ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Michael Bierut - Designer, critic
Michael Bierut is a partner in the New York office of Pentagram, a founder of Design Observer and a teacher at Yale School of Art and Yale School of Management.

Why you should listen

Michael Bierut studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, graduating summa cum laude in 1980. Prior to joining Pentagram in 1990 as a partner in the firm's New York office, he worked for ten years at Vignelli Associates, ultimately as vice president of graphic design.

His projects at Pentagram have included work for the New York Times, Saks Fifth Avenue, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Harley-Davidson, The Museum of Arts and Design, Mastercard, the New York City Department of Transportation, the Robin Hood Foundation, Mohawk Paper Mills, New World Symphony, the New York Jets, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and MIT Media Lab. As a volunteer to Hillary for America, he created the ubiquitous H logo that was used throughout the 2016 presidential campaign.

He has won hundreds of design awards and his work is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Montreal. He served as president of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) from 1988 to 1990 and is president emeritus of AIGA National. Bierut was elected to the Alliance Graphique Internationale in 1989, to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 2003, and was awarded the profession’s highest honor, the AIGA Medal, in 2006. In 2008, he was named winner in the Design Mind category of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards. In spring 2016, Bierut was appointed the Henry Wolf Graphic Designer in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.

Bierut is a senior critic in graphic design at the Yale School of Art and a lecturer at the Yale School of Management. He writes frequently about design and is the co-editor of the five-volume series Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design published by Allworth Press. In 2002, Bierut co-founded Design Observer, a blog of design and cultural criticism which now features podcasts on design, popular culture, and business.

Bierut's book 79 Short Essays on Design was published in 2007 by Princeton Architectural Press. A monograph on his work, 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, was published in 2015 by Thames & Hudson and Harper Collins. This accompanied the first retrospective exhibition of his work, part of the School of Visual Art's Masters Series, which was on view at the SVA Chelsea Gallery in New York City for five weeks in autumn 2015. His next book, Now You See It, is due out from Princeton Architectural Press this fall. 


More profile about the speaker
Michael Bierut | Speaker | TED.com
Small Thing Big Idea

