Student presentation about Stefan Sagmeister by Sharon DeCaro for Graphic Design History Class at San Diego City College.

1. Stefan Sagmeister
a Great Mind in Design

3. Biography
Stefan Sagmeister is a graphic designer and typographer, he is one of
the most important figures in the industry today. Born in Austria, he
now lives and works in New York. He has his own design firm,
Sagmeister Inc. He has designed album covers for Lou Reed, the
Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Pat Metheny. In 2005 he received a
Grammy Award in Best Boxed or Special Edition Package category for
his art direction with Talking Heads.
1962 Born in Bregenz, Austria. His parents own a fashion retailing business. Educated at a
local engineering school, then at a college in nearby Dornbirn.
1981 Moves to Vienna. Accepted on his second attempt to study graphic design at the Vienna
University of Applied Arts.
1985 Graduates with a first class degree and a $1,000 prize from the City of Vienna.
1987 Arrives in New York with a Fulbright scholarship to study at the Pratt Institute.
1991 Moves to Hong Kong and lands a job with ad agency, Leo Burnett.
1993 Returns to New York (via Sri Lanka) to work for Tibor Kalman at M&Co. Six months later,
Kalman closes M&Co and Sagmeister opens his own studio.
1994 Creates identity for his brother, Martin’s jeans stores, Blue. Nominated for a Grammy
Award for the cover for H. P. Zinker’s Mountains of Madness.
1995 Starts collaboration with David Byrne by designing the cover of his Afropea compilation
album
1996 First project with Lou Reed: Set the Twilight Reeling album cover. Emblazons a pair of
tongues on poster for AIGA’s Fresh Dialogue talks.
1997 Creates Headless Chicken poster for AIGA biennial conference in New Orleans and
designs graphics for David Byrne’s Feelings and Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylon.
1999 Sagmeister carves the text of a poster for an AIGA lecture at Cranbrook near Detroit into
his own torso.
2000 Takes a year off to work on experimental projects.
2001 Reopens studio and publishes the book, Sagmeister: Made You Look.
2003 Designs Once in a Lifetime boxed set for Talking Heads.
2004 Visiting professor in Berlin and unveils Trying to look good limits my life, series of
typographic billboards.

4. a little film by Hillman Curtis

6. Sagmeister likes Type

7. Provocative Graphics Sagmeister
carves the text of
a poster for an
AIGA lecture at
Cranbrook near
Detroit into his
own torso.
Poster for the AIGA’s Fresh Dialogue talks in New York, 1996
Controversy
over
Sagmeister’s
bum-bearing
4As awards
poster in Hong
Kong.

9. Vilcek Award
This award trophy for the Vilcek Prize was created for a major new award program honoring
outstanding achievements of foreign-born Americans within the fields of the visual arts and biomedical
research. The first winners are artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude as well as cancer researcher Joan
Massague. The trophy represents a visualization of the pinnacle an individual or group can reach, each
trophy is individually designed and cast for the winner.

10. Omnivsu

11. Music

12. 2000 Takes a year off to work on experimental projects
Sagmeister's full list of 20 maxims are as follows:
1. Helping other people helps me.
2. Having guts always works out for me.
3. Thinking that life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
4. Organising a charity group is surprisingly easy.
5. Being not truthful always works against me.
6. Everything I do always comes back to me.
7. Assuming is stifling.
8. Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
9. Over time I get used to everything and start taking for granted.
10. Money does not make me happy.
11. My dreams have no meaning.
12. Keeping a diary supports personal development.
13. Trying to look good limits my life.
14. Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
15. Worrying solves nothing.
16. Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
17. Everybody thinks they are right.
18. If I want to explore a new direction professionally, it is helpful to try it out for myself
first.
19. Low expectations are a good strategy.
20. Everybody who is honest is interesting.

14. Influences and Comments
“Most designers I like, have big interests in other fields such as John Maeda and his
programming abilities, Tibor Kalmann and his political background in the student
movement, Storm Thorgeson and his photo montage wizardry; they all stayed away
from the typical influence of design annuals.”
From an interview — Scene 360: In your book, Sagmeister: Made You Look, there is
a personal quote stating, "Art fucks design and vice versa." You seem to be a fan of
both. Why do you think these two don't play nicely together? Sagmeister: Because
right now, with all the talk about blurring the line in between them, they still don't know
much about each other. But there were always moments in time when they did have a
great time together, in this century at the Bauhaus in Germany and at the Wiener
Werkstaedte in Vienna. Or, a more recent example, that Damien Hirst book by
Jonathan Barnbrook; one of my favorite art and design collaborations.
Storm Thorgerson designed album covers for Pink Floyd
and Led Zeppellin.

15. Who he influenced
Stefan Sagmeister has influenced too many
people to name.

16. Why Sagmeister is a Great Mind
His multiculturalism and political awareness. He uses design to change world
views and makes people think outside the box.
His innovative and experimental use of type. He takes risks.
He pays more attention to concept rather than style. His work is unique and
creative.
He goes beyond his limits or boundaries to produce one of a kind work. He is
able to open the eyes of the public by sharing his own personal thoughts,
opinions and experiences through his works.

17. Bibliography
http://www.behancemag.com/Stefan-Sagmeister-Life-so-Far/5723
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Sagmeister
http://www.designauction.co.uk/lots/index.html
http://www.sagmeister.com/worknew11.html
http://gamil.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/vilcek5.jpg
http://gamil.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/vilcek6.JPG
http://www.sagmeister.com/worknew11.html
http://gamil.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/vilcek5.jpg
http://gamil.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/vilcek6.JPG
http://www.sagmeister.com/worknew11.html
http://gamil.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/vilcek5.jpg
http://gamil.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/vilcek6.JPG
http://www.designmuseum.org/design/stefan-sagmeister
http://www.scene360.com/interview/interview_sagmeister.ph
p
http://www.stormthorgerson.com/
http://www.typotheque.com/articles/how_good_is_good.html