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Photo by Wally Gobetz

1. The Lazy Designer’s Guide to Success

Pentagram’s Michael Bierut offers seven ways designers can work smarter, not harder.

#4. Do as you’re told.
Simply following the client’s instructions will yield wonders. For Bierut – who likes limitations – creating the gargantuan sign for Renzo Piano’s New York Times building was fairly straightforward. The Times Square Alliance mandates that all buildings in the neighbourhood feature bright, large signage, to “keep Times Square looking like Times Square,” says Bierut. (He adds that, for Piano, hearing the words large-sign-stuck-on-your-building must have been, “like, the biggest 6-word, ‘F— you, architect’.”) And so, the almost 6 meter-tall logo was chopped into 893 pieces and applied to Piano’s ceramic rod façade.

2. Parkinson’s Law of Triviality

Why do some clients drive designers crazy with uninformed and unwise changes? Parkinson’s Law may explain.

A nuclear reactor… is so vastly expensive and complicated that average people cannot understand it, so they assume that those working on it understand it. Even those with strong opinions often withhold them for fear of being shown to be insufficiently informed. On the other hand, everyone understands a bicycle shed (or thinks he or she does), so building one can result in endless discussions because everyone involved wants to add his or her touch and show that they have contributed.

((Hat-tip to Josh Steverman and Luca Jarmin, UM School of Information))

3. The Great Unknowns of Credit Card Bills

NYT’s Your Money shares another less-than-ethical practice of some credit card companies: statement envelopes designed to look like junk mail.

1. Customers throw them away. 2. Customers incur late fees 3. Company profits.

4. The GOOD Guide to Buckminster Fuller

“Fuller was a global thinker and futurist before we knew we needed global thinking and future visions.”

I ? Bucky Fuller. If you’re unfamiliar, or just want to be reminded how awesome he is, this GOOD series is worth your time.