Michael Bierut

Michael Bierut|Essays

Designing Obama

Although much has been made — rightly so — of Barack Obama's ingenious and adaptable "O" logo and the rigorously executed graphic campaign that surrounded it, the candidate himself was his own best logo.  A …

Michael Bierut|Essays

The Figure / Ground Relationship

Designing is the most important thing, but it’s not the only thing. All of the other things a designer designer does all day are important too, and you have to do them with intelligence, enthusiasm, dedication, and love. Together, those …

Michael Bierut|Essays

Spoiler Alert! Or, Happy Father's Day

Dad couldn't help it. He was a natural born spoiler.

Michael Bierut|Essays

When Design Gets in the Way

When it comes to fulfilling simple human desires, can design get in the way? A call for more incrementalism in design.

Michael Bierut|Slideshows

Invasion of the Neutered Sprites

There is an epidemic threatening our world: the pointy-limbed little people that appear in every other nonprofit logo. Death to the Neutered Sprites!

Michael Bierut|Essays

Designing Through the Recession

Here are three things that happen to designers in a recession, and five things they can do about it.

Michael Bierut|Essays

The Four Lessons of Lou Dorfsman

For over 40 years, Lou Dorfsman designed everything at CBS from its advertising to the paper cups in its cafeteria. Getting great work done in giant institution is supposed to be hard. How did he make it look easy?

Michael Bierut|Essays

26 Years, 85 Notebooks

Since 1982, I have never been without a marble-covered composition book. I am now in the middle of Notebook #85. Together, these notebooks create a history of my working life that spans three decades.

Michael Bierut|Essays

Mad Men: Pitch Perfect

AMC’s ad agency drama Mad Men, from the producer of the Sopranos, is beginning its second season. Like The Sopranos, the show finds human drama in an unexpected setting. And where The Sopranos had whackings, Mad Men has client …

Michael Bierut|Essays

David Foster Wallace, Branding Theorist, 1962-2008

Michael Bierut|Essays

There is No Why

Philippe Petit, New York City, August 7, 1974  The best design movie of 2008 is not about a typeface. It's about a tightrope walker.  Man on Wire, a thrilling new documentary directed by James Marsh, tells the story of Philippe …

Michael Bierut|Essays

My Handicap

I've come to know a little bit about demographics, customer profiling and market segmentation, and I can tell I'm supposed to care deeply about golf. But I don't.