MI CHAEL BI ERUT
CONTENT
HISTORY
6
CLIENT
12
INTERVIEW
18
RESPONSE
24
HISTORY
PATHWAY MICHAEL WAS BORN IN 1957 AT CLEVELAND AND GREW UP AT PARMA OHIO. HE HAD ONE OLDER BROTHER AND ONE YOUNGER SISTER. IN TEENAGE YEARS, HE GOT INTERESTED IN LETTERING, DRAWING, AND MUSIC. HE STARTED TO MAKE POSTERS AND ALBUM COVER FOR THE GARAGE BANDS. WHILE HE WAS DESIGNING HE WANTED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE GRAPHIC DESIGN SO HE WENT TO LIBRARY. AT THAT TIME, IN LOCAL PUBLIC LIBRARY ONLY HAD TWO BOOKS ABOUT GRAPHIC DESIGN;
one was Graphic Design Manual by Armin Hofmann and other book was called Graphic Design by Milton Glazer. Two books weren’t enough for him so he decided to go University of Cincinnati to study deeper. While he was in school he had chance for internship at Boston public television station. It allowed him to study under Chris Pullman, who was AIGA medalist. After graduation from college he got his first job at Vignelli Associates which was at New York City. When he first got there were no computer and no fax machine it is different from current design studio. He spent most of his time putting thinner in rubber cement and taping tissue paper over mechanical boards. He was a hard worker, he had a 2nd shift that started from 10pm to 3am for more than four years. After working Vignelli for 10 years, he decided to go to Pentagram at New York Office. Later he became a partner of Pentagram. While he was there he had numerous big clients like Walt Disney, Motorola, New York Times, and Yale School of Architecture.
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I found graphic design to be a perfect way to combine art, usefulness, and literacy”
VIGNELLI In an article on AIGA, Bierut states that when he graduated from Ohio he started working for Vignelli Associates in New York. He says that there was not a computer and that the office didn’t even have a fax machine, making design in an office in those days very different. Spending most of his days putting thinner in rubber cement and taping tissue paper over mechanical boards, he would on occasion get to do a mechanical himself. He was able to get an apartment that was three blocks from the Vignelli office. He had a key to the office and would go work another shift after tucking his wife into bed. This shift lasted from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. and this went on for four years. He credits his achievements to those four years. While at the office he would design things like invitations for his friends' parties, packaging for mix tapes, one-of-a-kind birthday cards, and freebies for non-profits. After Massimo Vignelli noticed that Bierut had extra time he started giving him more work. The extra work that would normally take two days took one day because of the night shift. The more work he got, the faster he
HISTORY
became and better he became at doing it. His advice to any beginning a career in design is to stay while you can.
PENTAGRAM While at Pentagram Bierut has had numerous clients such as Alliance for Downtown New York, Benetton, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Alfred A. Knopf, the Walt Disney Company, Mohawk Paper Mills, Motorola, MillerCoors, the Toy Industry Association, Princeton University, Yale School of Architecture, New York University, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Sex, and the New York Jets. Michael Bierut has done projects like “I Want To Take You Higher” which was an exhibition on the psychedelic era for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and even serving as a design consultant to United Airlines. Dwell turns to him for design book recommendations and Fast Company gets his opinion on corporate branding. Recently he has developed a new signage and identity for the expanded Morgan Library Museum. He has also developed the environmental graphics for the New York Times building, as well as designed for Phillip Johnson’s Glass House and redesigned the magazine “The Atlantic.” Along with that he has created marketing strategies for William Jefferson Clinton Foundation and developed a new brand strategy and packaging for Saks Fifth Avenue. Recently he has developed a new signage and identity for the expanded Morgan Library Museum. He has also developed the environmental graphics for the New York Times building, as well as designed for Phillip Johnson’s Glass House and redesigned the magazine “The Atlantic.” Along with that he has created marketing strategies for William Jefferson Clinton Foundation and developed a new brand strategy and packaging for Saks Fifth Avenue. Accomplishments With over a 100 awards won his work is in permanent collections in various museums in New York, Washington D.C., Germany, and Montreal. From 1988 to 1990 Michael Bierut served as president emeritus of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and is president of AIGA national. He is presently serving as director of both Architectural League of New
York and New Yorkers for Parks. Bierut in 1989 was elected to the Alliance Graphique Internationale, and in 2003 he was named to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. He received highest honor in the profession in 2006, the AIGA medal, which recognizes his illustrious achievements and contributions to the field. In 2008 he received the Design Mind Award that was presented by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. He has published a book called Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design, which was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2007. Bierut is a senior critic at the Yale School of Art in Graphic Design and co-edits the anthology series Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design, published by Allworth Press. Bierut is the co-founder of the blog Design Observer and his commentaries about graphic design can be heard nationally on the Public Radio International program Studio 360. In 1998 he co-edited and designed a monograph Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist. His signage that he created has helped millions of tourists navigate the streets of Lower Manhattan.
