Sagmeister by Artemes

S tefan Sa gm e ister is a gr aphic des i g n er and typographer born in Austria and currently based out of N e w Yo r k C i t y. Noted for his design work with Sagmeister & Walsh Inc. His design company with Jessica Walsh formed in 2008. Some of the most recognizable are numerous album covers, branding of major companies like the Rolling Stones and HBO and he has presented personal work in many c it ies a round t he glob e, making a splash where ever he shows. His exhibits are often i n t e r a c t i v e , plac ed in n at ur e as wel l a s inside of brick and mortar establishments.

“I follow the direction that seems juicy, and has the right balance of newness and familiarity. If it’s too new I get anxious, if it’s too familiar I get bored.”

Stefan thinks about the process of innovation and creation by using different or unexpected departure points to base a stream of ideas. By jumping out of the designer’s comfort, new ideas can be reached that might have been missed without a particular spark of inspiration. Too many designs are based solely on the familiarity of an object or idea, but Sagmeister uses a mental concept map that he manipulates to create a fresh view point. For example, he uses a process that is described by a philosopher Edward DeBono, who suggests: “starting to think about an idea for a particular project by taking a random object as point of departure. Say, I have to design a pen, and instead of looking at all other pens and thinking about how pens are used and who my target audience is etc., I start thinking about pens using.....(this is me now looking around the hotel room for a random object)....bed spreads. Ok, hotel are...sticky....contain many bacteria....ahh, would be possible to design a pen that is thermo sensitive, so it changes colors where I touch it, yes, that could actually be nice: An all black pen, that becomes yellow on the touching points of fingers/hands...., not so bad, considering it took me all of 30 seconds.”

“You should do everything twice. The firs t time you don’t know what you’re doing. The second time you do. The third time it’s boring,”

Stefan pushed the boundaries of art and design by using unexpected methods to convey his message. Like the poster for an AIGA lecture (American Institute of Graphic Arts) in 1999 where he cut the details of the event into his skin with a razor blade and let the scratches bleed while being photographed. This ability to draw attention to the design while still pushing the boundaries of comfort for the audience is one reason that he is unforgettable in the crowd of typographers and graphic designers. (1)

On the other hand, the use of his own handwriting is a prominent part of Sagmeister’s work because he uses it to make people comfortable taking the time to read his notes. The personal nature of writing extends to the audience helping to create an inviting environment, while also making a small statement of anti-computer creativity. He is not too worried about typefaces being perfect and uses his own handwriting to take away from spending hours looking for the correct typeface. “Considering as designers we have the attention of a viewer often only for a couple of seconds, any response that can be elicited in such a short time, (shock on one and humor on the other end of the spectrum) is welcome, as long as it makes sense within the context of the project.” Sagmeister says about that split second reaction to art in the everyday life and his use of sometimes shocking elements of design like nudity and provocative imagery.

In the typographical experiment ’Things I have Learned in my Life so far’ he uses ambiguous typefaces and leaves them open to audience interpretation. Sagmeister says, “I found that by utilizing an open typographic approach combined with the clear message many viewers have an easier time relating their own experience. We do employ various typographic strategies from one project to another (within the series). Some are influenced by the environment they take place in, some by an outside person, some by personal experiences.” (2) He lets the audience become a part of the experience. In the exhibition of the Happy Show, Stefan explores the nature of his own happiness, he shares a few of his favorite things, like a ginger snap cookie offered on a silver platter. Also, during the show he shared parts of his diary, a personal narrative of other factors that involve his happiness. Opening up the mind of the viewer to relate to his thoughts while examining their own. Stefan is out to touch hearts even if it makes the viewer uncomfortable. “Good design is design that either helps people or delights people.” (3) It is his willingness to create comfort versus uncomforte that has established him as a creative force in the industry.

I chose Stefan Sagmeister as my inspirational designer after seeing a Ted talk where he speaks of his process in typography and using typography to embellish natural landscapes. Stefan is happy being a designer on his terms and uses several techniques to keep his creativity flowing, as he says his fears are, “Boredom, uninteresting content and fear of not being able to come up with anything.” One of the techniques he uses to combat restlessness and boredom is by taking a year off from all commissioned work, about every seven years. During this sabbatical he travels and works on personal projects while keeping track of new ideas and inspirations for the ‘working years’ in a journal. By only working on one project at a time, using the newest tools available and enjoying the end results he is able to maintain a certain level of new art and ideas. His diary becomes like an external consciousness, using it to remind himself of ideas and to let his mind be free to think of new ideas. Stefan takes time to invest in these sabbaticals to explore new and old forms of art, letting his mind wander. He talks about expanding his art culture, “Today I copied a page from a n 18th century Turkish Quran I had seen in the Museum of Muslim Art in Kuala Lumpur. I hope this has an influence, as typography rarely reached the kind of absolute pinnacles of total gorgeousness as it did in Islamic culture (as they were not allowed to show any imagery all the creative juice went into type and ornament).”

“In general, craft is just a function of knowing your tools really well. Knowing your tools very well, on the one hand can be an advatage. On the other hard, I’ve also seen people hooked back into their tools that they know so well, and they stay in their small little section [world] and can’t really get out to see the bigger picture. Personally, I’m most comfortable to go in and out.”