published by National Portrait Gallery Publications, will feature collections from the gallery and explores the significance of portraits when investigating history, art and biography. The series aims to show how groups of people, such as intellectuals and artists, are drawn together and the powerful impact they can make in cultural and artistic spheres.

The Bloomsbury Group by Frances Spalding and The Pre-Raphaelite Circle by Jan Marsh launch on 31 May. The Romantic Poets and their Circle by Richard Holmes, Shakespeare and his Contemporaries by Charles Nicholl, and Self-Portraits by Liz Rideal follow in the autumn.

Pentagram is on the National Portrait Gallery’s design roster and the group was appointed to the project last year. It was tasked with creating the identity, graphics and layout for the series.

The books have been developed to appeal to a young, contemporary audience and each of them features a modern visual language as well as more than 80 illustrations.

‘Pentagram has been working on the full design of Insights, working closely with our team,’ explains a spokeswoman for the National Portrait Gallery.

The series will be stocked in bookshops across the UK, including Waterstones and Books etc.