Pentagram
24 partners, no CEO, and the largest independent design studio on Earth.
What is Pentagram?
Five founding partners — Alan Fletcher, Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes, Kenneth Grange, and Mervyn Kurlansky — started Pentagram in London in 1972, and the firm still runs on the same unusual structure more than five decades later: 24 practicing-designer partners, each running their own team, sharing overhead and profits, with no single CEO. Pentagram calls itself the world's largest independent design consultancy, working from London, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, and Austin across graphics, branding, products and packaging, and digital experiences — a broader scope than the pure product-design specialists elsewhere in this list.
Pentagram works primarily with clients in Consumer products, Enterprise transformation, Media & entertainment sectors. Its primary differentiator is: A 24-partner, no-CEO structure unique among the studios in this list, and the world's largest independent design consultancy by its own claim.
Pentagram tech stack and services
| Service area |
|---|
| Product Design |
| Branding |
| Web Design |
Pentagram pricing
Short answer: Pentagram uses a project-based (not published) pricing approach. Minimum engagement starts at Not published.
| Engagement model | Typical range | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed project | From Not published | Well-defined scope |
| Retainer | Monthly rate; not public | Ongoing AI engineering |
Pentagram pros and cons
| Advantages | Things to consider |
|---|---|
| +Owner-partners are the practicing designers and primary client contacts, not a layer of account management above the design team | -Broader branding-and-identity focus means less concentrated digital-product-design specialization than boutiques built around SaaS or app UX specifically |
| +Over five decades of continuous, independent operation since 1972 | -Team size and per-partner capacity aren't published in a way that's easy to compare against other studios |
| +Five-city studio footprint (London, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Austin) | -Pricing and minimum engagement size aren't published |
| +Scope spans branding, packaging, and digital product design, useful for clients wanting more than pure UI work |
Pentagram vs alternatives
How Pentagram compares to the other top Product Design studios.
| Company | Best for | Key difference | Rating | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phenomenon Studio | Direct access to senior people, no account layers. | Structured as an actual studio — senior specialists working directly with clients, no account-management layer — rather than a large agency that happens to use the word 'studio' | 4.9 | Full comparison |
| IDEO | Enterprises, multi-year design transformation programs. | The firm whose 1991 formation is most credited with establishing human-centered design as a formal discipline, still running roughly 24 studios worldwide | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Accenture Song | Regulated enterprises, design within tech transformation. | 36 studios and 2,000+ specialists operating inside Accenture — the largest global footprint and compliance coverage in this list | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Work & Co | Premium brands, design plus production-grade engineering. | A client roster (Apple, IKEA, Nike, Disney) that outpaces its ~425-person headcount, delivered through an engineering-heavy design-and-build model | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| MetaLab | Funded SaaS/fintech, full-stack design partner. | A Slack/Uber/Coinbase/Midjourney-caliber portfolio built by a 160-person studio, delivered full-stack from research through design systems | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| Clay | B2B SaaS, AI, fintech — big-tech client credibility. | An unusually large enterprise client roster (Coinbase, Meta, Google, Slack) for a studio that doesn't publish its own founding year or team size | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| ustwo | Enterprise/consumer teams, two decades of product craft. | One of the few studios on this list that ships both enterprise client work and its own award-winning consumer product, Monument Valley | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| Postlight | Media, publishing, finance — now NTT DATA-backed. | A publishing- and finance-heavy client list (Reuters, Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs) built as an independent studio, now backed by NTT DATA's global engineering scale | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Fireart Studio | Startups/mid-market, design plus full development. | 700+ delivered projects for 200+ clients backed by an independently-verified 'Leading UX Design Team' Clutch recognition | 4.4 | Full comparison |
