I Love Stefan Sagmeister

Stefan Sagmeister Photographed by Justin Hackworth

Stefan Sagmeister does things his way. Unapologetically his way. He’s an amazingly talented graphic designer who works past boundaries. He’s been known to do things like take an x-acto knife to his torso for a self-promotional piece (1999, AIGA).

Sagmeister (1999) Body text self-promotional piece for AIGA lecture

Some people aren’t comfortable with his new branding, calling it racist and sexist.

On the other end of the spectrum, he’s very friendly and likes to kiss people that he’s photographed with at blogging conferences.

with Laurie Smithwick of Leap Design, photo by Justin Hackworth

With Kathleen of Braid Creative and Jeremy & Kathleen – you HAVE to read her post about Sagmeister on the Braid Creative blog.

With pattern and fabric designer Jenean Morrison

Photo by Justin Hackworth

Yep. He got Gabrielle of Alt + Design Mom too. 

And this guy. This guy = Justin Hackworth. :)

While I can appreciate the shocking stuff he’s created and that he likes to take one year sabbaticals, what made me love him was his work with two things that I’m crazy about – positive psychology and typography.

from The Happy Show exhibit

You have to take a look at The Happy Show exhibit and The Happy Film.

In the movie, Stefan tries out different things (like meditation, cognitive therapy, and pharmaceuticals) that are supposed to lead to a happier existence, and a team of health professionals assess his mood. It also explores happiness on a bigger scale – the cultural significance and our constant pursuit of it. And there’s lots of cool typography.

And then there’s his gorgeous studio. I’m insanely jealous of this workspace.

If you want to see what they’re up to in there, check out the webcam.

All of the people I talked to loved Sagmeister’s Alt Summit presentation. Did you see it? What did you think? He seems like a person you’d either love or hate. (Note to My Mom: You’d hate him. Don’t click on any links!)

More posts about Sagmeister and his Alt Summit presentation: 

The Jealous Curator

Raincoast Cottage

Leslie Fandrich

My follow up post on thoughts about taking risks.

See you tomorrow! xoxo