#michael beirut

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New York Observer

Detail of stairwell decoration created by Michael Beirut of Pentagram design, Museum of the City of New York, 103rd Street and Fifth Avenue.

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Michael Beirut

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Michael Bierut reúne sus conocimientos de vida en esta presentación.

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5 Secrets of 86 Notebooks - Michael Beirut

Listen first, then design

Michael Beirut stated in this video that the first secret he has from his notebook was “Listen first, then design”. he explained that when he designs a logo or the design of a building, he starts from scratch and listens to the customer carefully in order to pick up information which can be used to create a design. One example of this is when he designed the logo and information for the Minnesota Children’s Museum. He wanted to make the new building design specifically aimed at children because it is a children’s museum. To do this he used child models to hold things such as a ball or a sign to show the gender of the toilets and took pictures. These were then used as images to direct the public to certain aspects of the museum.

Don’t avoid the obvious

He then went on to explain that another secret he had throughout his notebooks was “Don’t avoid the obvious”. Beirut said this is because when we first started working he found that he would go too complicated with his designs when his client was looking for something more basic and less complex. This often resulted in him coming up with the most obvious concept for his clients whom he had originally disregarded because he thought the idea was too basic.

The problem contains the solution

The next point Beirut made was how “The problem contains the solution”. He used the example of when he worked on the outdoor logo for the New York Times. The problem they faced was that they were required by law to have an extremely large logo design on the side of their building. However they wanted their sign to be simple and eye catching and not flashy with the added aspect that staff could still see out of their windows. The solution Michael and Renzo Piano, the architect of the building, came up with was to design the building with horizontal ceramic rods along each side of the building and then when it came time to put the billboard up, Beirut took black beaks and assembled them on the white rods in order to show the New York Times logo on the side of their building.

Indulge your obsession

Another point Beirut made was “Indulge your obsessions” and what he means by this is that if you do something within a design and like the way it looks, don’t be afraid to use it in the designs for other logs or websites. The example he used was when he designed the logo for the Museum of Arts and Design. To design their logo he took the look of their building which contained circles and squares and designed the logo as “MAD” with rounded letters. He then liked the look of this design so much that he designed his own font based off of the original three letters. He then made this a downloadable font for anyone to use freely.

Love is the answer

The final point he made was “Love is the answer” and what he meant by this was, if you love what you do and you remember whom you’re doing it for and why you’re doing it, you will not go wrong. The final example he used in his speech was in regards to when he was asked to help design logos for a charity that were helping to build libraries in run down schools. As Michael felt so strongly about this project he decided he would work on the project pro-bono and got his wife to help out with the photography in a few of the libraries. As the project progressed he decided to get bigger artists involved who would be able to help out in their on unique way. He believes the project was successful because everyone involved loved what they were doing and enjoyed working not only with their team but also with the kids in each school.

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Michael Bierut

"All of the good designers I admire have developed a conviction that the way they serve their clients the best is by bringing a strong point of view to the designer/client relationship. This doesn't always mean simply imposing a strong visual style on everything. It can also mean caring deeply about the meaning of the work, what the messages are, how they're directed."