So there's this thing called the law of unintended consequences. I thought it was just like a saying, but it actually exists, I guess. There's, like, academic papers about it. And I'm a designer. I don't like unintended consequences. People hire me because they have consequences that they really intend, and what they intend is for me to help them achieve those consequences. So I live in fear of unintended consequences. And so this is a story about consequences intended and unintended.
有樣嘢叫做意外結果定律 我以為佢係個傳說 其實,佢真係存在 仲有人寫關於佢嘅學術論文 我係個設計師 我唔鍾意意外嘅結果 啲客戶請我 因為佢哋要喺控制範圍以內 達到佢哋要嘅嘅效果 所以我好怕失控 同意外嘅結果 呢個故事係關於 預期同意外嘅效果
I got called by an organization called Robin Hood to do a favor for them. Robin Hood is based in New York, a wonderful philanthropic organization that does what it says in the name. They take from rich people, give it to poor people. In this case, what they wanted to benefit was the New York City school system, a huge enterprise that educates more than a million students at a time, and in buildings that are like this one, old buildings, big buildings, drafty buildings, sometimes buildings that are in disrepair, certainly buildings that could use a renovation. Robin Hood had this ambition to improve these buildings in some way, but what they realized was to fix the buildings would be too expensive and impractical. So instead they tried to figure out what one room they could go into in each of these buildings, in as many buildings that they could, and fix that one room so that they could improve the lives of the children inside as they were studying. And what they came up with was the school library, and they came up with this idea called the Library Initiative. All the students have to pass through the library. That's where the books are. That's where the heart and soul of the school is. So let's fix these libraries.
有個叫羅賓漢嘅機構揾到我 叫我幫手 羅賓漢,如同其名 係一個喺紐約嘅好正嘅慈善機構 佢哋摞富濟貧 今次,佢哋想幫助紐約嘅公立學校系統 一個每年負責教育 過百萬嘅學生嘅龐大嘅機構 啲教學樓就係噉樣 又大又舊 漏風,年久失修 好需要修理 羅賓漢嘅本意係想改善下哋樓房 但係佢哋意識到 成棟樓咁修不但止貴,而且唔現實 所以,佢哋諗不如 每棟樓翻修一間房 盡量多整幾棟樓 咁樣,佢哋可以改善 啲細路嘅學習環境 於是,佢哋決定翻修每個學校嘅圖書館 就係「圖書館計劃」 所有學生都去過圖書館 一個有好多書嘅地方 係學校嘅心臟同靈魂所在 好,我哋去翻新圖書館喇
So they did this wonderful thing where they brought in first 10, then 20, then more architects, each one of whom was assigned a library to rethink what a library was. They trained special librarians. So they started this mighty enterprise to reform public schools by improving these libraries. Then they called me up and they said, "Could you make a little contribution?" I said, "Sure, what do you want me to do?" And they said, "Well, we want you to be the graphic designer in charge of the whole thing." And so I thought, I know what that means. That means I get to design a logo. I know how to design that. I design logos. That's what people come to me for. So OK, let's design a logo for this thing. Easy to do, actually, compared with architecture and being a librarian. Just do a logo, make a contribution, and then you're out, and you feel really good about yourself. And I'm a great guy and I like to feel good about myself when I do these favors.
佢哋嘅計劃好正,請咗十,二十 然後更多嘅建築師嚟 一人重新設計一個圖書館 佢哋仲培訓特殊嘅圖書管理員 成個事業好宏大 改革公立學校,從圖書館做起 佢揾到我,問:「可唔可以幫手?」 我話:「冇問題,你要我做咩?」 佢哋話:「呃,我哋要你 做成個平面設計嘅總監。」 我就諗 收到,設計一個標誌 我知掂做,我做呢行嘅 人哋就係揾我做呢個嘅 好,設計標誌 其容易過起建築 或者管理圖書館 設計完個標誌,我就走得 仲好有自豪感 我係個好人,幫到人時我好高興
So I thought, let's overdeliver. I'm going to give you three logos, all based on this one idea. So you have three options, pick any of the three. They're all great, I said. So the basic idea was these would be new school libraries for New York schools, and so the idea is that it's a new thing, a new idea that needs a new name. What I wanted to do was dispel the idea that these were musty old libraries, the kind of places that everyone is bored with, you know, not your grandparents' library. Don't worry about that at all. This is going to this new, exciting thing, not a boring library.
