Pentagram rebrands publisher DK (again) simplifying its open book icon

Pentagram partner Angus Hyland and his team based in the London branch of the studio have rebranded international publisher DK (formerly named Dorling Kindersley), updating its open book icon and visual identity - which was also originally designed by Pentagram. The company is a specialist in illustrated reference publications such as science titles, cook books and travel guides, and its previous logo featured its initials in a serif font shown on the pages of an open book.

The updated logo simplifies the book icon, whose shape was previously more “realistic” with its undulating pages shown in profile and the DK letterforms mirroring the curvature of the book’s leaves. Now, its icon is almost rectangular but for the curve leading into the book’s spine, and its DK monogram bolder yet smaller on the “pages”, there is still a hint of the old logo’s serif detailing. Pentagram explains these are "bespoke modern serif letterforms" designed to work better across print and digital, and at all scales.

Compared with the black and red former logo, the new icon is more flexible as a single colour, which can be applied in any colour or finish to every book cover to complement its design, and become "an intrinsic part of the book’s design".

The rebrand was commissioned to appeal to new audiences as well as its established readers, so the process saw Pentagram work with the DK in-house design team to modernise, refine and simplify the widely recognised logo, and come up with the new brand tagline: "For the curious".

"Only a handful of publishing brands have a globally recognised visual identity," the team says in a statement, "and it was important to retain DK’s iconic status, while bringing the old mark firmly into the digital age."