Michael Bierut: The genius of the London Tube Map

Michael Bierut: Génius za mapou londýnského metra

Filmed:
1,052,555 views

Designerská legenda Michael Bierut vypráví příběh o překvapivém úspěchu jedné z nejznámnějších map na světě - mapy londýnského metra.
- Designer, critic
Michael Bierut is a partner in the New York office of Pentagram, a founder of Design Observer and a teacher at Yale School of Art and Yale School of Management. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
The historydějiny of civilizationcivilizace,
in some wayszpůsoby, is a historydějiny of mapsmapy:
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Dějiny civilizace jsou
do jisté míry dějinami map.
00:16
How have we come to understandrozumět
the worldsvět around us?
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Jak se nám podařilo porozumět
světu kolem nás?
00:19
One of the mostvětšina famousslavný mapsmapy workspráce
because it really isn't a mapmapa at all.
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Jedna z nejslavnějších map funguje,
protože to vlastně mapa ani není.
00:23
[SmallMalé thing. BigVelké ideaidea.]
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[Malá věc. Velká idea.]
00:27
[MichaelMichael BierutBierut on
the LondonLondýn TubeTrubice MapMapa]
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[Michael Bierut - Mapa londýnského metra]
00:29
The LondonLondýn UndergroundUnderground
camepřišel togetherspolu in 1908,
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Londýnské metro začalo
fungovat v roce 1908,
00:32
when eightosm differentodlišný
independentnezávislý railwaysželeznice mergedsloučeny
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kdy se 8 na sobě
nezávislých železnic
00:35
to createvytvořit a singlesingl systemSystém.
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spojilo v jeden systém.
00:37
They neededpotřeboval a mapmapa to representzastupovat that systemSystém
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Následně bylo potřeba mapy
tohoto systému,
00:39
so people would know where to ridejezdit.
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aby lidé věděli,
jak se kam mohou dostat.
00:41
The mapmapa they madevyrobeno is complicatedsložitý.
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Mapa, kterou vytvořili, byla komplikovaná.
00:44
You can see riversřeky,
bodiestěla of watervoda, treesstromy and parksparky --
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Jsou tam řeky, vodní plochy,
stromy a parky -
a všechny stanice byly namačkané
ve středu mapy.
00:47
the stationsstanice were all crammedzaplněný togetherspolu
at the centercentrum of the mapmapa,
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00:50
and out in the peripheryperiferie, there were some
that couldn'tnemohl even fitvejít se on the mapmapa.
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A předměstích se některé stanice
do mapy nevešly.
00:53
So the mapmapa was geographicallygeograficky accuratepřesný,
but maybe not so usefulužitečný.
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Takže mapa byla zeměpisně v pořádku,
ale téměř nepoužitelná.
00:58
EnterVstoupit HarryHarry BeckBeck.
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Pak přišel Harry Back.
00:59
HarryHarry BeckBeck was a 29-year-old-let starý
engineeringinženýrství draftsmankreslíř
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Harry Back byl 29letý
strojírenský kreslič,
01:03
who had been workingpracovní on and off
for the LondonLondýn UndergroundUnderground.
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který občas pracoval pro londýnské metro.
01:06
And he had a keyklíč insightvhled,
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On pochopil,
01:07
and that was that people
ridingjezdectví undergroundpodzemí in trainsvlaky
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že lidi, jezdící metrem v podzemí,
01:11
don't really carepéče
what's happeninghappening abovegroundnadzemní.
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až tak nezajímá to, co je na povrchu.
01:13
They just want to get
from stationstanice to stationstanice --
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Oni se jen potřebovali přepravit
mezi stanicemi -
01:16
"Where do I get on? Where do I get off?"
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"Kde mám nastoupit? A kde vystoupit?"
01:18
It's the systemSystém that's importantdůležité,
not the geographyGeografie.
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Není podstatný zeměpis,
ale systém.
01:21
He's takenpřijat this complicatedsložitý
messnepořádek of spaghettišpagety,
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Harry vzal tu změť špaget,
01:24
and he's simplifiedzjednodušený it.
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a rozmotal ji.
01:25
The linesline only go in threetři directionsPokyny:
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Trasy jezdí jen třemi směry:
01:27
they're horizontalhorizontální, they're verticalvertikální,
or they're 45 degreesstupňů.
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horizontálně, vertiklálně
nebo pod úhlem 45 °.
01:31
LikewiseStejně tak, he spacedrozloženy the stationsstanice equallystejně,
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Stejně tak, všechny stanice
byly stejně velké
01:34
he's madevyrobeno everykaždý stationstanice colorbarva
correspondodpovídají to the colorbarva of the linečára,
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a měly barvu podle linky.
01:38
and he's fixedpevný it all
so that it's not really a mapmapa anymoreuž víc.
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Tohle všechno opravil.
A to už nebyla ani tak mapa.
01:42
What it is is a diagramdiagram,
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Byl to spíše diagram,
01:44
just like circuitryobvodů,
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jako elektrické obvody,
01:45
exceptaž na the circuitryobvodů here
isn't wiresvodiče conductingvedení electronselektrony,
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s tím rozdílem, že místo elektronů,
01:49
it's tubestrubky containingobsahující trainsvlaky
conductingvedení people from placemísto to placemísto.
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se linkami prohánějí vlaky s lidmi.
01:53
In 1933, the UndergroundUnderground decidedrozhodl, at last,
to give HarryHarry Beck'sBecka mapmapa a try.
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V roce 1933, se správa londýnského metra
rozhodla vyzkoušet mapu Harryho Becka.
01:59
The UndergroundUnderground did a testtest runběh
of a thousandtisíc of these mapsmapy, pocket-sizekapesní velikost.
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Zkusili to prve s 1000 kapesních map.
02:02
They were gonepryč in one hourhodina.
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A za hodinu byly všechny pryč.
02:04
They realizeduvědomil they were ontona something,
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Došlo jim, že na to kápli
02:05
they printedvytištěno 750,000 more,
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a vytiskli dalších 750 000.
02:08
and this is the mapmapa that you see todaydnes.
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A to jsou ty mapy, které znáte z dneška.
02:10
Beck'sBecka designdesign really becamestal se the templatešablona
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Beckův design se stal vzorem
02:13
for the way we think of metrostanice metra mapsmapy todaydnes.
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pro to, jak o metru dnes smýšlíme.
02:15
TokyoTokio, ParisPaříž, BerlinBerlin, São PauloPaulo,
SydneySydney, WashingtonWashington, D.C. --
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Tokyo, Paříž, Berlín, São Paulo,
Sydney, Washington, D.C. --
02:20
all of them convertkonvertovat complexkomplex geographyGeografie
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všichni ti přešli od zeměpisu
02:23
into crispCrisp geometrygeometrie.
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k čisté geometrii.
02:25
All of them use differentodlišný colorsbarvy
to distinguishrozlišovat betweenmezi linesline,
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Všichni používají jiné barvy
pro jiné linky metra,
02:28
all of them use simplejednoduchý symbolssymboly
to distinguishrozlišovat betweenmezi typestypy of stationsstanice.
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všichni používají jednoduché symboly
pro různé typy stanic.
02:32
They all are partčást
of a universaluniverzální languageJazyk, seeminglyzdánlivě.
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Očividně jsou všechny součástí
univerzálního jazyka.
02:35
I betsázka HarryHarry BeckBeck wouldn'tby ne have knownznámý
what a useruživatel interfacerozhraní was,
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Vsadím se, že Harry Beck tenkrát netušil,
co to je uživatelské rozhraní,
02:39
but that's really what he designednavrženo
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nicméně on ho vskutku vytvořil.
K této výzvě se postavil čelem,
a rozhraní rozdělil do třech principů,
02:41
and he really tookvzal that challengevýzva
and brokerozbil it down to threetři principleszásady
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které se dají použít, myslím,
téměř na každou otázku designu.
02:45
that I think can be appliedaplikovaný
in nearlytéměř any designdesign problemproblém.
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Za prvé je to soustředění.
02:47
First one is focussoustředit se.
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02:49
FocusZaměření on who you're doing this for.
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Soustřeďte se na to, pro koho to má být.
02:51
The seconddruhý principlezásada is simplicityjednoduchost.
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Za druhé je to jednoduchost.
02:53
What's the shortestnejkratší way
to deliverdodat that need?
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Jaký je nejrychlejší způsob sdělení?
02:56
FinallyNakonec, the last thing is:
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Závěrem, princip poslední:
02:58
ThinkingMyšlení in a cross-disciplinarykříž disciplinární way.
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Myšlení napříč disciplínami.
03:00
Who would'veby jsem thought
that an electricalelektrický engineerinženýr
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Kdo by jen pomyslel,
že elektroinženýr bude tím,
03:03
would be the personosoba to holddržet the keyklíč
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kdo přijde na řešení toho,
03:05
to unlockodemknout what was then one of the mostvětšina
complicatedsložitý systemssystémy in the worldsvět --
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co bylo považováno za jeden
z nejkomplikovanějších systémů na světě.
03:10
all startedzačal by one guy
with a penciltužka and an ideaidea.
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A to vše začalo jedním člověkem,
který měl tužku a nápad.
Translated by Jakub Čumpelík
Reviewed by Samuel Titera

