Pareto profiles | Stefan G. Bucher

Pareto* Profiles is an ongoing series that asks artists, designers and communicators to consider the 80/20 rule in relation to their own lives and work. The goal: to understand the unique 20 percent that fuels their individual inspiration, success and happiness.

Today’s profile is writer, graphic designer and illustrator Stefan G. Bucher of 344 Design. His latest book is “The Graphic Eye: Photographs by Graphic Designers from around the Globe.”

If 80 percent of your inspiration comes from 20 percent of your interests … what are those interests?

I’m wired pretty simply. I love great, beautifully crafted illustration, and I’m constantly working to bring my own eyes and hands up to the level of the skill I admire in others. I will need all the years I have to get anywhere near people such as Ralph Steadman, Ronald Searle, Peter de Sève, Mort Drucker, Lara Tomlin, Yuko Shimizu, Laura Laine, H.G. Rauch, Kurt Halbritter, Paul Flora, and so many others.

If 80 percent of your success comes from 20 percent of your talent … what is that talent?

I can make myself laugh, and sometimes others.

If 80 percent of your happiness comes from 20 percent of your work … what is that work?

On this one I don’t grant the premise. By keeping my overhead minimal and living within my means I have earned the freedom to work only on projects I find interesting, and with people whose company I enjoy. More than that, I’m in the excellent position of being able to create projects where there were none before—my three books, for example, and the Web sites Daily Monster and Neologist.

*Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923) observed that 80 percent of his country’s wealth was held by 20 percent of its population. From that observation comes the Pareto Principle, or as it’s commonly known, the 80/20 rule. This rule is considered by some to be one of the great truths of business.