How to design a library that makes kids want to read | Michael Bierut

Translator: Katharina Bille Reviewer: Sune Vilsted Østergaard

So there's this thing called the law of unintended consequences.

Der er noget der hedder loven om utilsigtede konsekvenser.

I thought it was just like a saying,

Jeg troede, det kun var et ordsprog,

but it actually exists, I guess.

men det eksisterer faktisk

There's, like, academic papers about it.

Der er akademiske artikler om det.

And I'm a designer.

Og jeg er en designer.

I don't like unintended consequences.

Jeg kan ikke lide utilsigtede konsekvenser.

People hire me because they have consequences that they really intend,

Folk hyrer mig fordi de vil have konsekvenser de virkelig tilsigter,

and what they intend is for me to help them achieve those consequences.

og de regner med at jeg kan hjælpe dem med at opnå de konsekvenser

So I live in fear of unintended consequences.

Så jeg lever i frygt for utilsigtede konsekvenser.

And so this is a story about consequences intended and unintended.

Så det her er en historie om både tilsigtede og utilsigtede konsekvenser.

I got called by an organization called Robin Hood

Jeg blev ringet op af organisationen Robin Hood

to do a favor for them.

for at gøre dem en tjeneste.

Robin Hood is based in New York, a wonderful philanthropic organization

Robin Hood ligger i New York, en skøn filantropisk organisation.

that does what it says in the name.

De gør, hvad navnet siger.

They take from rich people, give it to poor people.

De tager fra de rige og giver til de fattige.

In this case, what they wanted to benefit was the New York City school system,

I dette tilfælde ville de gerne give til skolesystemet i New York,

a huge enterprise that educates more than a million students at a time,

et kæmpe foretagende, der uddanner millioner af elever på samme tid,

and in buildings that are like this one,

og i bygninger som denne,

old buildings, big buildings,

gamle bygninger, store bygninger,

drafty buildings, sometimes buildings that are in disrepair,

bygninger med træk, indimellem dårligt vedligeholdte bygninger,

certainly buildings that could use a renovation.

helt sikkert bygninger, der kunne bruge renovering.

Robin Hood had this ambition to improve these buildings in some way,

Robin Hood har ambitionen om at forbedre de her bygninger på en måde,

but what they realized was

men det er gået op for dem,

to fix the buildings would be too expensive and impractical.

at ordne bygningerne vil blive både dyrt og være upraktisk.

So instead they tried to figure out what one room they could go into

Så i stedet har de prøvet at finde ud af hvilket enkelt rum de kunne gå ind i

in each of these buildings, in as many buildings that they could,

i hver eneste bygninger, i så mange bygninger de kunne,

and fix that one room

og ordne det ene rum,

so that they could improve the lives of the children inside

så de kunne forbedre livet for eleverne inden i,

as they were studying.

imens de studerer.

And what they came up with was the school library,

Og det de kom frem til var skolebiblioteket,

and they came up with this idea called the Library Initiative.

og de kom på idéen, der hedder biblioteks-initiativet.

All the students have to pass through the library.

Alle elever skal igennem biblioteket.

That's where the books are.

Det er der bøgerne er.

That's where the heart and soul of the school is.

Det er der hjertet og sjælen af skolen er.

So let's fix these libraries.

Så lad os fikse bibliotekerne.

So they did this wonderful thing where they brought in

Så de gjorde den fantastiske ting at de fik fat i

først 10 og så 20 arkitekter mere,

first 10, then 20, then more architects,

each one of whom was assigned a library to rethink what a library was.

som hver især blev tildelt et bibliotek, og skulle gentænke hvad et bibliotek er.

They trained special librarians.

De trænede specielle bibliotikarer.

So they started this mighty enterprise

Så de begyndte dette mægtige foretagende,

to reform public schools by improving these libraries.

for at reformere folkeskoler ved at forbedre deres biblioteker.

Then they called me up and they said, "Could you make a little contribution?"

De ringede til mig og spurgte, "Kunne du hjælpe os en smule?"

I said, "Sure, what do you want me to do?"

Jeg sagde, "Klart, hvad skal I bruge?"

And they said, "Well, we want you to be the graphic designer

De sagde, "Vi vil gerne have dig som den grafiske designer,

in charge of the whole thing."

der står for det hele."