HISTORY
ACHIVEMENT With over a 100 awards won his work is in permanent collections in various museums in New York, Washington D.C., Germany, and Montreal. From 1988 to 1990 Michael Bierut served as president emeritus of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and is president of AIGA national. He is presently serving as director of both Architectural League of New York and New Yorkers for Parks. Bierut in 1989 was elected to the Alliance Graphique Internationale, and in 2003 he was named to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. He received highest honor in the profession in 2006, the AIGA medal, which recognizes his illustrious achievements and contributions to the field. In 2008 he received the Design Mind Award that was presented by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. He has published a book called Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design, which was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2007. Bierut is a senior critic at the Yale School of Art in Graphic Design and co-edits the anthology series Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design, published by Allworth Press. Bierut is the co-founder of the blog Design Observer and his commentaries about graphic design can be heard nationally on the Public Radio International program Studio 360. In 1998 he co-edited and designed a monograph Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist. His signage that he created has helped millions of tourists navigate the streets of Lower Manhattan. Like Kalman, Bierut has not only made a profound mark on design, but embedded himself in the cultural concrete of New York City. Bierut is a director of the Architectural League of New York and a member of New Yorkers for Parks. He created wayfinding signage for the Alliance for Downtown New York, assisting millions of tourists navigating the streets of Lower Manhattan. Bierut’s pieces can be seen at two New York museums, the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, and more around the world. It was also in New York that he became involved with AIGA, initially drawn into the fold when asked to DJ chapter events. Bierut was president of AIGA’s AIGA’s New York chapter from 1988 to 1990 and president of AIGA from 1998 to 2001; he has since been named to the Art Directors Hall of Fame and
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Michael has a brain that is a giant compendium”
the Alliance Graphique Internationale. But Bierut’s influence swings far beyond design circles—so far, in fact, that he is one of the very few people the mainstream media turns to for design commentary. He’s appeared on the public radio show “Studio 360” with Kurt Andersen to discuss the design of the Cleveland Indians’ baseball stadium. Dwell turns to him for design book recommendations, Fast Company culls his opinions on corporate branding, and he is the resident design expert for articles in the New York Times. Debbie Millman has called him a “design personality.” In Graphis, Michael Kaplan called him a “design generalist.”
CLIENT
NEW WORLD SYMPHONY New World Symphony is the United States' only full-time orchestral academy preparing musicians for careers in symphony orchestras and ensembles. It was established in 1987 in Miami Beach, Florida, under the artistic direction of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. The New World Symphony presents a season of concerts from October to May at the New World Center which opened in 2011 and was designed by architect Frank Gehry and acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota. Client asked for a new logo to use for brochure, poster, products, and more. Michael had many different process for to come up with final logo. His first draft idea came from the New World Center building that had many different style of wavy structure. However, this idea got rejected, because client didn’t like the wavy style of text which make viewers dizzy. After that he had many different draft shown to client and from design team but there were something that wasn’t working. He had many frustration on this design process but eventually he got the idea from the gesture of conductor which became wavy three letter acronym. This was the winner draft and got selected.
Frank Gehry’s Sketch
Conducting Motion
Michael’s Rough Sketch
ABOUT CLIENTS 1
Clients make the difference between art and design. Working with others to create, for a purpose, signifies design.
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Work on projects that excite you. If the project itself is less than appealing, start by finding common ground with your client. Connect at this level, and share the vision together. Become partners.
3
Clients and designers share one thing in common, the human factor. There are good and bad clients. Sometimes difficult people become good clients. Such clients are common to both the seasoned and fresh designer.
