Facetiously positioning himself as a "lazy" designer, Michael Bierut, the
prolific founder of Design Observer <http://www.designobserver.com/> and
partner at Pentagram <http://www.pentagram.com/en/> ¹s New York office,
shares his seven steps to success.
1. Keep it simple.
Avoid ideas that require the same level of craftsmanship as those of, say,
Canadian graphic designer Marian Bantjes <http://www.bantjes.com/> . ³Her
work is extraordinary,² says Bierut. ³I never have ideas that call for that
same amount of effort, though.² Referring to the simple illustrations he
creates for The New York Times¹ editorial pages, Bierut explains that if
commissioned in the morning, a designer should have an executable idea by 5
p.m. the same day. Otherwise, turn down the job.
2. Don¹t reinvent the wheel [Part 1].
Instead of starting a project with a clean slate, take the MacGyver
approach. ³I come on the scene and think, there¹s got to be something around
here I can use,² says Bierut. The logo for the New York restaurant The Oak
Room <http://www.theoakroom.com/> has gone through a series of changes since
its opening more than a century ago. After trolling through some of those
logos, Bierut decided to restore the original logo.
3. Don¹t reinvent the wheel [Part 2]: Rotate the tires instead.
Keep what the client has, just tweak it. ³I say, OWhat you have is great, it
just needs some improvement¹,² says Bierut. For the signage he created for
Saks Fifth Avenue <http://www.saksfifthavenue.com> two years ago, Bierut
kept Saks¹s age-old cursive logo in the square, but created a program that
sliced the square into 64 smaller squares. The smaller squares are randomly
assembled on 90 pieces of packaging, including gift bags and gift
certificates.
4. Do as you¹re told.
Simply following the client's instructions will yield wonders. For Bierut
who likes limitations creating the gargantuan sign for Renzo Piano¹s New
York Times building was fairly straightforward. The Times Square Alliance
<http://www.timessquarenyc.org/> mandates that all buildings in the
neighbourhood feature bright, large signage, to "keep Times Square looking
like Times Square,² says Bierut. (He adds that, for Piano, hearing the words
large-sign-stuck-on-your-building must have been, "like, the biggest 6-word,
OF--- you, architect¹.²) And so, the almost 6 meter-tall logo was chopped
into 893 pieces and applied to Piano¹s ceramic rod façade.
5. Steal.
If your idea isn¹t working, says Bierut, steal one. The new brand identity
he created for Activision¹s Guitar Hero <http://hub.guitarhero.com/> is a
riff on the logo art for the rock band Chicago.
6. Once you come up with something, never let it go.
If the idea isn¹t working, don¹t come up with a new one. ³Beat it to death.²
Bierut cites the logo he created for New York¹s Museum of Arts and Design
<http://www.madmuseum.org/> , which is based on the physical footprint of
the structure itself. The final approved identity, based on this concept,
was Bierut¹s third design.
7. Make other people do the work.
Even if the designers are dead or retired, pawning off the work will always
yield great results. Take, for instance, the work Bierut did (or didn¹t do)
for the Robin Hood Foundation <http://www.robinhood.org/home.aspx> , an
organization that helps rebuild school libraries in impoverished areas of
New York. Bierut commissioned designers and artists (including illustrator
Lynn Pauley <http://www.lynnpauley.com/> , Stefan Sagmeister
<http://www.sagmeister.com/index.html> and even his own wife) to create the
wall murals above the library shelves. (Read Azure's coverage on the
initiative here
<http://www.azuremagazine.com/newsviews/blog_content.php?id=1226> .)
Excerpted from a lecture by Michael Bierut at Toronto's Designthinkers
<http://www.designthinkers.com/> conference, delivered November 3.
Ben Michelmore
