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

Maikls Bēruts: Londonas metro kartes ģenialitāte

Filmed:
1,052,555 views

Dizaina leģenda Maikls Bēruts atklāj nejaušās veiksmes stāstu par vienu no pasaules slavenākajām kartēm – Londonas metro karti.
- 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 historyvēsture of civilizationcivilizācija,
in some waysceļi, is a historyvēsture of mapskartes:
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Civilizācijas vēsture
savā ziņā ir karšu vēsture:
00:16
How have we come to understandsaprast
the worldpasaule around us?
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kā gan mums ir izdevies
saprast apkārt esošo pasauli?
00:19
One of the mostlielākā daļa famousslavens mapskartes worksdarbi
because it really isn't a mapkarte at all.
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Viena no slavenākajām kartēm darbojas,
jo tā patiesībā nemaz nav karte.
00:23
[SmallMazs thing. BigLiels ideaideja.]
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[Maza lieta. Liela ideja.]
[Maikls Bjēruts par Londonas metro karti]
00:27
[MichaelMichael BierutBeruts on
the LondonLondon TubeCaurule MapKarte]
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00:29
The LondonLondon UndergroundUnderground
camenāca togetherkopā in 1908,
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Londonas metro tapa 1908. gadā,
00:32
when eightastoņi differentatšķirīgs
independentneatkarīgs railwaysdzelzceļš mergedapvienoti
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apvienojot astoņus
atsevišķus sliežu ceļus,
00:35
to createizveidot a singleviens systemsistēma.
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lai radītu vienotu sistēmu.
00:37
They neededvajadzīgs a mapkarte to representpārstāvēt that systemsistēma
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Šīs sistēmas atainošanai vajadzēja karti,
00:39
so people would know where to ridebraukt.
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lai cilvēki zinātu, kurp braukt.
00:41
The mapkarte they madeizgatavots is complicatedsarežģīts.
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Izveidotā karte ir sarežģīta.
00:44
You can see riversupes,
bodiesstruktūras of waterūdens, treeskoki and parksparki --
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Tajā redzamas upes,
ūdenstilpnes, koki un parki –
00:47
the stationsstacijas were all crammedpieblīvēts togetherkopā
at the centercentrā of the mapkarte,
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kartes centrā stacijas
ir cieši saspiestas,
00:50
and out in the peripheryperifērija, there were some
that couldn'tnevarēja even fitfit on the mapkarte.
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un tālāk, perifērijā, dažas
pat neievietojas uz kartes.
Tā ka karte bija ģeogrāfiski precīza,
taču ne īpaši noderīga.
00:53
So the mapkarte was geographicallyĢeogrāfiski accurateprecīza,
but maybe not so usefulnoderīga.
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00:58
EnterIevadiet HarryHarijs BeckBeck.
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Ierodas Herijs Beks.
00:59
HarryHarijs BeckBeck was a 29-year-old-gadus vecs
engineeringinženierija draftsmanAtzinumu sagatavoja
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Herijs Beks bija 29 gadus vecs
inženieris-projektētājs,
01:03
who had been workingstrādā on and off
for the LondonLondon UndergroundUnderground.
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kurš ar pārtraukumiem
strādāja Londonas metro.
Un viņš saprata ko svarīgu,
01:06
And he had a keyatslēga insightieskats,
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01:07
and that was that people
ridingizjādes undergroundpazemē in trainsvilcieni
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proti, ka tiem, kas brauc ar metro,
01:11
don't really careaprūpe
what's happeningnotiek abovegroundvirszemes.
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patiesībā nerūp, kas notiek virszemē.
01:13
They just want to get
from stationstacija to stationstacija --
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Viņi vienkārši grib nokļūt
no stacijas līdz stacijai.
01:16
"Where do I get on? Where do I get off?"
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Kur jāiekāpj?
Kur jāizkāpj?
01:18
It's the systemsistēma that's importantsvarīgs,
not the geographyĢeogrāfija.
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Svarīga ir sistēma, nevis ģeogrāfija.
01:21
He's takenņemti this complicatedsarežģīts
messputru of spaghettispageti,
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Viņš šo samudžināto spageti vienkāršoja.
01:24
and he's simplifiedvienkāršota it.
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01:25
The lineslīnijas only go in threetrīs directionsvirzieni:
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Līnijas iet tikai trijos virzienos:
01:27
they're horizontalhorizontāli, they're verticalvertikāla,
or they're 45 degreesgrādi.
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tās ir horizontālas, vertikālas
vai 45 grādu leņķī.
01:31
LikewiseTāpat, he spacedvienmērīgi the stationsstacijas equallyvienādi,
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Tāpat viņš izvietoja stacijas
vienādos attālumos,
01:34
he's madeizgatavots everykatrs stationstacija colorkrāsa
correspondatbilst to the colorkrāsa of the linelīnija,
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katru staciju iekrāsoja
atbilstošās līnijas krāsā
01:38
and he's fixedfiksēts it all
so that it's not really a mapkarte anymorevairs.
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un sakārtoja to visu tā,
ka tā vairs nebija īsti karte.