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Mark Zora (left) and Brian Heyward smile for the camera at VPD Group’s Troy, Michigan delivery center. Zora and Heyward are Much of design has to do with understanding content. Learn this and you will get to know your client better. Embrace your clients and help them.”
CLIENT
NEW YORK TIMES
New York Times(NYT) was one of the client. NYT’s mission statement is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment. They publish newspaper since 1851. At the first meeting with the NYT. They request Michael’s team to design environment of the building. One unique logo for 52 story tower glass building and detailed interior way-finding signage. Biggest challenge for this project was Michael and design team had to think how to make 15-foot-tall Blackletter logo, 10,116 point size, and place at the front of the glass building without blocking the view. His team decided to divide each letter into horizontal stripes ranging in number from 26 to 161. Designing side of the stripe with 3d tear drop shape and white ceramic sunscreen rods to holds those stripe makes a gap between those strips which makes it possible to people in the office to view outside no problem. For Interior work, they selected historic black and white images that has sense of humor and correlate with the function of the each room. The signs were 6 inch by 6 inch and consist vinyl printed photograph affixed to either glass or metal backing, depending on the wall surface. Overall they had to make over 800 office signs.
ABOUT CLIENTS 4
There are clients who love design and those who are indifferent to it. The best clients are confident in your abilities as well as their own. If they are indifferent to design, getting the job done is their only concern. Though design-oriented clients may be preferred, it is not always necessary to work with them.
5
Never educate a client. It’s a partnership, remember? Find out what they want, and how much will they allow. Recognize that ninety-nine percent of the discussion is about the client’s business and goals, and one percent about how to achieve it.
6
As Berg Holloman said, work with people smarter than yourself.
CLIENT
SAKS FIFTH AVENUE Saks Fifth Avenue is American luxury department store, founded by Andrew Saks at 1898. It sells women and men’s apparel, shoes, bags and more. Their goal is to provide world’s preeminent specialty retailers, renowned for its superlative American and international designer collections. Client approached to pentagram in 2004 about designing a new identity for their stores, mostly packaging. They thought their Original logo had less personality so requests for new logo design that keeps the heritage but also have design of the future in mind. Client provided with many inspiration paintings from Franz Kline and Barnett Newman, artists known for dramatic scale and energy. Michel started to explore history of the logo and picked logo from 1973, interestingly the logo his first boss (Vignelli) designed, and redrew it with help of font designer Joe Finocchiaro. Redesign logo was placed in a black square and subdivided that square into a grid of 64 smaller squares. And then they tried shuffling and rotating to form an almost infinite number of variations. Each piece of square created a beautiful pattern that represent the logo without spelling out the name. Client like the idea and launches on 2007.
ABOUT CLIENTS 7
Look for clients with passion, whom you can trust, and who have courage. Work in tandem with them, remembering you are in a partnership. Find clients who love what they do, whose passion will carry over to the project.
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Be a designer who is loyal, honest, dedicated and trustworthy. We owe this to our clients. If necessary, go back and do it again to make it right.
9
Do good work if you expect to get good clients. Do bad work, and you are more likely get bad ones. Make changes as necessary to improve your client base, or you will get more of the same. The problem is that at first, you will get a range of both. Bad clients take up more time than needed.
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If you are unhappy about a client situation, focus on the good parts of your work. Focus on what you enjoy doing day to day and try to do more of that. Over time, build a client profile and decide what type of person you work best with and the type you do not. Lavish your time on the good ones, and minimize your time with the bad.
11
Speak to clients as someone who cares about what they want rather than as an expert. Let them know you have their best interest at heart, and show them you care. Loyalty, honesty, dedication and tenacity will go far.
INTERVIEW
Design Boom(DB) interviewed Michael Bierut(MB) on Febuary 19th, 2014.
DB: please could you tell us how you came to be a graphic designer? MB: as an enthusiastic young high school artist 40 years ago, I found that I was happiest when I could use my artistic skills in the service of some practical goal: getting people to come to the school play, for instance, or decorating an ugly hallway. I was also always interested in lots of things, particularly reading and books. I found graphic design to be a perfect way to combine art, usefulness, and literacy. to this day I work on lot of different kinds of projects: books, large signage programs, identities. I take a real pleasure in seeing the things I’ve designed out in the world, coming into contact with people who have no idea there was a design process at work behind the scenes, and improving their lives in even the smallest of ways. DB: what made you decide to join pentagram rather than work independently? MB: I like working with other people. That’s one of the reasons I became a designer. On my own, I think I would get lonely and insecure. Working in a collective like pentagram, I have eighteen talented partners that I can turn to for inspiration, help or just for company.
