Image courtesy of AIGA KC

On March 10, AIGA Kansas City hosted a lecture by New York based graphic designer and typographer, Stefan Sagmeister. Mr. Sagmeister is one of the most recognized living graphic designers and I’ve always been an admirer of his work and the way that he works with concepts to complete his projects. In his hour long talk, he touched on the work that he has been doing since he took his self-imposed sabbatical (the “year without clients”). He has set up his small design firm, Sagmeister, Inc., in a way that I think would be ideal for most designers. The firm breaks down work into 4 categories:

1. Design for music (i.e. the identity for Casa de Musica and also his long list of famous album covers.)
2. Socially responsible design (i.e. True Majority)
3. Corporate design (Zumtobel)
4. We are the authors (his most current typeographic work)

Since he’s been interviewed a bunch of times and you can see videos of him online including this video at Hillman Curtis and his TED lecture, I just wanted to mention a few points that were interesting to me:

1. Design as a profession is much more powerful than just selling and promoting. It can educate, entertain, tell stories, etc.
2. A boxing coach once said, “there are no gutsy men out there, only fearful men who can overcome their fear.”
3. Assuming things is stifling. Censorship of yourself in your own head or assuming a client won’t go for an idea kills way more projects than a client actually killing it.
4. (This one made the audience salivate…) He only shows his clients one comp for a design because he firmly believes that he knows how to do his job better than his clients know how to do his job. With multiple options, you inevitably end up with a Frankenstein mash up of ideas that you’re never pleased with. He does one design and works on it to make sure it is the best it can possibly be. I can’t see this being easily accepted by many people, but the idea is certainly nice!
5. Tips on getting stuck: first, he always has 3-5 projects in the conceptual stage at one time, so if he’s having a rough time on one, he switches to another one. Second, he recommends the book Thinking Course by Edward De Bono. He talked about how to make yourself really think productively (even if just for 5 minutes) and also how to trick the brain into seeing things from a different point of view. Third, he talked about a strategy he got from the film director, Steven Soderbergh. He goes into a busy cafe or restaurant and takes only piece of paper and a pencil. Eventually, you feel so awkward that you’re sitting there alone with nothing to do, you start writing and working to look busy. In effect, you’re shaming yourself into getting work done!
6. A couple of things that inspired him to take a year off: one was looking over Ed Fella’s sketchbooks of typographic experiments. The other was doing a lecture at the Cranbrook Academy and seeing a lot of mature graduate students freely experimenting in design.

Stefan Sagmeister is a fun speaker to listen to. His experience and insight into the profession of design is fascinating. Although some would see his situation and experiences as unique, I found him interesting and entertaining. He definitely has an air of humor and happiness in his work and his lectures. If you have a chance to see him on his current book tour promoting Things I have learned in my life so far, I’d highly recommend it. Thanks to AIGA KC for hosting the lecture!

UPDATE: Check out this new video from Hillman Curtis!

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File under: Design, Inspiration