World renowned Graphic Designer Stefan Sagmeister has practically done everything in his career. He has earned almost every design award nationally and internationally.

Stefan clearly is all in when it comes time to immerse himself in his work and designs. Some of Stefan’s designs are simple, some quirky, some downright disturbing, but all are thought provoking. He is known to stretch all bounds and upset the norm. One thing for sure, his designs grow over time and he sometimes gets stuck in the design series for many many months, changing it along the way. Then one day suddenly a mood strikes and he begins a whole new design concept.

In this presentation you will get a glimpse of his design talents and hopefully you also will conclude that Stefan definitely has…a mind for design.

2 General Information About The Designer

¤¤ Born on Aug 6, 1963. ¤¤ Began his design career at the age of 15 working on an Austrian youth magazine. ¤¤ Studied graphic design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and Pratt Institute in New York. ¤¤ He opened a studio in Hong Kong when he was 29 years old and worked 16 hours a day including weekends. ¤¤ In 1993, he moved back to NYC and started to form Sagmeister Inc. ¤¤ He is married, lives in New York, and teaches at the Photo of Stefan Sagmeister and his wife . while continuing to work for his own design company. (Sagmeister & Walsh) ¤¤ Stefan takes year-long sabbaticals every 7 years. The logic behind this is retiring 5 years later and spending some time off before your body gets all old, wrinkled and tired.

Stefan’s intense eyes.

Photo of Stefan in front of an exhibit made of 100’s of books on a wall.

3 3 About Stefan’s Book “Things I have learned in my life so far”

Photo of book cover ¤¤ The book titled “Things I have learned in my life so far” was published in 2006. ¤¤ The book began as a list of personal statements made in Stefan’s diary. ¤¤ Some of his personal statements (maxims) include; Worrying solves nothing, Trying to look good limits my life, and Complaining is silly either act or forget. ¤¤ The list reveals something that is profoundly true; Although human beings have been pursuing happiness for countless generations, it is not so easily achieved. ¤¤ The ‘cover’ of the book is a design in itself. The empty case is a laser-cut slipcase of the designer’s face. ¤¤ The book consists of 15 unbound signature booklets. Shuffling the sequence of the booklets will produce 15 different cover designs.

3 different book covers based on what booklet was used.

15 different booklets that could be placed in the book cover.

4 4 Music Industry Designs

¤¤ Stefan has spent a lot of his design career (maybe 25%) in the music industry. ¤¤ He has designed for several musicians including; , , Bryan Eno, and Lou Reed. ¤¤ When Stephan noticed a cigarette would fit into the spine of a CD case this was the inspiration in the CD cover design for a Jamie Block album Timing Is Everything. ¤¤ One of Stefan’s most complicated music designs was CD case - Timing is Everything. Notice the cigarette for the album Everything That Happens Will Happen in the spine of the jewel case! Today. The package includes a miniature 3D house on a cylinder style CD case and a 92-page miniature lyrics booklet. ¤¤ When searching on album covers designed by Stefan, most Google hits include information and images about the Artist Lou Reed and his album Let the Twilight Reeling.

CD pamphlet - Let the Twilight Reeling by Lou Reed.

CD case - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.

5 5 Company and Store Advertisements

¤¤ Aizone - A luxury department store in the Middle East. This design is widespread across newspapers, magazines, and billboards throughout Lebanon. ¤¤ Story – A store in the meatpacking district of NYC that changes themes every six weeks. Stephan designed the identity of the company around the word itself sliced in half. ¤¤ Aishti - A luxury department store in the Middle East. The design signature is an orange gift box turned into an object of luxury. ¤¤ Fugue – A tech infrastructure company specializing Photo of the Story store logo. The logo changes every 6 weeks. in cloud services. The design of the logo works like the software does; it constantly regenerates itself while data moves from one point to another. ¤¤ Function Engineering – A company specializing in mechanical design. The theme incorporated the company’s designing hinge & linkage mechanisms.

Adverisement for a luxury department store - Aishti.

Photo of the Story store logo 6 weeks later.

6 6 Achievement Awards

¤¤ Sagmeister received a Grammy Award in 2005 in the Best Boxed category for art directing the Once in a Lifetime box set by the . ¤¤ In 2005, Sagmeister won the National Design Award for Communications from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. ¤¤ He received a second Grammy Award for the design of the David Byrne and album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today in 2010. ¤¤ In 2012, Sagmeister and Walsh won the Type Directors Club Award for 3 different design pieces. The Paris Award winning design work from the Aizone FW / 11 exhibition poster, Vienna book, and Aizone FW / 11 Campaigns. Campaigns. ¤¤ In 2013, Sagmeister was awarded the Golden Medal of Honor of the Republic of Austria. ¤¤ In 2013, Sagmeister won an AIGA metal for his unorthodox, provocative designs that tweak the status quo and question the designer’s role in society.