DB: what is the attraction of designing identities for you? MB: I actually find identities rather frustrating to design. When you design a book, or a signage system, it stays designed exactly the way you did it. An identity program is really a living thing (here I am distinguishing between identity and the more simple problem of designing logos or symbols). Its ongoing success only partly depends on what the designer brings to the process. What really makes a difference is how the program is used day after day. How does it change while remaining consistent? How is it informed by what the client company does? How does it connect up with audiences and users? This is why some of the most understated identity programs, where there’s really not much ‘design’ at all, are so successful. In a way, when you design a really effective identity system, you’re not designing the rocket ship, you’re designing the launch pad. DB: what mistakes or ‘traps’ should a young designer avoid when working on an identity system? MB: well, to use the same analogy, a lot of people like to design rocket ships. It’s just more fun and glamorous! A launch pad is boring by comparison. The biggest challenge is to really slow down and think through the problem. Why is this identity system necessary? What is it supposed to accomplish? Who is going to implement it? Who is the audience, and what are they supposed to get from it? When I was starting out, I used to think that I was the
audience, and the goal was to please myself. Then I got some experience and realized that the client was the audience, and the goal was to please them. Of course, both of these things are sort of true, but basically wrong. I finally realized that the real audience were the people out there in the real world who were going to be stuck with whatever it was I was designing. A lot of time there is no one to speak for those people during the design process. The more you can be their advocate, the better the design will be. That’s not just the goal of identity design, but design period. The biggest trap is to believe the brief you’re given is the whole story. It never is, and I repeat, never the whole story. Moreover, the part that no one has thought to tell you up front is often the most important thing you need to know. Don’t worry, it will come out eventually, usually when your first idea is being rejected. It’s important to keep an open mind when you’re presenting design work. Don’t assume you know it all, just shut up and listen. DB: given your experience, are you able to finalize a logo or identity design much quicker than you used to? MB: I think the process I go through is almost exactly what it was when I started out in 1980. Sometimes you’re lucky and you hit a good solution quickly. Sometimes it takes forever. Every once in a while it never happens at all. DB: the work you produce is quite diverse, do you prefer not to specialize in one area of graphic design? MB: I have a short attention span, so I like diversity. Thank god there are lots of specialists out there, because the world needs both. DB: do you think it’s important for a graphic designer to be able to draw? MB: to be honest, not any more. I would take someone who is able to read over someone who is able to draw any day.
RESPONSE
INTERESTING ABOUT THIS RESEARCH WAS AT FIRST I WASN’T REALLY INTERESTED IN THIS ARTIST BUT I WANTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT PENTAGRAM SO I CHOOSE HIM. HOWEVER, AS I BEGAN TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE DESIGNER, I GOT MORE ENGAGED TO THE DESIGNER. Not just his popular work he did for pentagram, but his thinking process and way of solving problems. I read numerous articles, watched interviews, and learned about the history of a Michael. One unique thing about him was he is a good communicator with the clients. By providing excellent visual solution, good supporting statement and talk as a client’s perspective. I don’t think this was natural born skill he had because during his presentation about client, he shared story about his failure with the clients. Which tells how many experience he had in past and how hard he tried to find the right solution. During that process of conflicts, he tried to think about way to improve the situation to avoid same problems. From his presentation, most important thing about the identity system is the audience. He stick to the basic and origin. Try to come up something from the very original idea of the product or the firm. In his interview he said, “When you design a really effective identity system, you’re not designing the rocket ship, you’re designing the launch pad.” He take the design thinking process very seriously because it is the launch pad that blast the rocket ship. In order to have good launch pad he focuses on the audience and listen to what they have to say and to research and research. In addition he was a hard worker. From previous job he had work for 10 years which is Vigneli Studio. He worked over hours for half of the his time there. I believe that energy came form his passion and williingness to learn at any kinds of situation.
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