Editorial Design for Pentagram Papers 52: the Hudson Transparencies
A family archive became Pentagram’s most personal Paper ever.
Pentagram’s London team, led by Luke Powell and Jody Hudson-Powell, designed the fifty-second edition of Pentagram Papers, dedicated to the Victorian naturalist Charles Thomas Hudson. The publication brings together all 58 of Hudson’s handcrafted scientific transparencies for the first time in print, combining archival precision with contemporary reinterpretation through innovative printing and translucent materials.
Set in Pantasia, Sharp Serif Text
Insights
- The main twist is personal: Charles Thomas Hudson, the Victorian naturalist behind the project, was Luke Powell and Jody Hudson-Powell’s great-great-grandfather, so Pentagram Papers 52 is a family archive as much as a design case study.
- Pentagram’s London team — Luke Powell, Jody Hudson-Powell, Emma Caamaño, and Hazal Ozkaya — gathered all 58 of Hudson’s handcrafted transparencies into print for the first time, preserving both how they were constructed and how they looked when backlit.
- The production hinged on material experimentation: double-sided offset printing in black UV ink on IBO One, a semi-translucent 60gsm stock, with extensive press testing to get the exact ink density needed for light transmission.
- The object design reinforces the concept: it’s an unbound limited-edition portfolio housed in a bespoke glassine envelope, encouraging readers to handle loose sheets and hold them to the light.
- The visual language also nods to Hudson’s own history, referencing letterforms from his 1886 book The Original Drawings of the Rotifer, with typography set in Pantasia and Sharp Serif Text; supporting text comes from Dr Robin Wootton and Filipa Ramos.
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