Stefan Sagmeister

I can’t quite remember where or when I first heard of Sagmeister. I think Joel (my husband and unrelenting source of weird and wonderful links) sent me a link to a talk Sagmeister gave on TED (http://www.ted.com/).

I bought Sagmeister’s most recent book, Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far, not long after it came out last year and it hasn’t had much time to gather dust. I probably still look at it at least once a week!

SAGMEISTER, Stefan. 2008.
Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far
New York: Abrams

The book is based on a list of maxims made by Sagmeister on his "experimental year" in 2000, where he took time out from working on commercial projects. These quickly became incorporated into projects for clients when Sagmeister's office reopened, and it is 20 of these projects that form the book.

The book was featured on Creative Review’s blog back in February 2008. It says about the designer:

Sagmeister's work has often appeared to land on the blurred line between graphic design and art, yet he is firm in his understanding of these projects. "I see it all as graphic design," he says. "It's made by a graphic design office in mediums normally employed by design and all has a client behind it. But from a viewer's point of view it doesn't matter. The whole question of art versus design has limited interest - it comes in waves, in the 20th century there were times when art and design were embedded in each other, the Bauhaus for instance, and then they separated, and then they came back together, and then they separated... from the viewer's point of view, it's always just a question of 'is it good or not?'."

Reference: WILLIAMS, Eliza. 2008. ‘Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far’. Creative Review[online], 05/02/08. http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2008/february/things-i-have-learned-in-my-life-so-far [accessed 15/05/09]

Not everyone thinks highly of the designer – some find his work self-obsessed, vain and even dull. I am not one of them.

There are many things I find inspirational about his work; for example:

• His work crosses the boundaries of graphic design, typography and the use of space.
• His inspiration, energy and appetite for self-motivated projects seem endless. He has evolved a personal style outside of the confines of commercial restriction.
• His work includes physical manifestation at every scale (from tiny to huge).
• His ideas can be freaky, even grotesque at times – his work pushes and challenges the viewer.

I dare say I’ll be referring back to Sagmeister’s work for inspiration throughout the course of my MA.