01:42
What it is is a diagramdiagramma,
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Tā bija kļuvusi par diagrammu,
01:44
just like circuitryshēmas,
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gluži kā elektroshēma,
01:45
exceptizņemot the circuitryshēmas here
isn't wiresvadi conductingvadīšana electronselektroni,
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tomēr šī shēma
nav elektronus vadošas stieples,
01:49
it's tubescaurules containingkas satur trainsvilcieni
conductingvadīšana people from placevietu to placevietu.
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bet gan tuneļi vilcieniem, kas pārvadā
cilvēkus no vienas vietas uz otru.
01:53
In 1933, the UndergroundUnderground decidednolēma, at last,
to give HarryHarijs Beck'sBeck ir mapkarte a try.
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1933. gadā metro beidzot nolēma
Herija Beka ideju izmēģināt.
01:59
The UndergroundUnderground did a testpārbaude runpalaist
of a thousandtūkstotis of these mapskartes, pocket-sizekabatas izmēra.
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Metro nodrukāja pilottirāžu –
tūkstoti kabatas izmēra karšu.
Tās izķēra stundas laikā.
02:02
They were goneaizgājis in one hourstunda.
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Viņi saprata, ka tur kaut kas ir,
02:04
They realizedsapratu they were ontouz something,
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nodrukāja vēl 750 000,
02:05
they printeddrukāts 750,000 more,
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02:08
and this is the mapkarte that you see todayšodien.
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un tā ir šodien pazīstamā karte.
02:10
Beck'sBeck ir designdizains really becamekļuva the templateveidne
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Beka dizains kļuva par veidni tam,
02:13
for the way we think of metrometro mapskartes todayšodien.
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kā mūsdienās iedomājamies metro kartes.
02:15
TokyoTokyo, ParisParis, BerlinBerlīne, São PauloPaulo,
SydneySydney, WashingtonWashington, D.C. --
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Tokija, Parīze, Berlīne, Sanpaulu,
Sidneja, Vašingtona –
02:20
all of them convertkonvertēt complexkomplekss geographyĢeogrāfija
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tās visas sarežģītu ģeogrāfiju pārvērš
02:23
into crispkraukšķīgas geometryģeometrija.
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precīzā ģeometrijā.
02:25
All of them use differentatšķirīgs colorskrāsas
to distinguishatšķirt betweenstarp lineslīnijas,
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Tās visas līniju nošķiršanai
izmanto dažādas krāsas,
02:28
all of them use simplevienkāršs symbolssimboli
to distinguishatšķirt betweenstarp typestipi of stationsstacijas.
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tās visas staciju veidu nošķiršanai
izmanto vienkāršus simbolus.
02:32
They all are partdaļa
of a universaluniversāls languagevaloda, seeminglyšķietami.
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Tās visas šķietami ir
universālas valodas daļa.
02:35
I betbet HarryHarijs BeckBeck wouldn'tnebūtu have knownzināms
what a userlietotājs interfaceinterfeiss was,
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Varu derēt, ka Herijs Beks nezināja,
kas ir lietotāja saskarne,
02:39
but that's really what he designedizstrādāts
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bet tieši to viņš arī radīja.
02:41
and he really tookpaņēma that challengeizaicinājums
and brokelauza it down to threetrīs principlesprincipi
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Viņš pieņēma šo izaicinājumu
un sadalīja to trīs principos,
ko, manuprāt, var izmantot
gandrīz jebkurai dizaina problēmai.
02:45
that I think can be appliedpiemērota
in nearlygandrīz any designdizains problemproblēma.
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02:47
First one is focuskoncentrēties.
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Pirmais – koncentrēšanās.
02:49
FocusUzmanības centrā on who you're doing this for.
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Koncentrēties uz lietotāju.
02:51
The secondotrais principleprincips is simplicityvienkāršība.
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Otrais princips – vienkāršība.
Kāds ir īsākais ceļš
šīs vajadzības apmierināšanai?
02:53
What's the shortestīsāko way
to deliverpiegādāt that need?
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02:56
FinallyBeidzot, the last thing is:
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Visbeidzot pēdējais princips –
02:58
ThinkingDomāšana in a cross-disciplinarystarpdisciplīnu way.
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domāt starpdisciplināri.
03:00
Who would'vebūtu darījis thought
that an electricalelektriski engineerinženieris
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Kam gan būtu ienācis prātā,
ka elektroinženieris
03:03
would be the personpersona to holdturiet the keyatslēga
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atrisinās vienu no tolaik
sarežģītākajām sistēmām pasaulē?
03:05
to unlockatbloķēt what was then one of the mostlielākā daļa
complicatedsarežģīts systemssistēmas in the worldpasaule --
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03:10
all startedsāka by one guy
with a pencilzīmulis and an ideaideja.
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Tas viss sākās ar kādu,
kam bija zīmulis un ideja.
Translated by Ilze Garda
Reviewed by Raimonds Jaks

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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