Parsing Pentagram

Michael Bierut, a partner at the design firm Pentagram, is arguably one of the more accomplished and celebrated graphic designers practicing today. At Pentagram, Bierut has worked with the Walt Disney Co., Motorola, Princeton and Yale universities, the New York Jets, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As a senior critic in graphic design at the Yale School of Art and a founding contributor to the blog Design Observer, Bierut has a broad perspective on the practice -- and profession -- of design. Fast Company caught up with Bierut at the Pentagram offices in New York City to learn more about the importance of the customer -- in addition to the client -- the value of originality, and what he doesn't like about Google's design sensibility.

Fast Company: You've worked with a wide range of clients around the world. What are the characteristics of the best clients you've worked with?

Michael Bierut: A good client understands that details count. A long time ago, I had a client I had inherited -- and who wasn't one of my favorites. I really wasn't getting along with him. Every time I called and got put on hold this horrible recorded music would come on. Eventually a new person was hired to take this guy's place. He turned out to be a great client. When I called him and got put on hold, the music was better. That was the first sign that the situation was going to improve. And when I visited his office, the ugly, plastic potted plant that had been in the corner was gone.

The uncontrolled nature of the visual environment that we all grow up with in America has led us to assume that details don't count that much -- and by extension, that the way places and things look isn't all that important. Over the last five or 10 years this has started to change, but there's still a certain "I don't really care what it looks like as long as it sells," mentality and a feeling that paying attention to design is akin to taking one's eye off the ball. My guess is that in Milan it would be tough to find anyone with those attitudes.

Design can sell a product, but it can also make the world a better place. That's the reason to get rid of the ugly, plastic potted plant in the corner and to change the music that plays while we're on hold.

FC: When you start work with clients, how do you begin? Do you use design briefs?

Bierut: I see design as an intellectual exercise. It requires a lot of thinking, and the brief is the beginning of that thinking process. One of the problems that business people face when working with designers is that it is really hard to write a vivid and specific brief. To do this requires the client to know two things. First, the client has to know his or her business very, very well. Second, the customer needs to be known inside and out.

FC: You said that design is an intellectual exercise. Is it true that if better logic goes into the process, better design will come out?

Bierut: Not necessarily. Sometimes I'll work on a problem and one solution will come forward that has a rightness to it that just comes from sheer, stupid good luck. A recent example in which the stakes were high, was when Citibank merged with Travelers. We redesigned their logo. The Travelers logo was a red umbrella. And the Citi logo had only three different letters, really. Two of them are "i's," and then the "c" and "t." "T" already stands for Travelers. It also is one of the few letters that could be taken to look like the handle of an umbrella. You put a red arc above it, and the result sort of accomplishes many things all at once, including symbolizing in some subtle way the merger of those two companies. With different names, you wouldn't have had any of that to work with, and you would have had to come at it from a completely different angle.

FC: I'm sure luck never hurts, but it's clear your results don't depend on luck alone. What are some of the common stumbling blocks that you've seen get in the way of the designer-client collaboration?

Bierut: Designers often see the client as the final arbiter for what the design should be. But in fact, usually the designer and the client are trying to fathom what this third party, the customer, will make of all this. It's surprising how many times that third party gets forgotten. When I got started as a designer, I thought I would come up with this great idea and then bludgeon my client into accepting it. I would become more and more famous, and the client would be grateful. You quickly learn, however, that it's all about that third party out there.

FC: How can clients make sure they hire the right designer for what they -- and their customers -- need?