And so I thought, I know what that means. That means I get to design a logo.

Jeg tænkte, jeg ved, hvad det betyder. Det betyder, jeg skal designe et logo.

Det ved jeg hvordan man gør. Jeg designer logoer.

I know how to design that. I design logos.

That's what people come to me for.

Det er derfor folk kommer til mig.

So OK, let's design a logo for this thing.

Så okay, lad os designe et logo til det.

Easy to do, actually, compared with architecture

Faktisk let at gøre sammenlignet med arkitektur

and being a librarian.

og at være bibliotekar.

Just do a logo, make a contribution, and then you're out,

Lav et logo, hjælp lidt og så er du færdig,

and you feel really good about yourself.

og så har du det godt med dig selv.

And I'm a great guy and I like to feel good about myself when I do these favors.

Jeg er en fed fyr, som får det godt med mig selv, når jeg hjælper andre.

So I thought, let's overdeliver.

Så jeg tænkte, jeg overleverer.

I'm going to give you three logos, all based on this one idea.

Jeg laver tre logoer, alle baseret på én idé.

So you have three options, pick any of the three.

Så har I tre muligheder, vælg én af de tre.

They're all great, I said.

De er alle gode, sagde jeg.

So the basic idea was these would be new school libraries

Så idéen var at de skulle være til nye skolebiblioteker

for New York schools,

for skoler i New York,

and so the idea is that it's a new thing, a new idea that needs a new name.

og idéen er, at det er en ny ting, en ny idé som har brug for et nyt navn.

What I wanted to do was dispel the idea that these were musty old libraries,

Det, jeg ville, var, at skrotte idéen om at det var gamle, klamme biblioteker,

the kind of places that everyone is bored with,

den slags steder, alle synes er kedelige,

you know, not your grandparents' library.

du ved, ikke dine bedsteforældres bibliotek.

Don't worry about that at all.

Det skal du ikke bekymre dig om

This is going to this new, exciting thing,

Det her skal være nyt og spændende,

not a boring library.

ikke et kedeligt bibliotek.

So option number one:

Så mulighed nummer et:

so instead of thinking of it as a library,

i stedet for at tænke på det som et bibliotek,

think of it as a place where it is like: do talk, do make loud noises.

tænk på det som et sted, hvor man må tale og lave høje lyde.

Right? So no shushing, it's like a shush-free zone.

Ingen tysning, det er tys-fri zone.

We're going to call it the Reading Room.

Vi kalder det læserummet.

That was option number one. OK, option number two.

Det var mulighed nummer et. Okay, mulighed nummer to.

Option number two was, wait for it,

Mulighed nummer to er, vent på det...

OWL.

OWL.

I'll meet you at OWL.

Jeg møder dig ved OWL.

I'm getting my book from the OWL. Meet you after school down at OWL.

Jeg henter mine bøger fra OWL. Lad os mødes efter skole ved OWL.

I like that, right? Now, what does OWL stand for?

Lyder meget godt? Men hvad står OWL for?

Well, it could be One World Library,

Altså det kunne være One World Library

or it could be Open. Wonder. Learn.

eller det kunne være Open. Wonder. Learn.

Or it could be -- and I figure librarians could figure out other things it could be

Eller det kunne være bibliotekarerne kunne finde på noget,

because they know about words.

fordi de ved en masse om ord.

So other things, right?

Så andre ting.

And then look at this. It's like the eye of the owl.

Og se så det her. Det ligner en ugles øje.

This is irresistible in my opinion.

Det er uimodståeligt, hvis du spørger mig.

But there's even another idea.

Men der er også en anden ide.

Option number three.

Mulighed nummer tre.

Option number three was based actually on language.

Mulighed nummer tre er faktisk baseret på sprog.

It's the idea that "read" is the past tense of "read,"

Det er idéen at "read" er datid af "read",

and they're both spelled the same way.

og de er stavet på samme måde.

So why don't we call this place The Red Zone?

Så hvorfor kalder vi det ikke den røde zone.

I'll meet you at the Red Zone.

Jeg møder dig i den røde zone.

Are you Red? Get Red.

Er du rød? Bliv rød.

I'm well Red.

