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

迈克·布雷特: 伦敦地铁图中的智慧

Filmed:
1,052,555 views

设计大师迈克·布雷特讲述了世界最有名的地图之一——伦敦地铁图的意外成功。
- 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 history历史 of civilization文明,
in some ways方法, is a history历史 of maps地图:
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文明的历史,从某些角度来看
也是地图的历史:
00:16
How have we come to understand理解
the world世界 around us?
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我们是如何理解周围的世界的呢?
00:19
One of the most famous著名 maps地图 works作品
because it really isn't a map地图 at all.
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有一幅世界著名的地图,
它管用的原因是它根本不是地图。
[细微处的智慧]
00:23
[Small thing. Big idea理念.]
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00:27
[Michael迈克尔 BierutBierut on
the London伦敦 Tube Map地图]
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[迈克·布雷特之伦敦地铁图 ]
00:29
The London伦敦 Underground地下
came来了 together一起 in 1908,
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在1908年,八条相互独立的
伦敦地铁线路合并在了一起,
00:32
when eight different不同
independent独立 railways铁路 merged合并的
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组成了一个单一地铁系统。
00:35
to create创建 a single system系统.
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为了方便人们的出行,
00:37
They needed需要 a map地图 to represent代表 that system系统
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地铁部门需要一幅地图
来描绘整个系统。
00:39
so people would know where to ride.
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但他们制作的地图十分复杂。
00:41
The map地图 they made制作 is complicated复杂.
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00:44
You can see rivers河流,
bodies身体 of water, trees树木 and parks公园 --
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你可以在上面看到河流、
水体、树木甚至公园——
地铁站点却全部挤在地图中央,
00:47
the stations were all crammed临时抱佛脚 together一起
at the center中央 of the map地图,
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边缘之外甚至还有一些无法绘入。
00:50
and out in the periphery周边, there were some
that couldn't不能 even fit适合 on the map地图.
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尽管从地理角度来说,这份地图
十分精确,但并不那么实用。
00:53
So the map地图 was geographically地理 accurate准确,
but maybe not so useful有用.
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00:58
Enter输入 Harry掠夺 Beck招手.
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直到哈利·贝克的介入。
00:59
Harry掠夺 Beck招手 was a 29-year-old-岁
engineering工程 draftsman起草者
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哈利·贝克是个29岁的工程绘图员,
他一直在为伦敦地铁系统工作。
01:03
who had been working加工 on and off
for the London伦敦 Underground地下.
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他对此有自己独特的看法,
01:06
And he had a key insight眼光,
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那就是人们都是来坐地铁的,
01:07
and that was that people
riding骑术 underground地下 in trains火车
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其实并不关心地上的情况。
01:11
don't really care关心
what's happening事件 aboveground地上.
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他们只想从一个站点去另一个站点——
01:13
They just want to get
from station to station --
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“我应该从哪里上?又该从哪里下?”
01:16
"Where do I get on? Where do I get off?"
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所以重要的是地铁系统,
而非地理情况。
01:18
It's the system系统 that's important重要,
not the geography地理.
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他接手了那乱的像意大利面的地图,
01:21
He's taken采取 this complicated复杂
mess食堂 of spaghetti意大利面,
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然后把它简化了。
01:24
and he's simplified it.
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01:25
The lines线 only go in three directions方向:
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地图上的线路排布只有三个方向:
平行、垂直,或者呈四十五度角。
01:27
they're horizontal, they're vertical垂直,
or they're 45 degrees.
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同理,他把站点也等距绘制,
01:31
Likewise同样, he spaced间隔 the stations equally一样,
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并且把站点的颜色
改成该线路的颜色,
01:34
he's made制作 every一切 station color颜色
correspond对应 to the color颜色 of the line线,
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经过这些修改,其实它就不再是
一份真正意义上的地图了。
01:38
and he's fixed固定 it all
so that it's not really a map地图 anymore.
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它变成了一幅图表,
01:42
What it is is a diagram,
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就像电路图,
01:44
just like circuitry电路,
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只不过这幅电路图的线路
不是传输电子的电线,
01:45
except the circuitry电路 here
isn't wires电线 conducting开展 electrons电子,
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而是容纳了载客地铁的管道。
01:49
it's tubes containing trains火车
conducting开展 people from place地点 to place地点.
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01:53
In 1933, the Underground地下 decided决定, at last,
to give Harry掠夺 Beck's贝克 map地图 a try.
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在1933年,地铁部门最终决定
试用哈利·贝克的地图,
地铁部门用几千份
口袋大小的地图做测试。
01:59
The Underground地下 did a test测试 run
of a thousand of these maps地图, pocket-size口袋大小.
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结果在一小时内就被人们拿光。
02:02
They were gone走了 in one hour小时.
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他们意识到了人们的需求,
02:04
They realized实现 they were onto something,
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于是又印刷了75万份。
02:05
they printed印刷的 750,000 more,
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这就是今天我们见到的地铁图。
02:08
and this is the map地图 that you see today今天.
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贝克的设计为我们如今
02:10
Beck's贝克 design设计 really became成为 the template模板
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广泛认可的地铁图提供了模板。
02:13
for the way we think of metro地铁 maps地图 today今天.
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东京、巴黎、柏林、圣保罗、
悉尼、华盛顿特区等等——
02:15
Tokyo东京, Paris巴黎, Berlin柏林, São Paulo圣保罗,
Sydney悉尼, Washington华盛顿, D.C. --
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这些城市都把复杂的地形图
02:20
all of them convert兑换 complex复杂 geography地理
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转变成了清晰简明的几何图。
02:23
into crisp geometry几何.
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他们都用不同的颜色
来区分不同线路,
02:25
All of them use different不同 colors颜色
to distinguish区分 between之间 lines线,
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也都用简单符号
来区分不同的站点类型。
02:28
all of them use simple简单 symbols符号
to distinguish区分 between之间 types类型 of stations.
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这些地图看上去
分享了一种通用的语言。
02:32
They all are part部分
of a universal普遍 language语言, seemingly似乎.
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我敢打赌哈利·贝克当时
还不知道用户界面是什么。
02:35
I bet赌注 Harry掠夺 Beck招手 wouldn't不会 have known已知
what a user用户 interface接口 was,
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但那确实是他所设计的东西,
02:39
but that's really what he designed设计
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同时他也把这个难题
细分为了三项原则,
02:41
and he really took that challenge挑战
and broke打破 it down to three principles原则
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我觉得几乎适用于任何设计难题。
02:45
that I think can be applied应用的
in nearly几乎 any design设计 problem问题.
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第一,有针对性。
02:47
First one is focus焦点.
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02:49
Focus焦点 on who you're doing this for.
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要针对你所做设计的受众。
第二, 要简洁。
02:51
The second第二 principle原理 is simplicity简单.
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找出能满足需要的最直接的方式。
02:53
What's the shortest最短 way
to deliver交付 that need?
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02:56
Finally最后, the last thing is:
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最后,第三条:
从多方面去思考一个问题。
02:58
Thinking思维 in a cross-disciplinary跨学科 way.
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03:00
Who would've会一直 thought
that an electrical电动 engineer工程师
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没有谁会想到,世界上
最复杂的系统之一所面临的
难题的解决方案,
03:03
would be the person to hold保持 the key
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竟然出自一个电子工程师之手——
03:05
to unlock开锁 what was then one of the most
complicated复杂 systems系统 in the world世界 --
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这些都开始于一个人,
一支笔,和灵光一现。
03:10
all started开始 by one guy
with a pencil铅笔 and an idea理念.
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Translated by Qikai Guo
Reviewed by Yinchun Rui

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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