Stefan Sagmeister is one of the highest regarded designers in the world. His work has affected and changed the world of design in many ways. Heās really impressive person who can also be quite odd in some ways. Heās a person who constantly tries to see value in his work and his life. One way he goes about it is he has a list about various moments he has found happiness. When you look at his list you can tell he has found that design has played a major role in his happiness. He has said that whatās important is being happy while experiencing design and being happy designing.
Sagmeister talks about one exhibition he visited in Japan. The exhibition revolved around happiness. The exhibition was separated between different aspects; arcadia, nirvana, desire and harmony. Arcadia was represented with paintings and scrolls from the Edo era. Nirvana was shown with constable paintings. Desire was represented with shunsho paintings of sexual acts and stimulation. Harmony being the last was visualized through mandalas. Sagmeister found this exhibition lacking because it was merely the visualization of happiness. Itās true in a deeper sense. Youād be getting someoneās definition of happiness and what may seem as happiness for someone may not be for someone else. Sagmeister may be saying that everyone needs to define their own happiness. I agree with this view. We should stop depending on otherās definition of happiness and stop seeking something that doesnāt exist for us because our happiness may be something else. Sagmeister finds this happens especially with advertising and that advertisers use the concept of happiness very loosely, in ways that suck and give happiness a bad reputation.
Sagmeister goes on to list out the works that have left an impression in him closely related to happiness, one being the campaign done by True. The campaign revolved around adding their own subway stickers that gave instruction on how to deal with life, hopelessness and many different things. I thought it was a very hilarious thing to do. Itās something you would look at if you happened to be bored but I imagine itās harder to do now that there is more advertising inside train carts. Another work, Sagmeister mentioned was the 55,000 speech bubbles. It was a fun project. It gave people the chance to just write something clever, funny, or just outright opinions. It could be considered design but it was something that gave people the power to comment. If you saw an empty speech bubble you would see it and write something. He also mentioned Vik Munizās cloud and the PS1 James Turrel piece. I like that Sagmeister has described moments of happiness through experiencing design and maybe that is how happiness can be āmeasuredā or found through experiences rather than anything else. All in all,
Itās a conversation that could go on for hours on happiness but none the less it is interesting to hear about someoneās moments of happiness described. Being happy for me is always improving yourself and reinventing yourself and resetting oneās mindset. One happy moment for me was when I first found that design is not all mechanical and outright commercial. That moment was when I made textures and made my own graphics for an editorial spread. Another moment is when I see boring information really well designed. It means they took their time to design and imagined what would call peopleās attention first.
āThings Iāve learned in my life so farā is an interesting talk and an interesting way to think about life and experiences. It makes you turn consider every event as a learning experience and what you could have gotten out of it. Stefan Sagmeister has certainly learned a lot from his projects and the designs he has observed. I can say the same. I feel through every project I have touched I have gained more value as a designer and more skills. I also have learned things that have been added as core values, things I value in life whether that being how much time is being put into something, how much am I giving of myself to a project or something in my life. I also do think having a dairy and jotting down ideas, certain feelings or experiences has allowed me to reflect on many things pertaining to my life. Iām sure there are many other things I have learned so far in my life. Putting them down is hard because experiences are hard to describe because writing down would be the afterthought. However, I can definitely say with confidence I do look up to Stefan Sagmeister.