Jeg er vellæst.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Jeg elskede virkelig denne her idé

I really loved this idea,

and I somehow was not focused on the idea

og jeg var på en eller anden måde ikke fokuseret på idéen,

that librarians as a class are sort of interested in spelling and I don't know.

at bibliotikarer er ret interesseret i, hvordan man staver. Jeg ved ikke.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

But sometimes cleverness is more important than spelling,

Men nogle gange er snedighed vigtigere end stavning,

and I thought this would be one of those instances.

og jeg tænkte, at dette ville være en af de gange.

So usually when I make these presentations

Så normalt når jeg laver de her præsentationer,

I say there's just one question and the question should be,

siger jeg, at der kun er et spørgsmål,

"How can I thank you, Mike?"

"Hvordan kan jeg takke dig, Mike?"

But in this case, the question was more like,

Men i det her tilfælde var spørgsmålet mere,

"Um, are you kidding?"

"Laver du sjov?"

Because, they said,

De sagde,

the premise of all this work

at præmissen for alt det her arbejde

was that kids were bored with old libraries, musty old libraries.

var, at børnene kedede sig i klamme, gamle biblioteker.

They were tired of them.

De var trætte af dem.

And instead, they said, these kids have never really seen a library.

Og istedet sagde de, at de her børn, aldrig havde set et bibliotek.

The school libraries in these schools

Skolebibliotekerne på de her skoler

are really so dilapidated, if they're there at all,

er så faldefærdige, hvis overhovedet at de er der,

that they haven't bored anyone.

at de ikke har kedet nogen.

They haven't even been there to bore anyone at all.

De har aldrig været der til at kede nogen.

So the idea was, just forget about giving it a new name.

Så idéen var bare at glemme, at give dem et nyt navn.

Just call it, one last try, a library.

Bare kald dem, som en sidste mulighed, for et bibliotek.

Right? OK.

Ja? Okay.

So I thought, OK, give it a little oomph?

Så jeg tænkte, okay, skal vi give det et lille pift.

Exclamation point?

Udråbstegn?

Then -- this is because I'm clever --

Og så - fordi jeg er klog -

move that into the "i,"

flyt det ind til i'et,

make it red,

lav det rød,

and there you have it, the Library Initiative.

og der har du det, biblioteksinitiativet.

Så jeg troede opgaven var færdig, her er jeres logo.

So I thought, mission accomplished, there's your logo.

So what's interesting about this logo, an unintended consequence,

Her er hvad der er interessant ved logoet, en utilsigtet konsekvens.

was that it turned out that they didn't really even need my design

Det viste sig, at de ikke engang rigtig ville have mit design,

because you could type it any font, you could write it by hand,

for du kunne skrive det i alle skifttyper eller skrive det i hånden,

and when they started sending emails around,

og da de begyndte at sende emails rundt

they just would use Shift and 1,

brugte de bare shift og 1,

they'd get their own logo just right out of the thing.

de fik deres eget logo ud af det

And I thought, well, that's fine.

Og jeg tænkte, at det var fint.

Feel free to use that logo.

Vær velkommen til at bruge logoet.

And then I embarked on the real rollout of this thing --

Og så begyndte jeg på den rigtige opgave,

working with every one of the architects

nemlig at arbejde med alle arkitekterne på,

to put this logo on the front door of their own library. Right?

at få logoet på hoveddøren på deres eget bibliotek. Okay?

So here's the big rollout.

Så her er den store opgave.

Basically I'd work with different architects.

Jeg arbejde med de forskellige arkitekter.

First Robin Hood was my client. Now these architects were my client.

Først var Robin Hood min klient. Nu var arkitekterne mine klienter.

I'd say, "Here's your logo. Put it on the door."

Jeg sagde, "Her er dit logo. Put det på døren."

"Here's your logo. Put it on both doors."

"Her er dit logo. Put det på begge døre."

"Here's your logo. Put it off to the side."

"Her er dit logo. Put det længere til siden."

"Here's your logo repeated all over to the top."

"Her er dit logo. Gentag det øverst."

So everything was going swimmingly.

Så alt gik efter planen.

Jeg sagde bare, "Her er dit logo. Her er dit logo."

I just was saying, "Here's your logo. Here's your logo."

