pentagram: penguin phrasebooks

penguin phrasebooks in french, german, italian and spanish 

pentagram‘s angus hyland and his team turned to cultural cliches for the new covers of penguin’s republished 1968 edition phrasebooks.

cheese, croissants, and the eiffel tower for the french version; salami, vespas and leaning towers for the italian.

traditionally, phrasebooks have been treated as a technical and dry resource, but hyland created a playful design by repeating a series of stereotypical images from each country. the iconic penguin was seconded to project each title via a speech bubble.

‘people still love carrying around physical phrasebooks and by using these cultural icons, we’ve added a bit of ironic charm and character’.– angus hyland

german, spanish, italian and french are available now, with mandarin and japanese to be published in may.

designboom rating:

project teamangus hyland; partner-in-charge and designer; zara moore, designer.