Soulellis Studio

Today's Creative Morning was a treat. Liz Danzico hosted and the virtual guest was Swiss Miss herself with newborn Swiss Mister. Allan Chochinov of Core77 was the guest speaker and he kept it short and sweet with a song and a talk.

The song was "There A Hole in My Bucket" and Allan dedicated it to the virtual guests. Who knew that this song traces back to 1700, from a German collection of songs Bergliederbüchlein as a dialogue between an un-named man and a woman named Liese? Thanks to Wikipedia we find out that later versions were called "Heinrich und Liese" and credited as a folk song from Hesse.

Allan used the song as a metaphor for the design problem. A "cascading sequence of contingencies and consequences." Who is the user? Is it @henry? We might call the bucket a container, or a vessel. We might say that the bucket is "a liquid containment and conveyance system."

So what exactly does Henry need? What is the context? What about ergonomics? Ethnographics? And what about that relationship between Henry and Liza? Maybe "the bucket is the last thing we should be worried about."

All important questions we ask when confronted with the design problem.

The client brief: "There's a hole in our bucket!" Allan showed typical designer responses:

In the end Allan called out for sustainable design: maybe all we need to do is re-imagine the good old-fashioned bucket. The old wooden one that's been engineered to last forever. Sure it's got a hole, but maybe the solution is right in front of us and needs rethinking (he showed great examples: the hippo water roller and the GRIP rake by Scott Henderson). Sometimes as designers our instinct is to add more design, more solution — stacked up solutions that are conceived as a patching together of more and more design. Perhaps we need less "might do," less "can do," and more "ought to do."

A thoughtful, important message for a snowed-in morning.

Just came from a brilliant short talk by Pentagram partner Michael Bierut at the SwissMiss Creative Mornings. His slides were great and so very tweetable (on purpose?) — short summary statements in giant type that filled the screen.

The topic was clients.

I was going to tweet during the talk. But because the bits really add up to a good story and a very specific philosophy about the client/designer relationship, I think it's worth presenting them all together. So here they are. It's some of the best designer advice I've ever heard and I want to share it, but I'm also putting the quotes right here on Soulellis.com so I can come back and read them over and over again. Every day.

Michael Bierut talks about clients.

• Clients can be the best part of the design process.


• Clients are the difference between art and design.


• My clients are the same as yours.


• The right client can change anything.


• The best clients love design, or don't give a damn about it. (i.e., they have confidence)


• The worst clients are somewhere in between. (i.e., they have fear)


• Never talk about "educating the client."


• What makes a great client? Brains, passion, trust and courage.


• "You'll never go wrong when you work with someone smarter than you." (Tibor Kalman)


• Warning: Your great client may not be my great client.


• Great clients lead to more great clients (and more great work).


• Bad clients lead to more bad clients (and more bad work).


• Bad clients take up more of your time than they should.


• Meanwhile, we take great clients for granted.


• The trick is to reverse this.


• What do I owe a great client? Loyalty, honesty, dedication and tenacity.


• Once you find a great client, never let them go.


• If you can find five great clients, you're set for life.


• "You'd better find somebody to love." (Jefferson Airplane)


• Good luck.

Why not — let's call them Bierut-isms.

I can honestly say that I also share Mr. Bierut's love of the designer/client relationship (point #1) and that I've learned many of these lessons the hard (and enjoyable) way during the last 15 years. It's immensely satisfying to hear it reinforced in such a clear way by someone you have respect for and someone who's been at it for awhile.

Mr. Bierut ended his talk by saying that he was very lucky — he could name not just five but ten great clients in his career so far ("These people are why you've heard of me..."). Moving and inspiring to hear work so closely associated with the designer dedicated to the people who made it possible. He mentioned Fern Mallis (7th on Sixth), the architect Robert Stern, Terron Schaefer (Saks), Laura Shore (Mohawk Paper), Chee Pearlman (I.D. Mag), David Thurm (New York Times), Christy MaClear (Philip Johnson Glass House) and others. Proof that design is best when it's a collaborative effort.