Part of maturing as a designer is discovering what you're good at. Michael Bierut More Quotes by Michael Bierut More Quotes From Michael Bierut I had a lot of enthusiasms that were very contradictory, I was never very doctrinaire in the type of design I wanted to do. Michael Bierut type design enthusiasm A good cook can make something amazing out of even the blandest ingredients. Still, you don't want to eat the exact same dish every day. Michael Bierut dishes ingredients want I think different designers have different points of view and different strong personalities can influence the way certain cities are perceived. Michael Bierut strong views thinking Australia is one of the few places that I can think of where the cities, at least those I've been to, seem to have strikingly different characters and visual textures. To an American like me, there's basically Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and the rest is all bush. Michael Bierut cities character thinking The scientists at CERN were actually surprised that people commented on this. Reportedly Fabiola Gianotti, the coordinator of the CERN program to find the Higgs Boson, was asked why she had selected Comic Sans. She simply said, "Because I like it." Michael Bierut comic scientist people We get used to things, and we like reading the way we're used to reading. Michael Bierut used reading way I think once the artistic world of the type designer merged with the scientific world of the computer programmer, you began to see this crossover. Michael Bierut computer world thinking Certain kinds of typeface design and typographic design are designed to persuade: we can make this company look modern if we use a crisp sans serif typeface, or we can make this restaurant look like its been around forever if we use typefaces and layout styles that have been around forever too. But there are other categories, and ballot design is one of them, where the goal should be to be purely functional. There have been notable failures in this category. Michael Bierut design goal forever Everyone can have an opinion on a logo. Michael Bierut logos opinion In the US you have New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami and dozens of other cities; a few of them have a really strong visual character. But even with those there is just too much space between them and too many people. Michael Bierut strong new-york character I can see how some people get sentimental about how we used to do things in 'the good old days' but in a way I just think they are being nostalgic for the way they were brought up. Michael Bierut people way thinking If you ask people in the US what logos they like and recognise, they'll name Target or Nike. Michael Bierut nike names people Compared with now when almost everyone knows what graphic design is and has some sort of access to the tools to make it, back then, it was really esoteric, you had to quantify it as being 'like commercial art', as one still does in certain circles. It was a strange thing to want to do for a living. Michael Bierut design circles art I believe sans serif typefaces - today upheld as models of neutrality and legibility - were called "Grotesques" in the 19th century because people thought they were hideous. But now we're used to them. Michael Bierut neutrality believe people I have a really shallow idea about what Australia is. Michael Bierut shallow australia ideas A simple MS Word document, or a Powerpoint presentation, has its limits, particularly the unpredictability in how the page will actually display. With a PDF, you are locking down all those variables. Michael Bierut pages limits simple I grew up in a Cleveland suburb called Parma, Ohio. Somewhere along the way I fell in love with a typeface called Bodoni. It turns out that Giambattista Bodoni had his foundry in Parma, Italy. So I pick Bodoni because us guys from Parma have to stick together. Michael Bierut ohio guy together Sometimes I will give some very vague directions to the designer that I'm working with on a particular project and they'll come back and surprise me with something that really shows a lot of their own 'hand' in it. Other times I'll have a really clear idea about how I want it done and I'll draw it out pretty precisely and say 'make it look exactly like this' and it will be something where it looks like I can say it was 'fully my design'. The work can also range between the two. Michael Bierut two hands ideas A lot of times, you design a logo to be timeless, but with something like the Olympics, timelessness is maybe not something you should be going for. Michael Bierut logos olympics design If you look at the Olympic graphics for Mexico or Los Angeles, those programs don't look contemporary by today's eyes but they really look like they are of their place and time. Michael Bierut mexico eye looks