Så blev jeg ringet op af en af arkitekterne,

Then I got a call from one of the architects,

a guy named Richard Lewis, and he says, "I've got a problem.

en fyr, der hedder Richard Lewis, og han sagde, "Jeg har et problem."

Du er grafikeren. Kan du løse det?"

You're the graphics guy. Can you solve it?"

Og jeg sagde "Helt sikkert."

And I said, OK, sure."

And he said, "The problem is that there's a space

Og han sagde, "Problemet er, at der er et mellemrum

between the shelf and the ceiling."

mellem hylden og loftet."

So that sounds like an architectural issue to me,

Det lyder som et arkitektonisk problem,

ikke et grafisk problem, så jeg siger "Fortsæt."

not a graphic design issue, so I'm, "Go on."

And Richard says, "Well, the top shelf has to be low enough

Og Richard siger, "Jamen, top-hylden skal være lav nok til,

for the kid to reach it,

at børnene kan nå den,

but I'm in a big old building, and the ceilings are really high,

men jeg er i en virkelig gammel bygning, og der er højt til loftet,

so actually I've got all this space up there

så jeg har faktisk en masse plads deroppe,

and I need something like a mural."

og jeg skal bruge et vægmaleri."

And I'm like, "Whoa, you know, I'm a logo designer.

Og jeg tænker, "Orv, jeg er en logodesigner.

I'm not Diego Rivera or something.

Jeg er ikke Diego Rivera eller noget.

I'm not a muralist."

Jeg er ikke vægmaler."

And so he said, "But can't you think of anything?"

Og han siger, "Men kan du komme på en idé?"

So I said, "OK, what if we just took pictures of the kids in the school

Så jeg siger, "Okay, hvad hvis vi bare tager billeder af børnene på skolen,

and just put them around the top of the thing,

og putter dem på toppen af det,

and maybe that could work."

måske kunne det fungere."

And my wife is a photographer,

Og min kone er fotograf,

and I said, "Dorothy, there's no budget,

og jeg sagde, "Dorothy, der er ikke nogen penge,

can you come to this school in east New York, take these pictures?"

kan du komme til denne skole i øst New York og tage billeder?"

And she did,

Og det gjorde hun,

and if you go in Richard's library,

og hvis du går ind i Richards bibliotek,

which is one of the first that opened,

som er det første, der åbnede,

it has this glorious frieze of, like, the heroes of the school,

så har det en vidunderlig frise af skolens helte,

oversized, looking down

overdimensioneret, og kigger

into the little dollhouse of the real library, right?

ind i dukkehuset af det rigtige bibliotek.

And the kids were great, hand-selected by the principals

Og børnene var fantastiske håndvalgt af rektorerne

and the librarian.

og bibliotekaren.

It just kind of created this heroic atmosphere in this library,

Det skabte ligesom denne her heroiske atmosfære i biblioteket,

this very dignified setting below and the joy of the children above.

det meget værdige sted nedenfor og glæden af børnene ovenover.

So naturally all the other librarians in the other schools see this

Så naturligvis ser alle de andre skolers bibliotekarer det,

and they said, well, we want murals too.

og siger, at de også vil have vægmalerier.

And I'm like, OK.

Og jeg sådan, okay.

So then I think, well, it can't be the same mural every time,

Så tænker jeg, altså, det kan ikke være det samme maleri hver gang

so Dorothy did another one, and then she did another one,

så Dorothy lavede et til, og så et til,

but then we needed more help,

men så havde vi brug for mere hjælp

so I called an illustrator I knew named Lynn Pauley,

så jeg ringede til en illustrator, jeg kender, der hedder Lynn Pauley,

and Lynn did these beautiful paintings of the kids.

og Lynn lavede nogle smukke malerier af børnene.

Then I called a guy named Charles Wilkin at a place called Automatic Design.

Så ringede jeg til Charles Wilkin fra et sted, der hedder Automatic Design.

He did these amazing collages.

Han lavede nogle fantastiske kollager.

We had Rafael Esquer

Vi fik Rafael Esquer

til at lave nogle fremragende silhouetter.

do these great silhouettes.