我諗,不如超越客戶要求 一個理念,三個標誌 任你揀 我同啲客仔講,個個設計都好正 基本理念係 為紐約嘅學校設計嘅 新嘅學校圖書館 新生事物,就要有個新名 我唔想啲人認為 係圖書館都又老又舊 睇到都好悶嗰種 你知喇,老一脫人用嘅嗰種圖書館 完全唔係咁 呢個係一個令人振奮嘅新事物 唔係無聊嘅圖書館
So option number one: so instead of thinking of it as a library, think of it as a place where it is like: do talk, do make loud noises. Right? So no shushing, it's like a shush-free zone. We're going to call it the Reading Room.
所以,方案一: 唔好當呢個地方係圖書館 而當佢係自由傾偈 同發聲嘅地方 冇人可以噓你 呢個地方就叫閱讀室
That was option number one. OK, option number two. Option number two was, wait for it, OWL. I'll meet you at OWL. I'm getting my book from the OWL. Meet you after school down at OWL. I like that, right? Now, what does OWL stand for? Well, it could be One World Library, or it could be Open. Wonder. Learn. Or it could be -- and I figure librarians could figure out other things it could be because they know about words. So other things, right? And then look at this. It's like the eye of the owl. This is irresistible in my opinion.
然後第二個方案 睇住啦 OWL 我哋喺 OWL 見啦 我去 OWL 摞書 放學我喺 OWL 等你 我好鍾意呢個 OWL 係咩? 可以係 「一個世界圖書館「」嘅簡寫 亦可以解做開放 、好奇,同學習 其他解法就留畀啲圖書管理員諗喇 佢哋識咁多字 仲有咩? 佢似唔似隻貓頭鷹嘅眼? 我覺得你係冇辦法抗拒呢個設計
But there's even another idea. Option number three. Option number three was based actually on language. It's the idea that "read" is the past tense of "read," and they're both spelled the same way. So why don't we call this place The Red Zone? I'll meet you at the Red Zone. Are you Red? Get Red. I'm well Red.
仲有 方案三 其實係個文字遊戲 靈感來自英文 「閱讀」嘅現在式同過去式一樣嘅拼法 而「閱讀」嘅過去式又同「紅色」同音 不如叫圖書館做「紅區」? 喺「紅區」見喇 你「讀」咗未? 紅咯! 我好「紅」!
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I really loved this idea, and I somehow was not focused on the idea that librarians as a class are sort of interested in spelling and I don't know.
我好鍾意呢個諗法 但係我就冇考慮到 啲圖書管理員 其實都好肉緊啲拼同寫
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
But sometimes cleverness is more important than spelling, and I thought this would be one of those instances. So usually when I make these presentations I say there's just one question and the question should be, "How can I thank you, Mike?" But in this case, the question was more like, "Um, are you kidding?" Because, they said, the premise of all this work was that kids were bored with old libraries, musty old libraries. They were tired of them. And instead, they said, these kids have never really seen a library. The school libraries in these schools are really so dilapidated, if they're there at all, that they haven't bored anyone. They haven't even been there to bore anyone at all. So the idea was, just forget about giving it a new name. Just call it, one last try, a library. Right? OK. So I thought, OK, give it a little oomph? Exclamation point? Then -- this is because I'm clever -- move that into the "i," make it red, and there you have it, the Library Initiative. So I thought, mission accomplished, there's your logo. So what's interesting about this logo, an unintended consequence, was that it turned out that they didn't really even need my design because you could type it any font, you could write it by hand, and when they started sending emails around, they just would use Shift and 1, they'd get their own logo just right out of the thing. And I thought, well, that's fine. Feel free to use that logo. And then I embarked on the real rollout of this thing -- working with every one of the architects to put this logo on the front door of their own library. Right?
