Michael Bierut, a designer, critic and educator, was honored this week by the School of Visual Arts with the 27^th annual Masters Series Award. The award was established to bring to public view the achievements of groundbreaking designers, illustrators, art directors and photographers whose work has been strongly felt and by many, yet without widespread recognition. Through a comprehensive retrospective of his work on view through November 7th, and a public lecture next week, Michael Bierut speaks about being a graphic designer—the one job he always knew he wanted.

In conjunction with the exhibition and talk, Bierut's latest book How to use graphic design to sell things, explain things, make things look better, make people laugh, make people cry, and (every once in a while) change the world is being released. The Masters Series: Michael Bierut and its related events are held in celebration of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Week, taking place October 10 – 18.

Above: Chipp Kidd, Michael Bierut and Elizabeth Holzman. Photo courtesy SVA.

At a preview for the exhibition and book launch at the SVA Chelsea Gallery earlier this week, Bierut described himself as a client’s designer. In the book he writes, “As someone who had spent his career working like a plumber (my customers needed something done, I figured out how much it would cost, the customer agreed, I did the work, the customer paid)”. The intricacies of graphic design are not referenced here. In fact, a famous quote by Chuck Close serves as the book’s epigraph: “Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” 

He goes on to say, “Graphic design, where form is so dependent on content, is a perfect way to learn about the world. My projects have put me at laboratory benches with microbiologists and in locker rooms with professional football players. I design best when I’m interested in the subject matter. As a result, I’ve learned to be as interested in as many things as possible.”

Above: Michael Bierut in the exhibition walkthrough at SVA Chelsea Gallery. Photos above and below, Peggy Roalf.

Therein lies the magic. Bierut has occupied a rare position in a profession characterized by complexity, contradiction, and often, confusion. Tasked with making intangible qualities visible and comprehensible, he has met industry leaders and librarians, architects and nut sellers, corporations with million dollar budgets and theater directors with none—on their own footing. Merging with a stream of fascinating ideas, people and situations, Bierut has produced some of the most admired design programs of our time throughout a distinguished career. Seen together, the exhibition and book reveal the essence of creativity and what it takes to realize its goals. There are many messages to absorb here. The one that consistently rises to the surface is the designer’s connection with his clients and co-workers. You can meet Michael Bierut on Wednesday, October 14^th, in conversation with Steven Heller to find out more.

The Masters Series:

Michael Bierut continues at the SVA Chelsea Gallery through November 7th. 601 West 26^th Street, 15^th Floor, NY, NY. Information

Artist talk: Michael Bierut in conversation with Steven Heller. Wednesday, October 14, 7 pm. SVA Theater, 333 West 23^rd Street, NY, NY. Information.

How to use graphic design to sell things, explain things, make things look better, make people laugh, make people cry, and (every once in a while) change the world (Thames & Hudson and Harper Design 2015). Information.

National Design Week October 10-18. Information.

Michael Bierut is widely admired in the creative world and beyond for his intelligent contributions to the design field, his expertise as a cultural critic and his tireless role as a mentor and educator. He has been a partner in the acclaimed design firm Pentagram since 1990, and his clients have included The New York Times, Saks Fifth Avenue, the New York City Department of Transportation, MIT Media Lab, Yale School of Architecture, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Penguin Random House, the New York Jets, the Robin Hood Foundation and Nuts.com. Bierut has won hundreds of design awards and his work is represented in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.