In 2012, Segmeister and Walsh won three Graphis Gold awards and one Graphic Platinum Award.

Award winning design work from the Aizone FW / 11 Campaigns.

7 7 About Stefan’s Book “The Happy Film Pitch Book”

Photo of book cover. ¤¤ The book titled “The Happy Film Pitch Book” was published in 2013. ¤¤ The book documents his touring exhibition,The Happy Show, and the feature length film,The Happy Film. ¤¤ Stefan thought “Happiness, is just such a big subject that it might be worth a try to pin it down.” ¤¤ The book reveals results of 3 month self-experiments with meditation, cognitive therapy, and mood- altering pharmaceuticals, attempting to improve his personal happiness. ¤¤ The Happy Show exhibit documents his adventures in video, print, infographics, sculpture, and interactive installations, most of which were custom-made for this exhibition.

This is a screenshot of The Happy Film introduction.

Photo of a section of The Happy Show exhibit discussed in the book.

8 8 Advertisement Poster Designs

¤¤ TAKE IT ON SVA Posters – These are posters for the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City. The poster series is currently displayed all throughout the NYC subway stations. ¤¤ AIGA New Orleans Jambalaya Poster – This famous poster was for the National conference of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. One interpretation of this poster was for people to stop running around like a chicken with its head cut off and sign up for this very interesting conference? ¤¤ AIGA event in Texas Poster – A poster announcing Stefan Sagmeister’s visit to the Texas capital, Austin. The poster design of a Texas longhorn was the LEVIs Jeans “The Strongest Thread” poster. backdrop for this classic Sagmeister typographic treatment. ¤¤ LEVIs Jeans Posters – Stefan create several different poster designs for LEVIs jeans. One of his best designs was called The Strongest Thread. This design featured a full deconstructed jean down to individual threads and buttons.

Poster for a design talk featuring Stefan.

AIGA New Orleans Jambalaya poster.

9 9 Design Exhibits

¤¤ Obsessions make my life worse and my work better - In 2008 Sagmeister Inc. lined up 250,000 Eurocents on Waagdragerhof Square in Amsterdam. Less than 20 hours after the grand opening, a local resident noticed a person stealing the coins. ¤¤ Everybody always thinks they are right – The maxim was displayed in six Scottish cities. Six 33-foot white and angry monkeys were placed on locations smack in the center of each of these cities. ¤¤ Deitch Projects, Banana Wall - At the opening of the exhibition a wall of 10,000 bananas was created. Green bananas were used with a background of Photo of day1 of the Banana Wall Exhibit. yellow bananas and spelled out; Self-confidence produces fine results. A few days later the green bananas turned yellow and the type disappeared. Then all of the bananas turned brown and the exhibit wall concluded. ¤¤ The Happy Show – This is one of Stefan’s current exhibits that is moving from location to location around the world.

Photo of day 3 and 5 of the Banana Wall Exhibit.

One of the Angry Monkeys in the exhibit in Scotland.

10 10 My Collage of Stefan’s Work

What I have learned is that Segmeister’s design style is all over the map. For that reason I think any collage created is challenged to show Stefan’s true design identity. In my collage I took inspiration from a few of his well-known and award winning designs. I started with a poster design as the background and then took inspiration from one of Stefan’s books, one of his famous luxury department store ads, and one of his very well-known Poster/CD designs for Lou Reed. I also created my twist on his book design by merging 7 slices from the face designs into my design in the center of that photo series.

11 11 Sources of Information

Websites: Articles:

Name: Sagmeister & Walsh http://www.aiga.org/medalist-stefan-sagmeister/ http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/ Name: Sagmeister-Biography by Steven Heller Source: AIGA Name: Behance https://www.behance.net/sagmeisterwalsh http://99u.com/articles/5723/Stefan-Sagmeister Life-So-Far Name: Wikipedia Name: Time Management Stefan Sagmeister: Life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan Sagmeister Source: 99u.com

Videos: http://www.eyemagazine.com/review/article/ another-self-indulgent-design-monograph http://www.aiga.org/video-medalist-stefan- Name: Another self-indulgent design monograph sagmeister/ Source: Eyemagizine Source: AIGA Name: AIGA Medalist Stefan Sagmeister http://www.designboom.com/interviews/ designboom-interview-stefan-sagmeister-2/ Source: YouTube Name: Stefan Sagmeister Interview https://www.youtube.com/ Source: Designboom watch?v=wTFkJ9RVgnE&nohtml5=False

Search Engine: https://www.google.com/search?q=Sagmeister

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