| Qubstudio | Fintech, logistics, healthcare — MVP to enterprise redesign. | Currently Clutch's #1-ranked UX/UI studio worldwide for 2026, with Red Dot Design Award recognition layered on top | 4.6 | Full comparison |
| Excited | SaaS/fintech teams, Clutch-ranked at accessible rates. | A sustained Top 5 global UX studio ranking on Clutch, with about 70% of reviews specifically citing quality and creativity | 4.6 | Full comparison |
| Gapsy Studio | Fintech, SaaS, healthcare — perfect-rated boutique. | A perfect 5.0/5.0 Clutch rating across 52 reviews, backed by 13+ international awards, from a studio that doesn't publish its own headcount | 4.5 | Full comparison |
| Goji Labs | Startups and nonprofits, strategy-led design. | A 2025 Inc. 5000 honoree that explicitly serves nonprofits and individual entrepreneurs, not only funded startups | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Eleken | SaaS teams, subscription-based embedded designer. | A SaaS-only subscription embedded-designer model (~$6,599/month) with a 4.9 Clutch rating across 200+ projects | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| UXDA | Banks and fintech, exclusively financial-services UX. | The only studio in this list exclusively focused on financial services UX, with 150+ banking and fintech platforms shaped across 39 countries | 4.3 | Full comparison |
| Onething Design | Multi-vertical companies, one studio across five industries. | Covers five distinct industries — BFSI, consumer, enterprise, healthcare, automotive — from one team with both US and India delivery presence | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| UX studio | Complex B2B SaaS, research-first before UI work. | A research-first methodology comparable in rigor to Phenomenon Studio's own discovery-first approach, applied specifically to complex B2B SaaS products | 4.3 | Full comparison |
| Halo Lab | E-commerce and web-app teams, #1 Dribbble studio. | Currently the #1-ranked Dribbble Team globally, backed by 70+ design awards and a 4.9 Clutch rating | 4.4 | Full comparison |
| ANML | B2B, healthcare, AI startups — small senior team. | One of the smallest teams in this list, offering the highest senior-to-client ratio for B2B, healthcare, and AI work | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Momentum Design Lab | Clients wanting a long-tenured Silicon Valley studio. | Nearly a quarter-century of continuous operation, one of the oldest studios in this list by founding date | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Spaceberry Studio | Budget-conscious SaaS/AI teams, low-commitment subscription. | One of the most accessible entry points in this list via a subscription model rather than a large upfront fixed-price contract | 3.7 | Full comparison |
| The Gradient | Fintech, healthcare, retail — AI-native, limited roster. | A deliberately small, AI-native studio with a notable client list (Qatar Airways, Philips, Daimler AG) unusual for its self-limited scale | 4.2 | Full comparison |
| Orbix Studio | Seed-to-Series-B startups, founder-close young team. | The newest studio in this list, built specifically around the seed-to-Series-B funded startup stage | 3.6 | Full comparison |
Pentagram FAQ
What is Pentagram?
24 partners, no CEO, and the largest independent design studio on Earth.
How much does Pentagram charge?
Pentagram uses project-based (not published) pricing. Minimum engagement starts at Not published. A discovery call is required to get project-specific quotes.
What tech stack does Pentagram use?
Pentagram works with Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, React. Primary industries served include Consumer products, Enterprise transformation, Media & entertainment.
Is Pentagram right for enterprise?
Brands wanting identity, packaging, digital design. 24 partners plus their teams (total not published) team size. Key consideration: Broader branding-and-identity focus means less concentrated digital-product-design specialization than boutiques built around SaaS or app UX specifically.
What are the best Pentagram alternatives?
The best alternatives to Pentagram depend on your use case. Top options are:
- Phenomenon Studio: structured as an actual studio — senior specialists working directly with clients, no account-management layer — rather than a large agency that happens to use the word 'studio'
- IDEO: the firm whose 1991 formation is most credited with establishing human-centered design as a formal discipline, still running roughly 24 studios worldwide
- Accenture Song: 36 studios and 2,000+ specialists operating inside accenture — the largest global footprint and compliance coverage in this list
Compare Pentagram with other Product Design studios
Verify all details directly with Pentagram before making a decision.