Michael Bierut

Michael Bierut (born 1957) is a graphic designer, design critic and educator, who has been a partner at design firm Pentagram since 1990. He designed the logo for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

Early life and education Michael Bierut was born in 1957 in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother Anne Marie was a housewife, and his father worked in printing press sales. His family lived in Garfield Heights and he attended Saturday morning classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art where he developed his drawing skills. The family moved to the suburb Parma in 1967, and he attended Normandy High School, graduating in 1975.

In the ninth grade, Bierut created his first poster for a school play and came to a realization that he wanted to create things with purpose. He worked at the studio for 10 years, eventually becoming vice president.

Prior to the 2016 Presidential election, he worked with Pentagram designer Jesse Reed to create the logo for Hillary Clinton's campaign, emphasizing its simplicity and boldness to make it memorable. Upon the release of the design, many designers, journalists, and constituents were critical of it but as the campaign released its customizable aspects it was better received, like after the landmark LGBT civil rights case Obergefell v. Hodges it was swathed in rainbow colors.

Bierut and his team at Pentagram collaborated with Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects to create a typographic architectural installation at the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Entitled You Are America, the artwork, wrapping two sides of the building, renders an excerpt from Obama's 2015 Selma speech in five-foot-tall concrete letters made using a customized version of Gotham, Obama’s presidential campaign font. Design commentary In 1993, he became a lecturer in graphic design at the Yale School of Art and was later appointed senior critic. In 2016, he joined the Yale School of Management to integrate design thinking into the program.

In 2003, Bierut co-founded Design Observer with Jessica Helfand, Rick Poynor, and William Drenttel, an online publication featuring news, features, and essays on design, urbanism, innovation and pop culture.

Awards and achievements Bierut's work is held in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington, DC; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA); Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Montreal, Canada;

From 1988 to 1990, Michael Bierut served as president of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and was president of AIGA National from 1998 to 2001. He is presently serving as vice president of the Architectural League of New York and previously served on the board of New Yorkers for Parks.

Bierut in 1989 was elected to the Alliance Graphique Internationale, and in 2003, he was named to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. He received highest honor in the profession in 2006, the AIGA Medal, which recognized his illustrious achievements and contributions to the field.

Books Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design (2007, Princeton Architectural Press; ) How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things, Explain Things, Make Things Look Better, Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and (Every Once in a While) Change the World (2015, Harper Design; ) Now You See It and Other Essays on Design (2017, Princeton Architectural Press; ) Culture Is Not Always Popular: Fifteen Years of Design Observer (co-edited with Jessica Helfand, 2019, The MIT Press; ) How to Revised and Expanded Edition (2021, Harper; ) Personal life Bierut resides in Tarrytown, New York.