According to Bierut, when in a design slump always fall back onto your signature style. I always assumed that as a designer it was bad to have a signature style with your work. I thought that it meant that you weren’t versatile and limited in your design skills. I guess I was wrong. After all, Beirut is a famous designer. In “How to Become Famous”, Beirut explains how to choose to do a design competition and how to give a speech. I’m pretty sure Beirut and I think along the same wavelengths. He advised that when doing a competition it is always good to turn in something that is similar to past winners. The past winners is clearly the main example of the design aesthetic that the judges are looking for. Also, if prompted to fill out a long form explaining your work it is best not to. Judges don’t read them anyway. That is a given. During competitions judges are not really focused on every aspect of your work. They’re human too. They work based on first impressions and what catches their eye.
In “information Design and the Placebo Effect”, I was slightly confused as to how the “don’t walk” buttons on the street or the “door close” buttons on an elevator have to do with information design. The only thing I could gather is that when being presented with an infographic it makes the user feel as if they have a better grasp on the subject matter even though if they were tested on what they just saw they may fail. That infographics and information design serves no real purpose. I have no idea. I wish Beirut explained that more or changed the title of the section.
“Vladimir Nabokov: Father of Hypertext” is an interesting piece on the book Pale Fire. So interesting in that I want to download it and read it…or get a hard copy. Either way, Beirut explains that the book Pale Fire isn’t written in a linear fashion. The book jumps around and tells you which page and line you should read next. You can read the book in any manner that you choose and you will still have a fulfilling reading experience. This is much like when people are jumping around on the internet reading things that are barely related but have a fulfilling experience. This book was written in the 60’s which pretty much guarantees that Nabokov truly is the father of hypertext.