Maverick design writer, graphic designer and incisive conference MC, Michael Bierut answers questions from the Design Indaba Conference 2010 audience, submitted via SMS.

Whose quote is: “Everybody who is honest is interesting”?

That is from Stefan Sagmeister, who attributes it to Quentin Crisp. A good account of the source of the quote and the mural that Sagmeister created with it can be found here.

To Troika, Michael Bierut, Stefan G Bucher and Harry Pearce: How important is the skill of drawing to graphic design?

I think drawing is a lovely way to explore the visual world and was central to my education as a designer in the late 1970s. However, I’m not at all certain that it’s necessary for a designer to know how to draw today, and I’m sure that many successful young designers never draw, by hand at least, at all. It’s a pity, because they’re missing out on a real source of pleasure and learning.