Earlier this week, Michael Bierut, Sonia Williams, and I spent an hour on the phone together. Michael is an influential graphic designer based in New York, Sonia is a high school student in Paintsville, Kentucky, and I am a designer at Automattic, living outside Boston.
Sonia is ready with a series of good questions. He pushed Michael to tell us about his career, and to bring us through some of his favorite projects. We talk about designing this website. Michael described how he came to use Earth’s photo to represent the house: He aims to show the most universal home representation. We all live a very different life, in very different homes, but this giant and fragile planet is a house with us.
At the end of the call, Sonia went to the next class. I started working at WordPress.com and Longreads, and Michael turned his attention to his work in Pentagram.
Michael, Sonia, and I are all different ages, at a different stage of our career, and in various parts of the country, but we take the time from our days to share stories and work together. Our conversation feels natural, and we learn a lot from each other. I was surprised by how strong – but it seems normal – a project experience.
When I was the same age as Sonia, I attended a fantastic high school: Visual Academy and Buffalo Performing Arts. I am a major in art there, which means that I have two periods of art every day, in addition to my normal course. I took a broad class in painting, sculpture, pottery, photography, art history, and more. I like art, and I know I want to involve him in my future, but I don’t know specifically outside of it.
At some point during my senior year, one of our teachers arranged for a graphic designer to visit his classroom. He showed us an advertising campaign for the local art museum he was working on. It involves billboards, print materials, and websites. I remember really interested in his presentation, and talked to him for a few minutes later. Until then, I did not think I had a good idea about what exactly was a graphic design. I know a little about designing individual things – advertisements in magazines, one website, etc. – But that was my first real exposure to ideas (and challenges around) designing identity that includes many single applications.
A few months later, I brought my art portfolio to the Higher Education Portfolio Review in Syracuse, New York. I registered with a number of universities, and ended up in Brooklyn, studying graphic design at the Pratt Institute. In the history class of my design, we learned about Michael Bierut.
I have worked in the field for more than a decade now. I have worked on branding, advertising campaigns, websites, t-shirts, and more. I am currently doing all this while working from home. I didn’t know that this kind of work was there until I met the graphic designer.
When John Maeda invited me to take part in this project, I thought back to the time I met with designers in high school, and recognized the impact on my future. Sharing what we do with the next generation is the main responsibility of all of us. Just as I have learned from Michael Bierut’s work throughout my career, it was my hope that Sonia and his classmates were away from this experience with a better understanding of art and designing themselves.
Thank you to John Maeda for organizing, thanks to Michael Bierut for your work of art, insight, and perspective, and thank Sonia for all your preparations and efforts in this project.
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