Michael Bierut
Michael Bierut’s essays were such a delight to read. I’m not just saying that because I starting reading them to avoid designing my iPhone app interface. I could fly through “Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design” if I had a couple hours to myself. And, honestly, Bierut was the highlight of the “Helvetica” documentary.
But I digress.
Essay No. 31 “Information Design and the Placebo Effect” made me mad. (Crosswalk buttons should work all the time, dagnabbit!)
No. 46 “I Hate ITC Garamond” made me laugh. (Eh. I don’t hate Garamond. I’m indifferent.)
Everybody hates Garamond.
But No. 65 “I am a Plagiarist” made me think. And think hard.
In this short essay, Bierut recounts the trials of designing a poster for a Yale School of Architecture symposium. The headline included 13 words, and he was stumped as to how to illustrate it. With the deadline quickly approaching, a brilliant idea suddenly struck him.
The problem: Bierut’s design was a derivative of an influential piece Willi Kunz created 30 years before.
Kunz (1975) v Bierut (2005)
While his design wasn’t an exact Kunz replica, Beirut’s poster was clearly influenced by Kunz’ design. Bierut had plagiarized, albeit unintentionally and unconsciously. He was remorseful.
I’m a student who is just learning the art of design. For class assignments, I’m bombarded with so many examples. In everyday life, I see effective design from everything to my orange juice carton to my book bag.
If I’m pressured to produce something on the fly, could I become the next design plagiarist? Am I already a design plagiarist?
You go with what you know. You go with what you’ve seen. A good design bears repeating, right?
It’s akin to hundreds of up-and-coming singers performing the same songs on auditions. Think Whitney Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You” or Mariah Carey’s “You Raise My Up” by Josh Groban.
Those songs work every time – IF done well. Whitney and Josh are the standard-bearers. Their range and power are heralded as some of the best in the world.
The aspiring singer’s logic is: “If I can sing this song, then I must be a good singer.”
Well, a designer must be good if they could replicate the essence Massimo Vignelli’s New York subway map or Paula Scher’s Citi logo.
In the coding world, reusing the same code is openly accepted. Some people discourage copying ActionScript or HTML, while others say it’s a smart way to work.
Honest designers don’t want to steal someone else’s intellectual property, but how can they train their subconscious not to.
It’s hard to come up with something original.
We’re all just hamsters spinning on the same wheel because it’s too hard to invent another.