In this week’s class, we watched an episode of Tedd Talks which featured Stefan Sagmeister. Stefan Sagmeister is a New York based graphic designer, story teller and typographer originally from Austria. In these videos he talks about the relationship of design and happiness. After watching this video I realized it’s very easy to visualize happiness but it’s more difficult to actually make someone feel happy when looking at a design. After googling some of his work I think it did make me feel happy. His strange designs may be simplistic but they stand out and are funny.

What’s remarkable about Stefan Sagmeister is not just that his designs are great but that he manages to be a designer without being materialistic. He created a list of “Things I’ve learned in my life so far” where they were just some sentences in a list where he ended up creating projects for clients from. Each project was more creative then the next. Some examples were the monkeys over the city where they said “Everyone. Always. Thinks. They’re. Right.” And there was also the one with the 65,000 hangers in the street where it said “worrying solves nothing”. I think all those ideas he came up with were so random and creative that anyone who passed them would have to stop and question what is this?

Another thing I liked about him was his curiosity. I liked that he admitted to going to other designers exhibits as well as worked with them. Everyone’s brains works differently and going around to see other deisgns and how they effect you is important. One of his designs were where he basically steamed up a bunch of windows and a bunch of designers came like Massimo Vignelli and others wrote on windows what made them happy. Its exciting and interactive and so simple but it got everyones attention and I’m sure it gets people to see what kind of person he is.

He also talked about the three designs that made him happy which made me also happy too. Firstly, there was the subway signs which I found really funny and gutsy! Normally people don’t look at those signs so when they look up and see the signs that that designer put it caught their attention and made them smile. Secondly, the exhibit where it was so simple an opening to the sky where you could see the changing colors of the sky which honestly was probably very peaceful and bliss to watch! Thirdly, the speech bubbles, something so simple. It was crazy how people actually participated, this designer actually got people to actually stop look at the ad and the speech bubble and wrote this funny thing that popped into their head. I think people in New York City especially are able to appreciate this humor in their busy lives.

As a designer he’s very chill and a good speaker. It’s nice to see that out work as designers may not always be so serious but there will also be some fun and joy to look forward too. As a designer its inspirational to see success in the weird thought process and the creativity it brings when executing a project, it’s an idea worth spreading!