Review: How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer

I have to admit: I don’t follow the latest in graphic design, and don’t know many of the big names in the field. So a lot of the people Debbie Millman interviews in How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer were new to me, but no matter; they are fascinating interviews nonetheless.

In fact, there’s not much to say about this book except it is filled with nuggets of wisdom from leaders in the graphic design field, some of my personal favorites I’m quoting below:

“I don’t think design involves that much creativity. It involves creativity in the way doing a crossword puzzle involves creativity. You need some imagination and knowledge. I think of artists as creative because they have to invent something out of nothing. I think designers design because they can’t invent something out of nothing.” Michael Bierut

“I found a particular path: To continually discard a lot of the things I knew how to do in favor of finding out what I didn’t. I think this is the way you stay alive professionally.” Milton Glaser

“We’re often not making things better, we’re just making things different.” Peter Saville (as a criticism)

“I think designers who aren’t selfish do really awful work. I think there needs to be a motivation at the core of the work. There needs to be a motivation for the designer to go beyond the point where most people would stop.” Paul Sahre

“I interview the clients. I’ve got to understand what the problem is from their point of view. And then you have to not believe them.” Stephen Doyle

“Design is a way into learning about, supporting, improving, and magnifying the world.” Abbott Miller

“I am convinced the solution is always in the problem.” Massimo Vignelli

One thing that was nice to read was that all of these designers, no matter how experienced, no matter how successful, all battle self-doubt and fight to remain relevant. If you enjoy reading about the passions and philosophies of creative people, I recommend this book.

On a personal note, I was surprised to find that two of the interviewed designers (Jessica Helfand and Steff Geisbuhler) are both cellists like me. Wonder if there is some sort of cello-design connection?

This was written by Dan Saffer. Posted on Sunday, December 28, 2008, at 10:45 pm. Filed under Book Reviews, Inspiration, Visual Design. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Post a comment or leave a trackback.