Ha. I like the sassy overtone of the author, Michael Bierut. More than that, I like that the second section of this piece is entitled: “How to Win Graphic Design Competitions”.
“Exception: if something is sufficiently cool-looking, it may not need to be understandable. In fact, being incomprehensible may be part of its allure.” ha. I mean it’s a great point. Counter-intuitive, but true. However, usability testing will be a far cry.
“More than 160 slides makes people’s butts hurt.” Yes, true again. It might all be in the presentation but it’s not not all in the LONG presentation. Attention spans in this computer age are only so long. We skim, we get hungry, we browse our phones for a while, and our expectations are high. Entertain me!
“When in doubt, make it big. If still in doubt, make it red.” I love this! Yes, Go Big or Go Home. And red is a power play. This may not get me a whole lot of anywhere in life, but it sure does sound good.
This essay, hands down, my favorite.
Sidenote: Hypertext. Vladimir Nabokov, the father of Hypertext. Kill me. After Stitch Bitch I’ve been avoiding hypertext like the plague. It’s not something I would want to be a parent of anyways. The gift of rambling on, and switching thoughts at light speed. I know a fair amount of people with that talent- but none so lucky to have it be considered hypertext.