Advice from Michael Bierut
Stay while you can.
After studying at the University of Cincinnati’s college of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, Bierut worked at Vignelli Associates in New York city. For four years he worked here in double shifts — his day shift, as well as a personal 10pm to 3am shift. With this schedule he worked on twice the amount of projects. He attributes his wide successes to those four years in which he aggressively fastened and bettered his abilities. His advice to beginners is to “stay while you can”.
He left Vignelli as VP. He joined Pentagram in 1990 and has been a partner since. Bierut served as the national president of AIGA from 1998 to 2001 and currently serves as a senior critic in graphic design at the Yale School of Art. He received the highest honor of the industry, the AIGA medal, in 2006. With hundreds of design awards and pieces of his work residing in museums such as the MOMA, Bierut’s influence and authority is indisputable. Some of his most recognizable designs include brand identity and packaging for Saks 5th Ave., Hillary Clinton’s famous “H” campaign logo, designing the signage over 8th Avenue for The New York Times, and most recently the redesign of “Slack”.
In trying to create a piece based on Bierut’s style, I quickly grappled onto a grid. His style is sharp, focused, and fun in a mathematical kind of way. In order to pull off a design like his, you need a grid. Before I used grids sparingly. Since trying to emulate Bierut’s style and execution, I learned to love a grid. Everything I am designing now is worked within a grid. Some designers swear by them, others believe they aren’t necessary. I’m quickly becoming one who swears by them. They give me rules where there are none. I need rules.
One of the most inspiring aspects of Bierut was his dedication and work ethic. As mentioned before, he willingly worked a 10pm to 3am shift on top of his full-time job for four years. He credits his success to those years. To me, this is the type of discipline I need to succeed. I’m quickly learning the value in hard, grueling work. Nothing of worth in this world is handed to you, it is earned. As an aspiring designer, I need to put in the reps if I want to someday work on the type of projects Bierut’s name is on. A lot of reps.
Another inspiring piece I got from Bierut was his advice to beginners. He says for beginners to, “stay while you can”. There are a couple of ways one can take this. It can mean to not be discouraged when you’re starting out, continue in your direction despite how hard and scary it can seem. It could also mean that your time is fleeting — today you are in, tomorrow you will be out, so work really hard right now to keep yourself in as long as you can. To me, I think I can benefit from both versions.
Lately, it’s been a fight to stay positive. The money. The feeling of being inept. The rapid pace. Sometimes I just feel like I’m drowning. I read this quote from Bierut, “stay while you can”, and I remember that I’ve got my legs to kick and my arms to push — I can swim. This is my time to work, to prove I have what it takes to stay with it. This current is strong, you need endurance to stay above it. But you can do it. You have to, you already jumped in.
Bierut is teaching me the beauty in rules and the foundation they lay for any good design. He is teaching me discipline. If I want something, I have to work for it. It’s a day in and day out thing and there isn’t room for excuses. He is teaching me to endure. All good things come with time. Better things come with time and hard work.
