Front and Center Unbothered: with Natasha Jen
Oct 29, 2025
Natasha Jen, an award-winning designer and partner at Pentagram, talks about her innovative approach to design and her experience at Pentagram. She shares insights on the unique dynamics among partners and the importance of collaboration in their creative process. Natasha delves into Pentagram’s socialist-style profit-sharing model and how their project assignments work. She also critiques the current hype around generative AI in design, emphasizing the need for intuition over technology, and reflects on her love for cooking and cinema.
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Shared Admin, Individual Design
- Pentagram shares central admin teams (comms, accounting, HR, new business, IT) across partners.
- Design remains hyper-individualized by partner while central functions provide efficiencies.
Borrow Talent, Don’t Trade Teams
- Borrow specialized talent from other teams for short-term needs instead of formal trades.
- Coordinate partner-to-partner and reprioritize workloads to return people when agreed.
Unbothered By External Critiques
- Pentagram accepts being seen as 'traditional' or 'bad vibe' and focuses on making work rather than chasing coolness.
- Natasha says the firm remains unbothered by memes and outside critiques about its image.