Qualities of contemporary Designers

This semester class has been talking about contemporary designers. The four main designers we’ve looked at are Marion Bantjes, Bruce Mau, Stefan Bucher, and Stefan Sagmeister. These designers are all well known in their field; one thing they all do that is similar is only working on projects they believe in. This is an important moral to have both because it turns out better work as well as makes you more personally fulfilled.  

Marion Bantjes even did a TED talk explaining how she used to do work that was just that “work”. Then she switched over to doing only things that are more personal to her. She noted that she got a positive result from doing this, which I found very interesting. 

Stefan Sagmeister also uses very personal inspiration to produce his work. He gets insight from his diary or the many lists that he makes for his own personal reflection. 

Stefan Bucher follows suit by creating his monsters out of inkblots and creating a super bowl logo for nerds. Using a sense of humour, it is obvious that he enjoys these tasks.     

Bruce Mau has created a manifesto that outlines his personal beliefs about what should or shouldn’t be done in design and during the process of creating. These include advice such as taking field trips to experience the world around you rather then being cooped up indoors at your computer. He also says that he uses laughter as a barometer to see how comfortable his employees are working in his studio. This is a good indication that they are enjoying the work that they do. 

Another quality these designers have in common is that they are well organized. This quality manifests itself in different ways between the designers.  Stefan Sagmeister creates many lists of all aspects of his life for example he talks about a list he made of times when he was truly happy. This again he used to make billboards for a project. Bruce Mau in his manifesto talks about organization being equal to liberty. He says that all design happens within context. These are important qualities to mimic if trying to break into the graphic design field. Doing work that is personal to you will keep you interested and thus produce a stronger result. Marinating organization is important to help you stay on task as well as to produce designs that make the information more accessible. For instance when a grid is used to sort out the different elements in a design. This gives an underlying structure that improves the reader’s ability to absorb what is being presented.