Michael Bierut Reflection

In this video, Michael Bierut recounts his history as a designer, including the thought process that led to a number of specific and ingenious design outcomes. Michael Bierut became a designer when he noticed that a truck's design had a meaning behind it. He wanted to create the moment he experienced--the moment when he noticed a type/image had a meaning to be realized as you looked at/analyzed it (something I think of when I think of fedex).

One project that I found particularly interesting, and important, was " nuts.com ". For this project, Bierut designed the boxes for deliveries ordered from nuts.com. Two things struck me as important in his explanation of this project. First and foremost, the influence of good design can be clearly seen in that sales went way up from changes in packaging. This is  particularly important because, as Beirut points out,  redesigning packaging doesn't cost anymore and yet can lead to increases in revenue. Secondly, and I found this of more personal importance, I liked that developing an anti-corporate, fun and whimsical brand identity can be as successful as other forms of brand development.

Another project, reinventing Saks Fifth Avenue branding and designing new packaging with the new brand identity provides an answer to the important design questions: how one is fashionable and how one is timeless? Bierut explains that a lot of clients who come looking for a classic and/or fashionable logo, often are looking for 1) their old logo (timeless) or 2) a specific logo of someone else (fashionable). This led to Bierut's creative solution for his clients at Saks--he manipulated the old logo into an entirely new, yet familiar, composition. This allowed his design to be timeless (it contained elements to the classic and original logo design) while also creating a project that read as unique and fashionably abstract (while the elements of the old logo were there, they read in a completely different way).

I really liked this particular video. I think Bierut did a great job at showing his audience what his thought process is when approaching a design project. It gave me a good idea of important things to look at consider when starting a project--what is the best approach for this brand; what design elements relate to the existing brand or the desired brand outcome; how do we approach this project in a whimsical or professional way, and further, which approach is appropriate?