I need to say that Harry Pierce will be a speaker that I won't forget for a long time. Not because what he said was awfully profound or that he managed to use his charm to keep me focused on what many had said before him, but because he stood on stage and was simply himself. I may have never seen Pearce speak before, but something told me that on the Design Indaba Conference stage, he was purely Harry Pearce.

What really had me thinking with Pearce was his ability to tell his story while talking about design and how his various influences have changed him as a designer and as a person. He particularly talks about Alan Fletcher, one of the founder of Pentagram at which Pearce works. He speaks of a man who showed him not only what design was about, but pushed him to take the road less travelled and from what Pearce said, it certainly took him to many interesting places.

Pearce works a lot with typefaces and that interests me so when he brought up his conundrums I was impressed. Because he has managed to take something so obvious and turn it into something that really resonates with people. That is what great designer does. Pearce sees things that others don't or at least, do but don't seem to think is important.

His presentation consisted of showing his schizophrenic street names and while many would think nothing of it, just through his presentation, Pearce captured the audience and showed them the beauty of "Avenue Road" and why "Pink Green" is in fact something to mull over.

He also spoke to Witness which he started with musician Peter Gabriel where the idea was based on having ordinary citizens video events and send them in - a perfect example would be something like the Rodney King beating. The idea of "little brother turning on big brother". The project has produced amazing results that combat important issues that are ripping societies across the world apart with incredible posters that Pearce has designed to illustrate these issues.

Oh… and Pearce is a dreamer and while I'm not one to believe in dreams coming true, it seems that the course of his life and design successes have been from some shut eye. It's how he has pushed his design to create new identities for people, companies and most importantly language.

He left a great impression and so I will end off what he said on ending his presentation:

Something is beautiful because it is what it is.
The world is full of flowers if you just see them.