Hasta La Ideas

Penguin Books has officially revealed a new identity for its relaunched Pelican imprint, home of many a non-fiction classic. Publishing May 1, cognitive scientist Bruce Hood’s The Domesticated Brain is one of the first titles to be released…

Earlier today @PenguinUKbooks tweeted two ‘reveals’ of the redesigned Pelican logo, which is a continuation of the bird in flight designed by Edward Young and used on the series’ covers when first launched in the late 1930s. (William Grimmond later refined the design of the logo.)

Art director Jim Stoddart says that the new logo is is part of “a much broader and in-depth project that involves the design of the books, inside and out, and a unified and a creative new web-presence.

“The new Pelican will focus the meeting point between people’s hidden interests – whatever the subject – and helping them fill the holes in their understanding with accessible writing from the very foremost experts,” he says.

The Pelican series, which became famous for its books on contemporary issues of the day – not to mention its cover design – was discontinued in 1984. Professor Hood tweeted a link to his forthcoming book on February 2 which revealed the new-look Pelican cover design in full.

Another four titles by Melissa Lane, Orlando Figes, Robin Dunbar and Ha-Joon Chang are listed at pelicanbooks.com where visitors can also sign up to a mailing list.

CR will have more details on the design behind the relaunch in the coming weeks.