但係有時創意緊要過拼寫 好似宜家咁 我畀客戶睇我嘅設計時 通常客戶只有一個問題,就係: 「Mike,我要點多謝你先得?」 不過今次,個客嘅問題係: 「呃,你講笑啊?」 佢哋話 我嘅設計前提係 啲細路已經好厭呢啲 又老又舊嘅圖書館 但其實窮學校嘅細路從來都 未見過真正嘅圖書館 窮學校嘅圖書館 好舊好爛 有啲學校甚至冇圖書館 所以啲細路俾圖書館煩嘅機會都冇 所以,我冇需要起個新名 叫圖書館就得 係咁 於是我諗,得,不如加小小新意? 加個感嘆號? 然後,我幾鬼馬嘎 我將個「 i 」變成感嘆號 同變成紅色 搞掂:「圖書館計劃」 我諗,搞掂喇 呢個標誌嘅意外嘅效果 就係,根本唔使我嚟設計 電腦都可以打印,手寫又得 佢哋寫電郵時開始咁寫添 用 Shift 同 1 就打出嚟喇 我諗,都幾好 隨便用喇 然後就真係要推出呢個標誌 我同每一個建築師合作 將個標誌放喺個門度
So here's the big rollout. Basically I'd work with different architects. First Robin Hood was my client. Now these architects were my client. I'd say, "Here's your logo. Put it on the door." "Here's your logo. Put it on both doors." "Here's your logo. Put it off to the side." "Here's your logo repeated all over to the top." So everything was going swimmingly. I just was saying, "Here's your logo. Here's your logo."
先前,羅賓漢係我個客 宜家我同啲建築師合作 佢哋每一個都係我嘅客 我話: 「嗱, 畀你個標誌,放喺個門度。」 「畀你個標誌,一幢門一個。」 「摞住個標誌,放喺旁邊。」 「 畀個標誌你,喺上面放一排。」 做得好順利 我就話:「畀你個標誌你。」
Then I got a call from one of the architects, a guy named Richard Lewis, and he says, "I've got a problem. You're the graphics guy. Can you solve it?" And I said, OK, sure." And he said, "The problem is that there's a space between the shelf and the ceiling." So that sounds like an architectural issue to me, not a graphic design issue, so I'm, "Go on." And Richard says, "Well, the top shelf has to be low enough for the kid to reach it, but I'm in a big old building, and the ceilings are really high, so actually I've got all this space up there and I need something like a mural." And I'm like, "Whoa, you know, I'm a logo designer. I'm not Diego Rivera or something. I'm not a muralist." And so he said, "But can't you think of anything?" So I said, "OK, what if we just took pictures of the kids in the school and just put them around the top of the thing, and maybe that could work." And my wife is a photographer, and I said, "Dorothy, there's no budget, can you come to this school in east New York, take these pictures?" And she did, and if you go in Richard's library, which is one of the first that opened, it has this glorious frieze of, like, the heroes of the school, oversized, looking down into the little dollhouse of the real library, right? And the kids were great, hand-selected by the principals and the librarian. It just kind of created this heroic atmosphere in this library, this very dignified setting below and the joy of the children above.
