HAVING GUTS ALWAYS WORKs FOR ME. STEFAN SAGMEISTER graphic designer graphic designer and typographer BIOGRAphy I HAVE AN ADDICTIVE PERSONALITY Born in Austria in 1962, Stefan Sag- astonished the design community in meister was originally on a path to 2000 when he closed the doors on become an engineer. After shifting his studio and took a year off for per- his course in life towards design he sonal reflection. When he came studied at the University of Applied back he published his first book, Arts in Vienna andd was accepted Made You Look. Thoroughly convin- at the Pratt Institute in New York on ced that the reflection process was a Fullbright Scholarship after that. important in his continued creativity He first started working professio- he has toured the design circuit nally in the field for Leo Burnett, in giving many lectures and presentati- their Hong Kong office in 1991. After ons about his personal success. He a short stint there he began wor- continues to operate his studio whe- king with Tibor Kalman at his studio re he works for clients from a wide M&Co. 1993 Sagmeis formed Sag- range of industries including fashion meister, Inc. and he works only with and music. clients that appeal to him. He Contents Appearance Lecture posteR Aiga Detroit attitude the happy show thinking CD cover and Poster for lou Reed Motivation THE HAPPY FILM Book cover images: Book cover far. so life my in learned i have Things appearance Trying to look good limits my life Lecture poster, Aiga Detroit In his most famous poster, for a lecture at Cran- brook college near Detroit, Sagmeister sought to visually convey the pain that accompanies most of the studio’s design projects. He asked an intern to carve all the text onto his own torso with an X-Acto knife and photograph the result. This pos- ter typifies Stefan Sagmeister’s at once striking and humorous style as well as his ability to come up with a compelling concept and execute it with a raw and straightforward technique. attitude Worrying The happy show Filling the Institute of Contemporary Art‘s entire solves second-floor galleries and ramp, and activating the in-between spaces of the museum, The Happy Show offers visitors the experience of walking into Stefan Sagmeister‘s mind as he attempts to increase his happiness via mediation, cognitive nothing therapy, and mood-altering pharmaceuticals. thinking Complaining is Silly CD cover and poster for Lou Reed The title song of Lou Reed‘s new album „Set the Twilight Reeling“ talks about a star newly emerging. We tried to illustrate the metamorphosis from his dark prince character to a new found man by utilizing a deep blue tinted jewel case in combination with a very bright printed portrait of Lou on the booklet cover. Opened up, the back of the booklet, the design of the CD itself and the tray card together form a diagram of an eclipse, - the ultimate twilight. The typographic style inside reflects the content of the lyrics. motivation You have to live now The happy film Stefan Sagmeister turns science on himself to determine if a person can influence their own happiness. Under the supervision of experts, he pursues 3 controlled trials of Mediation, Therapy, and Drugs, grading himself along the way. But real life creeps in and confounds the process: Art, death, sex, friendship, and love proof to be impossible to disentangle. By becoming the subject of a film at once so soaring and mundane, Stefan’s journey gives the rare opportunity to see our most basic human preoccupations in sharp focus and high relief – the questions many of us yearn to answer..