Michael Bierut has strong opinions

Good news. According to Michal Bierut’s essay:

It takes a long time and a lot of people to produce even a modest piece of graphic design.

I was so glad to hear that.

Other gems:

When in doubt make it big. If still in doubt, make it red.

Do lots of freebies.

I appreciated the thoughts on hypertext. I think hypertext is fascinating in how it connects to story development and as this author points out: design.

As far as the homeland security color-code, I agree with the author’s:

Do they mean anything at all? We don’t know, and I’m not sure they really do either.

Actually, I’m fairly sure they don’t mean anything. I think they just make us feel like HS is doing their job.

It’s interesting that designers get so distracted by fonts like ITC Garamond. I kind of roll my eyes to think of it. But I have the same trouble with grammar and style. I get distracted when a written piece has inconsistent style or makes grammar choices I wouldn’t. I definitely get distracted when I am speaking with someone who uses “me” as the subject of a sentence. Me should never be the subject of a sentence. It is used as a direct object.

However, I get over that initial unfair judgement I make because the truth is that grammar rules were established based on how people spoke. And grammar rules continue to change because of the way people choose to reconstruct language. If a certain word or structure becomes widely spread enough, it will become acceptable. Conjunctions are allowable at the beginning of sentences–they didn’t used to be. Their is more and more accepted with singular subjects as a workaround to gender-specific pronouns.

Clearly, I have more passion for grammar at this point than I do for design. But the point is, I think the same can be said for design. With more use, a certain font will become more or less familiar and therefore new norms will be established. It’s unfortunate if it gets in the way of enjoying the story behind the graphic or novel or conversation. Maybe soon there will be an app that allows users to choose to purchase or download a book in the font of their choice.

And, finally, I totally agree with Bierut about plagiarism. Again, I think the same goes for writing. I guess this is also a shout back to Stitch Bitch’s assertion that all ideas are borrowed these days. Nothing is original any longer.