In last week’s class, we have watched a TED talk from graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister called “Happiness by Design.” In this TED talk, Stefan Sagmeister explains how happiness plays a role in design. He gave us examples of being happiness by experiencing design and actually doing the design, explained to us what happiness is in terms of design, showed us what parts of design help evoke happiness, and gave us tips on how to maintain happiness while we are doing design. This particular TED talk is important to me because as an illustrator, I would always finds things that make me happy and use it as inspiration.
One of the first things that Sagmeister has said in the TED talk is that if he sees something good, then he’s going to have a great time. Whereas if he sees something negative, he’ll be miserable. To me, this means that if you see something that makes you feel good, then you will be more inspired. On the other hand, if you are looking at something that does not make you feel good, chances are there would be no inspiration because you would only feel miserable throughout. For example, if you see a beautiful sunset or a gorgeous painting, it would make you feel good. However, if you see something that would give you an eyesore like a garbage on a what’s supposed to a beautiful beach, you will feel miserable. I think it’s important to look at the thing that does make you happy or at least feel good because it would give you more motivation and inspiration.
Sagmeister had a list of moments “that took his breath away.” He looked at the list from a design standpoint and eliminated the moments that had nothing to do with design. He goes on to explain that there are two possibilities when dealing with design. The first possibility is from the consumer’s point-of-view, which is where you are “being happy by experiencing design.” Everything that we experience or look at is considered a design, so we are happy with design because we enjoy them. A design can literally be anything like a purse, smart phone, gaming console, or fashion. The point is that they have all been designed for the consumer’s need, and as long they can enjoy these designs, they will find happiness within them. The second possibility when dealing with design is from the designer’s point-of-view, where you are “being happy designing.” One way how you can tell a designer is enjoying what he or she does is by simply looking at them. It rather easy to tell whether or not the designer is happy while doing what they do.
After that, Sagmeister went on to explain about how some designs are only the visualization of happiness and not actually happiness. Getting the visualization of happiness is a really easy thing to do, and anyone is capable doing it. It can be as easy as taking a happy dog on a book cover and turning it into an aggressive dog just by removing a single content. He said that within advertising, the particular word “happy” has a bad reputation. Much so that if you do something pertaining to the word and want to remain authentic, you have to do it from a cynical point of view. The visualization of happiness from there would have a dark side instead of an innocent side.
Sagmeister gave some important tips on how to maintain happiness while doing design. With the deadline far away, you can think about ideas and content freely, so it is important to work without pressure. It’s also important to work without being interrupted or frazzled. Sagmeister said that we should try not getting stuck doing the same thing. I personally have this issue, for sometimes I get stuck on a project if don’t know what to do with it. Sometimes, it’s good to get out of the studio or house and just go outside. You might even find inspiration from going outside. It’s important to work on projects that matters to you. Like I have said, I find something that I enjoy and get inspiration from there. The most important thing is to enjoy and be proud of the end results.
