Beirut, Michael. “Warning: May Contain Non-Design Content.” Edited by Lauren Nelson Packard. In Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design, 11-13. 2012 ed. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
Scouting through the library for a good book to pick up, I spot a bright blue book with a title in white, Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design. Finally, something good where I would find a good article(or essay, for that matter). I take it out and almost immediately turn it to read the synopsis at the back, without looking at the front, and I see a list of what seem like the essay titles – each a different font. How cool I thought. Then I finally flip it the right side up and see that the list begins here, with big white “79” in the background. I am already hooked.
WARNING: MAY CONTAIN NON-DESIGN CONTENT
I have since finished reading more than ten of the essays in the book, but none have managed to leave a mark as strong as this first one. The essay starts off with Beirut describing a common response from readers of his blog: stick to design only, no wandering off topic. He then comforts the reader with the admission that he used to feel the same way, and proceeds to recollect those memories. Beirut describes a project he worked on in his senior year at design school and how he did it without any knowledge of the content but with the sole intention of compiling and “designing” well what was given to him in an attempt to impress the likes of Milton Glaser. Years later when he experiences for himself the grandeur and magnificence of the work for which he had designed this, he realizes how badly he screwed up. The project that he had been so very proud of was really nowhere near what it should have been – simply because he had had no interest or experience of the content that he was designing. The project was “simply no more and no less than a whole lot of empty-headed graphic design. And graphic design wasn’t enough. It never is.”
Beirut concludes the essay with two paragraphs that I dare not attempt to paraphrase or explain, so I shall quote some excerpts that I think are very well written and those that will always stay in my mind.
“Over the years, I came to realize that my best work has always involved subjects that interested me, or-even better-subjects about which I’ve become interested, and even passionate about, through the very process of doing design work. I believe I’m still passionate about graphic design. But the great thing about graphic design is that it is almost always about something else.”
That last line, it is so powerful in defining what graphic design really is in practice and reminds me why I chose to pursue this field.
“… the more things you’re interested in, the better your work will be.”
“Not everything is design. But design is about everything. So do yourself a favor: be ready for anything.”
Note to self: When in doubt, return to this blogpost or hunt for the book in the library and pray like hell that someone else has not borrowed it.
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