The Robin Hood Foundation is New York’s most remarkable charity. True to its name, it takes money donated by the city’s wealthiest citizens and uses 100 percent of those funds to help the city’s poorest. Robin Hood’s genius is finding ways to magnify the impact of those dollars, often using design as a tool. The Library Initiative, which rallied dozens of publishers, builders, and architects, is a perfect example. As the project’s graphic design directors, we asked the best illustrators and designers in New York to join us in transforming the one room in a public school where students are most likely to learn in a group environment: the library. Below Reasoning that a new idea needed a new name, I wasted a lot of time coming up with puns like “The Red Zone” and acronyms like “OWL” (which I recall stood for Our World Library or something). The project’s guiding light, Robin Hood’s Lonni Tanner, hated them. I protested that kids think that libraries are boring. “Michael,” she told me, “most of our kids have never seen a real library.” Set straight, we did a straightforward logo, hinting that these particular libraries were something special just by tinkering with one letter. Opposite Because we weren’t designing a franchise operation, we decided to come up with a different approach to each library’s graphics. This impractical choice complicated our efforts substantially, but a customized solution made each space much more memorable, such as this grand entrance at C.S. 50 in the Bronx, designed by architect Henry Myerberg. Next spread We asked the best artists in New York to contribute to the library project. Illustrator Peter Arkle interviewed students and included their words in his black-and white portraits at P.S. 287 in Brooklyn, designed by architect Richard Lewis. 308 The Robin Hood Foundation’s Library Initiative 00882_Bierut_CS5.5_PENTAGRAM_02.indd 308 30/04/2015 14:0
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Opposite Designer Stefan Sagmeister and illustrator Yuko Shimizu bring the phrase “Everybody who is honest is interesting” to life on the walls of P.S. 96 in the Bronx. Right top Illustrator Lynn Pauley traveled from school to school painting portraits of students in a variety of styles for several libraries, including P.S. 36 in the Bronx. Right bottom At P.S. 196 in Brooklyn, designer Rafael Esquer created murals that illustrated the words of students in thousands of tiny silhouettes. 00882_Bierut_CS5.5_PENTAGRAM_02.indd 313 Next spread Christoph Niemann’s mural at P.S. 69 in the Bronx playfully integrated books into various images: Ahab’s whale, an eagle’s wings, and the American flag. Following spread Writer and illustrator Maira Kalman invented a three- dimensional installation that included images, objects, and her own idiosyncratic handwriting. 313 30/04/2015 14:0
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Acknowledgments This book is dedicated to the memory of two extraordinary men: Massimo Vignelli and William Drenttel. From Massimo, I learned how to be a designer. From Bill, I learned that there were no limits to what a designer could contribute to the world. I strive to reach the standards they set. Long before I knew what a graphic designer was, my parents, Leonard and Anne Marie Bierut, encouraged me to be an artist. My parents and my wonderful brothers, Ronald and Donald, must have found me baffling, but they usually managed to conceal it. They were the best thing about growing up in suburban Cleveland. In junior high school, in high school, and in college, I had remarkable, dedicated teachers like Sue Ann Neroni, John Kocsis, Gordon Salchow, Joe Bottoni, Anne Ghory-Goodman, Stan Brod, Heinz Schenker, and Robert Probst. When I entered the workplace as a lowly intern, Chris Pullman and Dan Bittman were my first bosses and my earliest mentors. My life as a designer has been shaped by the quarter century I’ve spent as a partner at Pentagram. I am grateful to Colin Forbes, Woody Pirtle, and Peter Harrison, who put their faith in me at the very start. I am so proud to be part of an organization that includes amazing designers like Lorenzo Apicella, Angus Hyland, Domenic Lippa, Justus Oehler, Harry Pearce, John Rushworth, William Russell, DJ Stout, Marina Willer, and my favorite traveling companion Daniel Weil. Most important are my partners in New York, past and present, who inspire me every day: James Biber, Michael Gericke, Luke Hayman, Natasha Jen, Abbott Miller, Emily Oberman, Eddie Opara, and Lisa Strausfeld. Paula Scher and I joined Pentagram together, and she is still the person I am desperately trying to impress. 318 00882_Bierut_CS5.5_PENTAGRAM_02.indd 318 30/04/2015 14:0