然後有個叫理查 .劉易斯嘅建築師 打電話畀我:「我有個問題。 你係平面設計師 可唔可以幫手?」 我話:「好。」 佢話:「問題就係, 啲書櫃頂同天花板有啲空間。」 聽落好似個建築上嘅問題 唔係平面設計 嘅問題,我就話:「繼續講。」 理查話:「嗰啲書櫃唔可以起得太高, 太高嘅話,啲細路就摞唔到啲書。 我負責嘅大樓嘅天花板高, 所以書櫃同天花板之間就有好多空白。 我需要啲壁畫嚟填呢個空間。」 我話:「哇,我設計標誌嘅, 我唔係迭戈裡維拉, 壁畫我唔得啵。」 佢話:「咁你可唔可以幫手度下橋?」 我話:「不如影學生相, 將啲相放大,貼上個空間, 可能得。」 我太太係攝影師 我同佢講:「多羅西,我哋冇錢, 你可唔可以嚟呢間學校 幫手影相?」 佢去咗 宜家你去理查德嘅圖書館 佢是最早重新開放嘅圖書館之一 佢有好靚嘅雕帶 好似學校嘅大英雄 居高臨下 望住個圖書館 啲細路係校長 同圖書館長欽點嘅 使到個圖書館好有英雄氣氛 上邊莊重,下邊有細路嘅喜悅
So naturally all the other librarians in the other schools see this and they said, well, we want murals too. And I'm like, OK. So then I think, well, it can't be the same mural every time, so Dorothy did another one, and then she did another one, but then we needed more help, so I called an illustrator I knew named Lynn Pauley, and Lynn did these beautiful paintings of the kids. Then I called a guy named Charles Wilkin at a place called Automatic Design. He did these amazing collages. We had Rafael Esquer do these great silhouettes. He would work with the kids, asking for words, and then based on those prompts, come up with this little, delirious kind of constellation of silhouettes of things that are in books. Peter Arkle interviewed the kids and had them talk about their favorite books and he put their testimony as a frieze up there. Stefan Sagmeister worked with Yuko Shimizu and they did this amazing manga-style statement, "Everyone who is honest is interesting," that goes all the way around. Christoph Niemann, brilliant illustrator, did a whole series of things where he embedded books into the faces and characters and images and places that you find in the books. And then even Maira Kalman did this amazing cryptic installation of objects and words that kind of go all around and will fascinate students for as long as it's up there.
其他圖書館嘅館長 睇度呢個之後話 我哋都要壁畫 於是我話,冇問題 但係我又諗,啲壁畫個個一樣唔得 於是多羅西整個新嘅,又再整一個 我哋搞唔掂,需要揾人幫手 我打電話畀一個 叫 Lynn Pauley 嘅插圖家 佢畫嘅細蚊仔嘅畫好靚 我打電話畀 Automatic Design 嘅 Charles Wilkin 佢做咗啲令人嘆為觀止嘅拼圖 我哋請咗 Rafael Esquer 嚟做啲獨具一格嘅剪影 佢叫啲細蚊仔畀啲生字佢 然後以呢啲生字為基礎 增成代表書裡邊嘅事物嘅剪影 Peter Arkle 問啲細蚊仔 最鍾意睇咩書 然後將嗰啲書嘅封面整成雕帶 Stefan Sagmeister 同 Yuko Shimizu 合作 用漫畫風格寫: 「任何誠實嘅人都係有趣嘅」 然後整成環繞住成間房嘅雕帶 Christoph Niemann 一個才華橫溢嘅插圖家 做咗一個系列 將書嵌入書裡邊嘅場景 同人物面孔 仲有 Maira Kalman 整咗一個又神秘又迷人嘅 環繞住成個房間嘅 藝術作品
So this was really satisfying, and basically my role here was reading a series of dimensions to these artists, and I would say, "Three feet by 15 feet, whatever you want. Let me know if you have any problem with that." And they would go and install these. It just was the greatest thing.
呢啲作品嘅效果好令人滿意 我嘅職責就係 將啲尺寸畀啲藝術家 然後話: 「三尺乘十五尺,隨你點整。 你有咩問題就揾我。」 佢哋就開工。真係好正
But the greatest thing, actually, was -- Every once in a while, I'd get, like, an invitation in the mail made of construction paper, and it would say, "You are invited to the opening of our new library." So you'd go to the library, say, you'd go to PS10, and you'd go inside. There'd be balloons, there'd be a student ambassador, there'd be speeches that were read, poetry that was written specifically for the opening, dignitaries would present people with certificates, and the whole thing was just a delirious, fun party. So I loved going to these things. I would stand there dressed like this, obviously not belonging, and someone would say, "What are you doing here, mister?" And I'd say, "Well, I'm part of the team that designed this place." And they'd said, "You do these shelves?" And I said, "No." "You took the pictures up above." "No." "Well, what did you do?" "You know when you came in? The sign over the door?" "The sign that says library?"
