Steven Heller Interview…

Evidently Steven Heller lives in a world where there are somewhere closer to 30 or 40 hours in a day. Steven has written far more books about graphic design than there are states in the union. (No joke—90+!!!) And by the time you factor in all of the countless periodicals (such as Eye, Print, I.D. Magazine, etc…) that publish his essays and critiques, he’s smithed more words than Shakespeare. He does all of this while working full-time as the Senior Art Director for the New York Times Book Review and co-chairing a graduate program at the School of Visual Arts. (There’s even a ton more than this too: blogs, AIGA Journal of Graphic Design, forewards, afterwards—the list doesn’t end.)

To quote Paula Scher: “Steven Heller has been graphic design’s biggest fan…For any question asked of him, he responds with twenty ideas, and if those aren’t the right ones, he finds another twenty.”

Thankfully, the same can be said for his interview here.

TOBIAS:
What is graphic design? How would you define it?

STEVEN:
Hmmm. I figured some day I would have to answer this question. Graphic design is the strategic and aesthetic management of type and image on a page or screen for the purpose of conveying a story or message. Technically speaking it is a problem solving process that takes disparate elements and ideas and makes them unified. I guess in this day and age its also making electronic mechanicals, pity.

TOBIAS:
Who in your opinion is making good design work right now?

STEVEN:
There are really too many to name. So I won't. But I will say that the mundane level has risen to where you might call it "good" and the next highest level is extraordinary. So what is extraordinary? That which transcends the cliches that make everything else mundane. I wish I were in that camp.

TOBIAS:
Who are your design heroes?

STEVEN:
They vary. In a couple of my books I've written about W.A. Dwiggins - the guy was a renaissance man and über skilled craftsman - from calligraphy to puppetry. Its hard to name one "hero." In fact, it’s easier to name heroes outside one's own field. Bob Dylan was and is my hero. The problem with hero worship, especially in your own field, is meeting them. I don't mean to say they routinely fall from the pedestal, but most are human with faults that you don't see when all you know is their work. So let's just say, there are many designers who I admire, and of these quite a few who have inspired me. But I guess the person who inspires me the most is my wife, Louise Fili, who is a true master of her craft.

TOBIAS:
What (book/magazine/blog/whatever…) should every graphic designer read?

STEVEN:
Well, that's another tall order. But the book I recommend year after year to my students is Ben Shahn's "The Shape of Content," because it is the clearest explanation of what goes through an artist's mind I've ever read. I have underlined it up the wazoo, and I still draw inspiration from it. BUT its not an "inspirational" book in the bullshit/artifice sense of term.

There are lots of books on graphic design and popular culture, including my own, that I hope designers will read. But I like the broader stroke books. I'm currently reading Helmut Lehmann-Haupt's "Art Under a Dictatorship" and there is a lot in this over 50 year-old volume that relates to current U.S.A.

TOBIAS:
What advice do you have for design students and design educators?

STEVEN:
Be design literate - not at the exclusion of other literacies, but certainly know everything you can about the art and craft you are practicing. By the way, every Friday I give a design/culture seminar and my favorite part is talking with and listening to the students; so my other bromide is to "stay open" to the younger crowd.

TOBIAS:
Do you think designers will hold a different place in our culture in the future? If yes; in what ways?

STEVEN:
Its all up to individuals not groups. Mike Mills just directed his first feature film. He started as a graphic designer but now he holds a different place in the culture. This doesn't mean all graphic designers will be filmmakers or ambassadors to Columbia (as was Thomas Nast). So, I don't know about the future, but I do know that no one has to be a graphic designer all their life if they want to do something else, but graphic design is a great language to apply to other things.

Thanks to Steven for responding.

School of Visual Arts
AIGA Voice