The work for which I cheerfully take credit is actually the product of many hands. My team has benefited from the many brilliant designers who decided to share a few years of their careers with me, including Katie Barcelona, Josh Berta, Rion Byrd, Tracey Cameron, Emily Hayes Campbell, Lisa Cerveny, Britt Cobb, Karla Coe, Elizabeth Ellis, Aron Fay, Sara Frisk, Agnethe Glatved, Sunnie Guglielmo, Lisa Anderson Hill, Laitsz Ho, Elizabeth Holzman, Melissa Jun, Sera Kil, Jennifer Kinon, Julia Lemle, Michelle Leong, Dorit Lev, Julia Lindpaintner, Yve Ludwig, Joe Marianek, Susan May, Katie Meaney, Asya Palatova, Karen Parolek, Kerrie Powell, Jesse Reed, Nicole Richardson, Kai Salmela, Jena Sher, Niko Skourtis, Hamish Smyth, Trish Solsaa, Robert (“P.M.”) Stern, Jessica Svendsen, Jacqueline Thaw, Brett Traylor, Armin Vit, and especially Tamara McKenna, who is the glue that holds everything and everyone together. Thanks to everyone who has helped me to be a better writer over the years, especially Steve Heller, Chee Pearlman, Rick Poynor, and my guiding light, Jessica Helfand. I undertook this project at the urging of Thames & Hudson’s Lucas Dietrich. Thank you, Lucas. Andrea Monfried encouraged me to say yes, and gave me all the support I was too afraid to ask for. Thank you to Liz Sullivan and her team at Harper Design. Chloe Scheffe was instrumental in the earliest stages of the design of this book; the absolutely heroic efforts of Sonsoles Alvarez are what brought it to completion. Julia Lindpaintner worked with Kurt Koepfle and Claire Banks to track down and credit dozens of photographs. Rebecca McNamara was a superb copy editor. Joshua Sessler and Judy Scheel provided critical professional advice. Finally, anythinggood I’ve ever accomplished, including helping to raise three incredible people named Elizabeth, Drew, and Martha, is because of the 40 years of support I’ve received from the love of my life, the first and only girl I ever kissed. Dorothy, thank you for always being there for me. Michael Bierut 00882_Bierut_CS5.5_PENTAGRAM_02.indd 319 319 30/04/2015 14:0
Image credits Peter Aaron/OTTO: 54–59; Richard Bachmann: 68 (above); Bob Barrie and Scott D’Rozario/ Fallon: 232–233; Benson Industries: 158; Jim Brown: 170–171; Courtesy of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: 107; Emilio Callavino: 210; Courtesy of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine: 131, 136; Kevin Chu and Jessica Paul: 312, 313 (bottom); Brad Cloepfil: 166 (left top); Commodore Construction Corp: 283; Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times/Redux: 155 (bottom); Whitney Cox: 49 (bottom), 50–51; Songquan Deng/Shutterstock: 266 (middle right); Steve Freeman, Christopher Little, and Rita Nannini: 66–69 (Princeton University “With One Accord” photographs); Michael Gericke: 15 (bottom); Mitchell Gerskup: 52; Gori910/Shutterstock: 262 (top); Timothy Greenfield–Sanders: 44 (hand photograph); David Grimes: 46–47; Peter Harrison: 15 (top); David Heald: 165 (above right); Ronnie Kaufman/ CORBIS: 231 (top left); Robert King/Getty: 36 (below); Dorothy Kresz Bierut: 100; Cocu Liu: 263; Peter Mauss/Esto: 115 (top & bottom left), 116–117, 154, 159–163, 192, 194 (right), 282, 284–291, 306, 309–311, 313 (top), 314–317; Daniel Mirer/CORBIS: 231 (bottom right); Courtesy of Mohawk: 253, 254 (top left), 256 (right); Courtesy of PentaCityGroup: 236, 240 (left top), 244 (above right); Pentagram: 16, 18–35, 38–39, 40, 41 (bottom), 42, 44, 48–49, 62–65, 68 (left), 69 (left), 70, 72–79, 86, 88–99, 106, 108–111, 118, 120, 122–124, 126–129, 132, 134–135, 137, 164, 168–169, 172–177, 196, 199
(bottom), 200–201, 204–205, 207–209, 215–216, 219, 220 (middle & bottom), 221 (middle left & top right), 222–223, 226–231, 242–243, 244 (top left & bottom left), 245–252, 255 (top right & top left), 257, 260, 262 (middle & bottom), 264–265, 276–277, 292, 295, 298–305; Antonov Roman/Shutterstock: 254 (bottom left); Courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue: 112–113, 114 (right), 115 (right), 116–117, 119, 121; Martin Seck: 241, 274, 278–281, 284–291; James Shanks: 220 (top), 221 (top left, bottom left, middle right, bottom right); Boris Spremo/ Getty: 53; Ezra Stoller/Esto, 165 (above left), 193–194; Takito/Shutterstock: 254 (top row, third from left); The New York Times: 156–157; Brad Trent: 266, 273 (Charlie Rose portraits); Courtesy of United Airlines: 199 (above left & above right), 202–203, 224; Massimo Vignelli: 41 (top); Lannis Waters/The Palm Beach Post/ZUMAPRESS.com: 36 (above); Stephen Welstead/LWA/CORBIS: 231 (top right); Don F. Wong: 101–105; Reven T. C. Wurman: 80–85. Special thanks to Claudia Mandlik for Pentagram project photography. 320 00882_Bierut_CS5.5_PENTAGRAM_02.indd 320 30/04/2015 14:0
How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things Page 11
