By Natalia Ramirez

Last week the MFAD department had the incredible opportunity to visit the prestigious Pentagram headquarters, an occasion we were all much looking forward to, and which certainly did not disappoint. We got to learn more about Pentagram and their work through the eyes of Michael Gericke, a long-standing partner at the firm. Michael took us through his journey of becoming a graphic designer and showed us some of the iconic work that has formed a part of his career throughout the years. It was incredible to see the variety with which he has been able to approach the medium, ranging everywhere from foundational design and branding to architecture and the built environment.

Michael spoke extensively about bisociative thinking (a method he applies across his work), introduced by Arthur Koestler in the 1960s as a theory about synthesizing existing but seemingly unrelated ideas in order to create new ways of thinking. One of the big takeaways from our conversation was certainly in relation to the encouragement of bisociative thinking as a methodological approach to design. “Experience as much as you can, because connections can and will come from unexpected places.” Thank you, Michael, for having us last week – and for the words of wisdom!