Michael Bierut: 5 Design Secrets from 86 Notebooks

“I don’t consider myself creative. … The reason I became a designer is because I wanted people to come to me with problems I can solve.”

- Michael Bierut

Via DesignSojourn.com I came across this great video of Michael Bierut, partner at Pentagram and co-founder of DesignObserver.com, sharing 5 secrets of design that he pulled from his collection of 86 notebooks – a collection of his notebooks dating back to 1982.   As he shares his secrets he weaves in real-life examples of his work, from the initial sketch in the notebook through to a finished product.

A highlight for me was something he said right out of the gate (quoted above). He goes on to explain that, rather than considering himself proactively creative, he’s more like a doctor – he needs patients to come to him so he can help “make them better”. It’s an analogy that really resonated with me, and my own working style, and suspect there’s more than few VizThinkers out there in the same bot. It’s an entertaining and informative talk and well worth the ~19 minutes it takes to watch.

The Secrets Summarized

Don’t have time to watch the whole video? Michael’s 5 Secrets:

  1. Listen first, then design
  2. Don’t avoid the obvious
  3. The problem contains the solution
  4. Indulge your obsessions
  5. Love is the answer

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  • nomilubin

    That was great.

  • http://www.smartfurniture.org/ European Furniture Mississauga

    Very inspiring. It's good to have role models like that, especially in the era of superficial and overcomplicated design.