Michael Bierut is a graphic designer, design critic, and a partner in the New York office of Pentagram. Bierut is one of the founding editors of the influential blog Design Observer. His work is represented in the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the Cooper-Hewitt.

In Glimmer: Bierut talks about how finding design solutions can be like solving a crossword puzzle.

Currently working on: Design Observer, of course. But he also recently worked on the redesign of The Atlantic magazine, and is doing graphic design for a number of museums and universities, as well as corporate clients. 

Quote: “(The musician) Wilson Pickett’s motto was ‘Harmonize, then customize.’ And I actually think that’s a good design principle. Harmonize means you have to create something that functions properly, that’s going to work with the audience. ‘Customize’ means you make it distinctive and memorable and make it feel specific to its moment and its creator. Ideally, the best designers do that, I think.”

Websites: www.pentagram.com, www.designobserver.com

Twitter: twitter.com/MichaelBierut
 

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