Bruce Mau

Bruce Mau is a Canadian born designer, architect, author and visionary. He is well known for his creativity, optimism and his innovative, unconventional approaches to design. His passion lies in bettering people and bettering the world through multidisciplinary design and his work and innovative solutions often have the intrinsic nature and purpose of aiding and contributing to humanity.

Bruce Mau's approach to design and the design process is laid out in his manifesto, called "An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth". In his manifesto, he gives insight and advice on how to think about and approach situations in life as a designer, though the points he makes are not limited to the design field, but can be applied in all areas of life. For example, one point Mau makes is that the process is more valuable than the outcome. Here, he mentions the importance of process driven outcome over outcome driven process.

Bruce Mau has a passion for unconventionality and has tremendous insight of the potential and power of design and the numerous applications and uses of it. He sees design where it would not generally be perceived to be. This is because of his reinterpretation of the word design itself and his view of design as “critical methodology for solving problems”. His Massive Change exhibition embodies this perspective of design, consisting of works that show how innovative design is applied to relevant issues like maintaining the environment.

The Massive Change exhibition communicated the message of design as being influential in positive change for the future. It is also encapsulated in a book by Bruce Mau titled “Massive Change” which introduces a study towards the future of design culture and its implementations and effects within the modern world.

Bruce Mau's education in design began at the Sudbury Secondary School and was further developed when he studied advertising within the Ontario College of Art and Design. However, he did not complete his course, but instead, left in 1980 and proceeded to join the Fifty Fingers design group. Two years after, he moved to work at Pentagram, a design firm in London. There, he worked under David Hillman and Herman Lelie. It was during this time when he discovered how crucial and important interdisciplinary work is and the vast spectrum of fields in which design could be applied.

Even after dropping out of his studies, Bruce Mau was still presented with opportunities within the field of design. He collaborated with a team to form the initiative Public Good Design and Communications, but later left to start his own studio in 1985. His career also involved making a notable influence in the field of book design as well as typography and design for social change. Working with Zone Books was a pivotal moment in his life and in his career in that it catalyzed and aided the formation of the narrative style of design he uses to communicate.

Bruce Mau’s scope within the field of design covers a large span of disciplines such as architecture, multimedia, typography, product design and interior design.

Mau’s insightful outlook on design is inspirational to say the least. It appreciates design not just for its aesthetic qualities but also for its versatility to be applied within a myriad of contexts. This resonates with my own view of design in that I see it as a diverse tool which can be used to communicate, inspire, solve problems and ultimately to better society.

Bruce Mau Design is an internationally recognised, multidisciplinary brand design firm, collaborating with organizations globally. The images below are just a few of their projects.

Live

"Live, a raw and organic food company, worked with Bruce Mau Design to review their brand, which had grown in complexity and looked disjointed and dated."

Stellar

"Stellar is a high-performance makeup brand that features addictive colors and sensual textures. Bruce Mau Design developed all their brand touchpoints"