Michael Bierut: How to design a library that makes kids want to read
Michael Bierut: Como desenhar uma biblioteca que faça com que as crianças queiram ler
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.
the law of unintended consequences.
"Lei das consequências não intencionadas".
não intencionadas.
consequences that they really intend,
têm consequências que realmente querem,
to help them achieve those consequences.
a alcançar essas consequências.
of unintended consequences.
de consequências não intencionadas.
consequences intended and unintended.
tencionadas e não intencionadas.
called Robin Hood
chamada Robin Hood
a wonderful philanthropic organization
é uma organização filantrópica maravilhosa
give it to poor people.
para dar aos pobres.
was the New York City school system,
era o sistema escolar de Nova Iorque,
more than a million students at a time,
mais de 1 milhão de alunos de cada vez,
that are in disrepair,
por vezes, degradados,
precisavam de uma renovação.
that could use a renovation.
to improve these buildings in some way,
de algum modo estes edifícios,
too expensive and impractical.
dispendioso e impraticável.
what one room they could go into
que espaço poderiam intervencionar
no maior número de edifícios possível,
in as many buildings that they could,
the lives of the children inside
as vidas das crianças no seu interior
was the school library,
foi a biblioteca escolar,
called the Library Initiative.
a Iniciativa da Biblioteca.
have to pass through the library.
pela biblioteca.
and soul of the school is.
se encontram.
where they brought in
depois mais arquitetos,
to rethink what a library was.
uma biblioteca para a repensarem.
através da melhoria das bibliotecas.
by improving these libraries.
"Could you make a little contribution?"
"Pode fazer uma pequena contribuição?"
que eu faça?"
to be the graphic designer
o 'designer' gráfico
Quer dizer que vou desenhar um logótipo.
That means I get to design a logo.
Eu crio logótipos.
vêm ter comigo.
um logótipo para isto.
compared with architecture
em comparação com a arquitetura
and then you're out,
e depois estás livre,
contigo mesmo."
good about myself when I do these favors.
bem a fazer estes favores.
all based on this one idea.
todos baseados numa só ideia.
pick any of the three.
podem escolher qualquer uma.
these would be new school libraries
fossem novas bibliotecas escolares
a new idea that needs a new name.
uma ideia nova a precisar de um novo nome.
that these were musty old libraries,
de bibliotecas velhas e bolorentas,
that everyone is bored with,
onde toda a gente se aborrece.
com a biblioteca dos avós.
do talk, do make loud noises.
se pode conversar e fazer barulho.
it's like a shush-free zone.
é uma zona livre de "chius".
OK, option number two.
esperem...
Meet you after school down at OWL.
Vejo-te depois das aulas no "OWL".
Now, what does OWL stand for?
O que quer dizer "OWL"?
[Abram. Maravilhem-se. Aprendam.]
could figure out other things it could be
podem imaginar outras coisas
It's like the eye of the owl.
É como o olho de um mocho.
was based actually on language.
foi baseada na linguagem.
is the past tense of "read,"
é o passado de "read"[leio, lê],
this place The Red Zone?
a este lugar "A Zona Red"?
na ideia de os bibliotecários,
interested in spelling and I don't know.
por escrever bem e... não sei.
is more important than spelling,
é mais importante do que soletrar,
one of those instances.
quando faço estas apresentações,
e a pergunta deve ser:
and the question should be,
a pergunta era mais, tipo:
the question was more like,
with old libraries, musty old libraries.
antigas bibliotecas, velhas e bolorentas.
have never really seen a library.
nunca viram realmente uma biblioteca.
if they're there at all,
se é que existem de todo,
to bore anyone at all.
quem quer que fosse.
about giving it a new name.
uma biblioteca.
"Ok, vamos dar-lhe o fator 'Uau'?
the Library Initiative.
there's your logo.
eis o vosso logótipo".
an unintended consequence,
uma consequência não intencionada,
they didn't really even need my design
do meu trabalho,
em qualquer tipo de fonte, à mão.
you could write it by hand,
sending emails around,
just right out of the thing.
a partir daí.
esse logótipo".
on the real rollout of this thing --
na verdadeira implantação disto
of their own library. Right?
da biblioteca deles.
with different architects.
Now these architects were my client.
Agora, eram os arquitetos.
Put it on the door."
Ponham-no na porta."
Put it off to the side."
repeated all over to the top."
repetido em cima a toda a largura."
"Here's your logo. Here's your logo."
"Aqui está o vosso logótipo."
de um dos arquitetos,
from one of the architects,
que disse: "Tenho um problema.
and he says, "I've got a problem.
