Wallpaper*’s Ali Morris recently interviewed Michael Bierut about his four decades of design experience. The interview covers everything from Bierut’s first day in New York as a young designer to his advice for those who are just starting out in the industry.
Morris writes:
Seth’s Blog is where author and marketing strategist Seth Godin shares his wisdom and musings with the internet. In a blog post titled ‘The myth of quick’, he explores why faster isn’t usually better, and why the best work takes time.
In his day job, The Wizard of Oz sold hokum. Patent medicines guaranteed to cure what ailed you. And none of them worked.
Deep within each of us is the yearning for the pill, the neck crack, the organizational re-do that will fix everything.
It’s true that quick fixes are now more sought after than ever before. Social media is full of life hacks, shortcuts, and cheat codes that promise to make us more productive, and give us more hours in the day—but how often do these timesavers follow through on their claims?
Sometimes, once in a very rare while, there actually is a stone in our shoe, easy to remove. And this rare occurrence serves to encourage our dreams that all of our problems have such a simple diagnosis and an even simpler remedy.
The reality is that most problems will take some time to solve. Taking shortcuts often leads to more work in the future: things that have not been done properly will have to be re-done, involving more time, more money, and more stress than if we’d taken the long road in the first place.
The truth is that good results take time:
Culture takes years to create and years to change.
Illnesses rarely respond in days to a treatment.
Organizations that are drowning need to learn to swim.
Habits beat interventions every time.
In order to make sure we don’t get taken in by cheap and poor quality remedies, Godin advises a common sense approach:
Avoid the crash diet.
Fear the stock that’s a sure thing to double overnight.
Be skeptical of a new technology that’s surely revolutionary.
Walk away from a consultant who can transform your organization in one fell swoop.
Your project (and your health) is too valuable to depend on lottery tickets.
The same is true for your brand. As a creative agency, we know first-hand the pitfalls that come with extremely tight project deadlines. We take care with everything we do, and we’ll always make sure we allot adequate time to the projects we undertake for our clients, advising where more is needed.
