“None of us has really the ability to
understand our path until it’s over,” the celebrated graphic designer Milton Glaser (RIP) muses in one of his interviews.
1. YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE
Some years ago I realized that… all the work I had done that was
meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a
client.
2. IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB
Here, Glaser quotes composer John Cage : Never have a job, because if
you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be
unprepared for your old age.
3. SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
Glaser recommends putting a questionable companion to a gestalt
therapy test. If, after spending time with that person “you are more tired, then you have been
poisoned. If you have more energy, you have been nourished. The test is
almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your
life.”
4. PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH (or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF
THE GREAT)
Glaser concedes that a record of dependable excellence is
something to look for in a brain surgeon or auto mechanic, but for those in the
arts, “continuous transgression” is the quality
to cultivate. Professionalism
does not allow for that because transgression has to encompass the possibility
of failure and if you are professional your instinct is not to fail, it is to
repeat success.
5. LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE
I have an alternative to the proposition that I believe is more
appropriate. ‘Just enough is more.’
6. STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED
Style change is usually linked to economic factors, as all of
you know who have read Marx. Also fatigue occurs when people see too much
of the same thing too often.
7. HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN
The brain is the most responsive organ of the body…. Thought
changes our life and our behavior. I also believe that drawing works in
the same way…. Drawing also makes you attentive. It makes you pay attention to
what you are looking at, which is not so easy.
8. DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY
One of the signs of a damaged ego is absolute certainty. Schools
encourage the idea of not compromising and defending your work at all costs.
Well, the issue at work is usually all about the nature of compromise….
Ideally, making everyone win through acts of accommodation is desirable.
9. IT DOESN’T MATTER
Glaser credits essayist Roger Rosenblatt’s
Rules for Aging (misidentifying the title as Aging Gracefully) with helping him articulate
his philosophy here. It doesn’t matter what you think. It does not
matter if you are late or early, if you are here or there, if you said it or
didn’t say it, if you are clever or if you were stupid. If you were having a
bad hair day or a no hair day or if your boss looks at you cockeyed or your
boyfriend or girlfriend looks at you cockeyed, if you are cockeyed. If you
don’t get that promotion or prize or house or if you do – it doesn’t matter.
10. TELL THE TRUTH
It’s interesting to observe that in the new AIGA’s code of
ethics there is a significant amount of useful information about appropriate
behavior towards clients and other designers, but not a word about a designer’s
relationship to the public. If we were licensed, telling the truth
might become more central to what we do.
Ayun Halliday is an author, illustrator, theater maker and Chief Primatologist.
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