He would work with the kids, asking for words,

Han arbejdede med børnene, spurgte dem om ord,

and then based on those prompts,

og baseret på deres svar,

come up with this little, delirious kind of constellation

kom han på de her små vilde konstellationer

of silhouettes of things that are in books.

af silhouetter af ting, der er i bøger.

Peter Arkle interviewed the kids

Peter Arkle interviewede børnene,

and had them talk about their favorite books

og fik dem til at snakke om deres yndlingsbøger,

and he put their testimony as a frieze up there.

og puttede deres vidnesbyrd derop som en frise.

Stefan Sagmeister worked with Yuko Shimizu

Stefan Sagmeister arbejdede med Yuko Shimizu,

and they did this amazing manga-style statement,

og de lavede en fantastisk manga-inspieret erklæring

"Everyone who is honest is interesting,"

"Alle der er ærlige er interessante,"

that goes all the way around.

det går hele vejen rundt.

Christoph Niemann, brilliant illustrator,

Christoph Niemann, strålende illustrator,

did a whole series of things

lavede en serie af ting,

where he embedded books into the faces and characters

hvor han indlagde bøger i ansigter og karakterer

and images and places that you find in the books.

og billeder og steder, som man finder i bøger.

And then even Maira Kalman

Og selv Maira Kalman

did this amazing cryptic installation of objects and words

lavede denne fantastiske kryptiske installation af objekter og ord,

that kind of go all around and will fascinate students

der vil gå hele vejen rundt og fascinere elever,

for as long as it's up there.

så længe det er oppe.

So this was really satisfying,

Så det var virkelig tilfredstillende,

and basically my role here was reading a series of dimensions to these artists,

og hovedsagligt var min rolle at læse en serie af dimensioner til kunsterne,

and I would say,

og jeg ville sige,

"Three feet by 15 feet, whatever you want.

"90 cm gange 460 cm, hvad end du vil.

Let me know if you have any problem with that."

Sig til hvis du har nogen problemer."

Og så ville de montere det. Det var det bedste.

And they would go and install these. It just was the greatest thing.

But the greatest thing, actually, was --

Men det allerbedste var faktisk --

Every once in a while,

Engang imellem,

I'd get, like, an invitation in the mail made of construction paper,

fik jeg en invitation i posten, lavet af byggeripaper,

og det ville sige, "Du er inviteret til åbningen af vores nye bibliotek."

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,

Så jeg tog på biblioteket, lad os sige PS10,

and you'd go inside.

og jeg ville gå indenfor.

There'd be balloons, there'd be a student ambassador,

Der var balloner, der var elevambassadører,

there'd be speeches that were read,

der blev læst taler op,

poetry that was written specifically for the opening,

der var poesi skrevet til åbningen,

dignitaries would present people with certificates,

dignitarer gav certifikater,

and the whole thing was just a delirious, fun party.

og det hele var bare en vild, sjov fest.

So I loved going to these things.

Så jeg elskede at tage til dem.

I would stand there dressed like this, obviously not belonging,

Jeg stod der, klædt sådan her, hørte tydeligvis ikke til,

and someone would say, "What are you doing here, mister?"

og nogen ville spørge, "Hvad laver du her, herre?"

And I'd say, "Well, I'm part of the team that designed this place."

Og jeg sagde, "Jeg er en del af holdet, der designede stedet."

Og de sagde, "Lavede du de her reoler?"

And they'd said, "You do these shelves?"

Jeg sagde, "Nej." "Du tog billederne deroppe."

And I said, "No." "You took the pictures up above."

"No."

"Nej."

"Well, what did you do?"

"Jamen, hvad har du lavet?"

"You know when you came in? The sign over the door?"

"Du ved, da du kom ind? Skiltet over døren?"

"The sign that says library?"

"Skiltet, der siger bibliotek?"

(Laughter)

(Latter)

"Yeah, I did that!"

"Ja, det har jeg lavet!"

And then they'd sort of go, "OK. Nice work if you can get it."

Og så blev de bare sådan, "Okay. Godt arbejde, hvis du kan få det."

