79 Short Essays on Design – Michael Bierut (2007)
A telegram is meant to be short. As short as possible. George Kennan however, sent an eight thousand word telegram in response to the routine question of why the Russians seemed unwilling to join the World Bank. Kennan had observed the changing post World War II landscape and tried to get the word out. Nobody paid attention, so when he got the chance, he told his story. The whole story. In less than two weeks, the Cold War officially began. In this, and various other situations, Kennan showed great tact and diplomacy, choosing the right strategy to get his message across.
With seventy-nine examples like this one – except they are all different – Michael Bierut delivers lessons to designers. Lessons that need to be learnt. Some of them are direct and harsh, some self-deprecating and humorous, and some conversational, but all of them are clear, and no one is spared from Bierut’s thorough analysis.Â
The First Things First Manifesto of 2000 was signed by 33 designers including Milton Glaser, Tibor Kalman, Steven Heller and others that are well-known, at least in the design circles. Paul Rand wrote the book Design, Form and Chaos. Bierut takes them apart, pointing out the flaws in their logic with brutal honesty.
The same honesty drives him to admit his own mistakes. While working for Vignelli Associates, Bierut was tasked with hiring a photographer for a corporate brochure. Arnold Newman’s name was mentioned. Not knowing who he was, Bierut called him, effectively asked him if he was any good, and asked to be sent his portfolio. Newman’s response taught Bierut a lesson in humility, patience and elegance that we can all learn from.
Where he highlights the mistakes, Bierut also directs attention to good decisions. In 2006, when five communication designers declined their invitations to the celebratory breakfast hosted at the White House for nominees and winners of the National Design Awards, Chip Kidd refused to sign the letter. Though he shared their concerns, he did not believe a symbolic protest to a symbolic event was going to do anyone any good. What does, is recognizing a problem and finding a way to solve it.
Andrew Blauvelt saw that traditional portrayals of graphic design history were only pieces of the whole picture. Authors and lecturers only represented the convenient parts. Topics like the social sciences, linguistics, and semiotics were ignored. Blauvelt published a three part series called New Perspectives to address this lack. The publications are hard to follow, says Bierut, but they are a start and will be looked back upon as a landmark.
Michael Bierut has a lot to say about a lot of things. In Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design, he talks about a multitude of topics, all connected to design in some way. The shortness of individual essays makes it easy to read a few essays at a time, aided by the fact that each essay is set in a different typeface. This does not dissuade from reading the whole book in a go either. In my opinion, the essays can be extremely useful, and not just to designers.
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