“We champion mischievous and inventive storytelling.” That was the brand idea behind Pentagram’s new identity for the Roald Dahl Story Company, home to the prolific, controversial, and late author’s intellectual property. The company was purchased by Netflix in 2022.
With such classic titles as “Matilda,” “James and The Giant Peach,” and “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” to his credit, the author has sold more than 300 million copies to date. Dahl’s estate wanted an identity that would better support future ventures such as spin-offs, franchises, games, visual media, live theater, and more.
Pentagram’s the static version of the new logo gives equal weight to the author’s name and “Story Company,” both suspended over an open book. But the animated version of the logo reveals the real fun in the new identity: letters move and distort, offering a quick peek at the brand’s flexibility.
From a Creative Review article, “The star of the show… is the full custom typeface Fantastic Mr Font. Pentagram collaborated with type foundry Pangram Pangram to customize existing font PP Acma with a character set that now includes alternate versions for most letters, which can be tilted or flipped depending on the audience they’re speaking to.”