So it was so satisfying going to these little openings

Så det var så tilfredsstillende at tage til de her små åbninger,

despite the fact that I was kind of largely ignored or humiliated,

trods at jeg var stort set ignoreret eller ydmyget,

but it was actually fun going to the openings,

men det var faktisk sjovt at tage til åbningerne,

so I decided that I wanted to get the people in my office

så jeg besluttede, at jeg ville have folkene ind på mit kontor,

who had worked on these projects, get the illustrators and photographers,

der havde arbejdet på projekterne, få illustratorerne og fotograferne,

and I said, why don't we rent a van

og jeg sagde, hvorfor ikke leje en vogn,

and drive around the five boroughs of New York

og køre rundt i de fem bydele i New York,

and see how many we could hit at one time.

og se hvor mange, vi kunne nå på en gang.

And eventually there were going to be 60 of these libraries,

Og med tiden ville der være 60 af de her biblioteker,

so we probably got to see maybe half a dozen in one long day.

så vi kunne nok nå at se et halvt dusin på en lang dag.

And the best thing of all was meeting these librarians

Og det bedste var at møde alle bibliotekarene,

who kind of were running these, took possession of these places

som stod for driften, og tog ejerskab af stederne

like their private stage upon which they were invited

som deres private scene, hvorpå de var inviteret

to mesmerize their students and bring the books to life,

til at fortrylle børnene og bringe bøgerne til live.

and it was just this really exciting experience

Og det var bare denne her rigtig spændende oplevelse

for all of us to actually see these things in action.

for os alle at se de her ting i virkeligheden.

So we spent a long day doing this

Så vi brugte en lang dag på det,

and we were in the very last library.

og vi var i det allersidste bibliotek.

It was still winter, because it got dark early,

Det var stadig vinter, så det blev mørkt tidligt,

and the librarian says,

og bibliotekaren sagde,

"I'm about to close down. So really nice having you here.

"Jeg er ved at lukke ned, godt at se jer.

Hey, wait a second, do you want to see how I turn off the lights?"

Vent et øjeblik, vil du se hvordan jeg slukker lyset?"

Og jeg er sådan, "Okay."

I'm like, "OK."

Og hun siger, "Jeg har en speciel måde at gøre det på"

And she said, "I have this special way that I do it."

And then she showed me.

Og så viste hun mig det.

Det, hun gjorde, var, at hun slukkede lysene et ad gangen,

What she did was she turned out every light one by one by one by one,

and the last light she left on

og det sidste lys, hun lod være tændt,

was the light that illuminated the kids' faces,

var det, der oplyste børnenes ansigter,

and she said, "That's the last light I turn off every night,

og hun sagde, "Det er det sidste lys, jeg slukker hver aften,

because I like to remind myself why I come to work."

fordi jeg gerne vil mindes om, hvorfor jeg kommer på arbejde."

Så da hele dette startede,

So when I started this whole thing,

remember, it was just about designing that logo

husk, det var bare om at designe et logo

og være smart ved at komme på et nyt navn?

and being clever, come up with a new name?

De utilsigtede konsekvenser her,

The unintended consequence here,

which I would like to take credit for

som jeg gerne ville tage æren for

and like to think I can think through the experience to that extent,

og gerne tænker at jeg kan tænke denne oplevelse igennem,

but I can't.

men det kan jeg ikke.

Jeg var fokuseret på en meter foran mig, så langt jeg kunne nå med mine hænder.

I was just focused on a foot ahead of me, as far as I could reach with my own hands.

Istedet, langt ude i horisonten

Instead, way off in the distance

was a librarian

var der en bibliotekar,

som fandt en kæde af konsekvenser,

who was going to find the chain of consequences

that we had set in motion,

som vi havde sat igang,

a source of inspiration

en kilde af inspiration

so that she in this case could do her work really well.

så hun i dette tilfælde kunne udføre sig arbejde virkelig godt.

40,000 kids a year are affected by these libraries.

40.000 børn er hvert år påvirket af de her biblioteker.

They've been happening for more than 10 years now,

De har været igang i mere end 10 år nu,

so those librarians have kind of turned on a generation of children to books

så de bibliotekarer har vendt en generation af børn til bøger,

and so it's been a thrill to find out

så det har været spændende at finde ud af

that sometimes unintended consequences are the best consequences.

at nogle gange er utilsigtede konsekvenser de bedste konsekvenser.

Thank you very much.

Mange tak!

(Applause)

(Bifald)