最正嘅係 間中 我會收到繪畫紙做嘅請柬 請我參加某個圖書館 譬如,PS10 圖書館,嘅開放典禮 去到嗰度 裡面有氣球,有學生大使 有演講 有贈興詩 有重要人物發獎狀 直程成個好開心同瘋狂嘅派對 我好鍾意去呢種派對 我會著成咁,企起度,格格不入 有人會問我:「先生,你嚟做咩?」 我會話:「我係設計團隊嘅成員。」 佢哋問:「你設計咗啲書櫃?」 「唔係。」 「你影咗牆上邊嘅相?」 「唔係。」 「咁你做咗咩?」 「你入嚟時有冇睇到門上邊嘅標誌?」 「圖書館嗰幾只字?」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
"Yeah, I did that!" And then they'd sort of go, "OK. Nice work if you can get it." So it was so satisfying going to these little openings despite the fact that I was kind of largely ignored or humiliated, but it was actually fun going to the openings, so I decided that I wanted to get the people in my office who had worked on these projects, get the illustrators and photographers, and I said, why don't we rent a van and drive around the five boroughs of New York and see how many we could hit at one time. And eventually there were going to be 60 of these libraries, so we probably got to see maybe half a dozen in one long day. And the best thing of all was meeting these librarians who kind of were running these, took possession of these places like their private stage upon which they were invited to mesmerize their students and bring the books to life, and it was just this really exciting experience for all of us to actually see these things in action. So we spent a long day doing this and we were in the very last library. It was still winter, because it got dark early, and the librarian says, "I'm about to close down. So really nice having you here. Hey, wait a second, do you want to see how I turn off the lights?" I'm like, "OK." And she said, "I have this special way that I do it." And then she showed me. What she did was she turned out every light one by one by one by one, and the last light she left on was the light that illuminated the kids' faces, and she said, "That's the last light I turn off every night, because I like to remind myself why I come to work."
「係啊。係我整嘅!」 佢哋會話:「 咁都得。」 總之,圖書館嘅開放儀式令我好滿足 就算冇人理我,就算我俾人笑 真係好好玩 於是乎,我將參加過呢個計劃嘅 插圖家、攝影師叫嚟 我話,不如租架大車 橫穿喺紐約五個區 睇下我哋一次可以去到幾個圖書館 計劃結束時有 60 個咁樣嘅圖書館 我哋一日可能睇到半打 最好嘅係,我哋會見到啲圖書管理員 佢哋係圖書館真正嘅主人 喺佢哋嘅私人舞台上 佢哋使書本有生命 使學生著迷 我好激動能夠親眼睇到 佢哋做嘅工作 我哋用咗成日從一個個圖書館咁參觀 到咗最尾嗰個圖書館 嗰時仲係冬天,天黑得好快 個圖書管理員話: 「我要閂門喇。 好高興你哋嚟探我。 你要唔要睇我熄燈?」 我話:「好啊。」 佢話:「我有一套特殊嘅程序。」 佢整畀我睇 佢先將其他燈一盞一盞咁熄曬 細路壁畫嘅燈留到最後 佢話:「我晚晚最尾熄呢盞燈, 因為我想提醒自己 嚟返工嘅理由。」
So when I started this whole thing, remember, it was just about designing that logo and being clever, come up with a new name? The unintended consequence here, which I would like to take credit for and like to think I can think through the experience to that extent, but I can't. I was just focused on a foot ahead of me, as far as I could reach with my own hands. Instead, way off in the distance was a librarian who was going to find the chain of consequences that we had set in motion, a source of inspiration so that she in this case could do her work really well. 40,000 kids a year are affected by these libraries. They've been happening for more than 10 years now, so those librarians have kind of turned on a generation of children to books and so it's been a thrill to find out that sometimes unintended consequences are the best consequences.
我開始做呢個項目時 就淨係諗住設計個標誌 耍啲小聰明,起個新名 我想話,啲意外嘅效果 我想認係我嘅功勞 係我深思熟慮之後嘅結果 但係我唔可以 我其實就係見步行步 殊不知,我哋做嘅嘢 會一件事連一件事咁 影響好多人同事 喺好耐以後,間接咁 畀一個圖書管理員 靈感同動力 呢啲圖書館每年影響四萬個細路 已經影響咗十年,啲圖書管理員 已經使一代嘅細路鍾意上讀書 令人激動嘅係 有時意外嘅效果係最好嘅結果
Thank you very much.
多謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)