Can you solve it?"
Consegue resolvê-lo?"
that there's a space
um espaço entre a prateleira e o teto."
an architectural issue to me,
por isso, disse: "Continue."
so I'm, "Go on."
the top shelf has to be low enough
deve ser suficientemente baixa
and the ceilings are really high,
e os tetos são realmente altos,
all this space up there
aqui em cima
you know, I'm a logo designer.
um 'designer' de logótipos.
think of anything?"
em alguma coisa?"
took pictures of the kids in the school
dos miúdos da escola
the top of the thing,
"Dorothy, não há orçamento,
in east New York, take these pictures?"
Leste, tirar umas fotos?
of, like, the heroes of the school,
dos heróis da escola,
a olhar para baixo,
of the real library, right?
que a biblioteca é.
hand-selected by the principals
selecionados pelos diretores
this heroic atmosphere in this library,
nesta biblioteca,
and the joy of the children above.
e a alegria das crianças por cima.
in the other schools see this
os bibliotecários das outras escolas
"Nós também queremos murais".
it can't be the same mural every time,
o mesmo mural.
and then she did another one,
depois fez um outro,
named Lynn Pauley,
chamado Lynn Pauley
paintings of the kids.
das crianças.
at a place called Automatic Design.
da empresa Automatic Design.
para fazer estas lindas silhuetas.
asking for words,
pedindo-lhes palavras,
delirious kind of constellation
of things that are in books.
about their favorite books
as a frieze up there.
num friso ali em cima.
com Yuko Shimizu
manga-style statement,
em estilo manga:
é interessante",
um ilustrador brilhante,
into the faces and characters
nos rostos e personagens
that you find in the books.
que se podem encontrar em livros.
of objects and words
de objetos e palavras
and will fascinate students
que fascinará os alunos
a series of dimensions to these artists,
de dimensões para estes artistas,
se tiver algum problema com isso."
any problem with that."
It just was the greatest thing.
Foi a melhor coisa.
made of construction paper,
feito de cartolina, a dizer:
a inauguração da nossa nova biblioteca."
to the opening of our new library."
por exemplo a PS10,
say, you'd go to PS10,
there'd be a student ambassador,
para a inauguração,
specifically for the opening,
com certificados,
with certificates,
delirantemente divertida.
was just a delirious, fun party.
obviamente sem pertencer ali,
obviously not belonging,
"What are you doing here, mister?"
"Senhor, o que está aqui a fazer?"
que desenhou este lugar."
that designed this place."
"You took the pictures up above."
As letras por cima da porta?
The sign over the door?"
"OK. Nice work if you can get it."
para quem o consegue."
going to these little openings
ir a estas pequenas inaugurações
kind of largely ignored or humiliated,
ignorado ou humilhado,
ir a estas inaugurações,
going to the openings,
as pessoas no meu escritório
to get the people in my office
get the illustrators and photographers,
levar os ilustradores e fotógrafos,
uma carrinha
the five boroughs of New York
os cinco distritos de Nova Iorque
conseguimos ver de uma só vez.
going to be 60 of these libraries,
eram para ser 60 destas bibliotecas,
maybe half a dozen in one long day.
ver meia dúzia num longo dia.
was meeting these librarians
os bibliotecários
tomaram posse destes lugares
took possession of these places
upon which they were invited
para os quais eram convidados
and bring the books to life,
e a trazer os livros à vida.
this really exciting experience
realmente excitante
ver estas coisas em ação.
see these things in action.
because it got dark early,
porque escureceu cedo,
Tive muito gosto em vos receber aqui.
So really nice having you here.
how I turn off the lights?"
Querem ver como apago as luzes?"
"Tenho uma forma especial de o fazer."
this special way that I do it."
uma a uma, uma a uma,
every light one by one by one by one,
os rostos dos miúdos,
the kids' faces,
I turn off every night,
todas as noites,
a razão por que venho trabalhar."
why I come to work."
lembram-se?
about designing that logo
aquele logótipo
arranjar um novo nome?
the experience to that extent,
mas não consigo.
que via diante de mim ao alcance da mão.
as far as I could reach with my own hands.
the chain of consequences
could do her work really well.
pudesse fazer o seu trabalho muito bem.
are affected by these libraries.
são afetados por estas bibliotecas.
há mais de dez anos.
for more than 10 years now,
uma geração de crianças para os livros,
a generation of children to books
are the best consequences.
não intencionadas
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Michael Bierut - Designer, criticMichael 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.
Michael Bierut | Speaker | TED.com