Design aphorisms, humor, tiger mothers, and honesty don’t often travel together so I’m happy to recommend a piece by Michael Bierut based on that unlikely ensemble alone. The piece is also a memoir and tribute, of sorts, to Michael Bierut’s first boss Massimo Vignelli.
Which takes me back. Massimo Vignelli did all the graphic design for my first employer in New York, Eisenman/Robertson. The graphic ephemera of the firm designed by him, from file folders to letterhead and communication forms to the printed condoc sheets on which we drew everyday, evidenced that certain Vignelli something. Classy and professional, his work made our little eight-person office look good.
Not until years later did I discover the ground rules behind Vignelli’s work:
- Semantics
- Syntactics
- Pragmatics
- Discipline
- Appropriateness
- Ambiguity
- Design is One
- Visual Power
- Intellectual Elegance
- Timelessness
- Responsibility
- Equity
At E/R you could see Vignelli’s design rules floating up off the printed stuff, and it made an indelible impression.
Michael’s piece addresses the unwritten rules in his office and how working for someone with such a strong sense of aesthetic right and wrong affected his growth as a designer.
Indulge my walk down memory lane and watch this video of my two old bosses in an interview with some C-ville shout-outs. Pure Jacque and Peter. Working at E/R was a great experience, always interesting.