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Michael Bierut - Designer, critic
Michael Bierut is a partner in the New York office of Pentagram, a founder of Design Observer and a teacher at Yale School of Art and Yale School of Management.

Why you should listen

Michael Bierut studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, graduating summa cum laude in 1980. Prior to joining Pentagram in 1990 as a partner in the firm's New York office, he worked for ten years at Vignelli Associates, ultimately as vice president of graphic design.

His projects at Pentagram have included work for the New York Times, Saks Fifth Avenue, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Harley-Davidson, The Museum of Arts and Design, Mastercard, the New York City Department of Transportation, the Robin Hood Foundation, Mohawk Paper Mills, New World Symphony, the New York Jets, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and MIT Media Lab. As a volunteer to Hillary for America, he created the ubiquitous H logo that was used throughout the 2016 presidential campaign.

He has won hundreds of design awards and his work is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Montreal. He served as president of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) from 1988 to 1990 and is president emeritus of AIGA National. Bierut was elected to the Alliance Graphique Internationale in 1989, to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 2003, and was awarded the profession’s highest honor, the AIGA Medal, in 2006. In 2008, he was named winner in the Design Mind category of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards. In spring 2016, Bierut was appointed the Henry Wolf Graphic Designer in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.

Bierut is a senior critic in graphic design at the Yale School of Art and a lecturer at the Yale School of Management. He writes frequently about design and is the co-editor of the five-volume series Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design published by Allworth Press. In 2002, Bierut co-founded Design Observer, a blog of design and cultural criticism which now features podcasts on design, popular culture, and business.

Bierut's book 79 Short Essays on Design was published in 2007 by Princeton Architectural Press. A monograph on his work, 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, was published in 2015 by Thames & Hudson and Harper Collins. This accompanied the first retrospective exhibition of his work, part of the School of Visual Art's Masters Series, which was on view at the SVA Chelsea Gallery in New York City for five weeks in autumn 2015. His next book, Now You See It, is due out from Princeton Architectural Press this fall. 


More profile about the speaker
Michael Bierut | Speaker | TED.com