IDS | Creative Industry Report

Stefan Sagmeister, taken from https://the-talks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Stefan-Sagmeister-01.jpg

The designer that I admire is Stefan Sagmeister. He is an Austrian born designer based in New York. He has various roles to his name – graphic designer, visual artist, performance artist, storyteller and typographer, with one of his most notable works being the AIGA Detroit poster.

AIGA Detroit Poster, taken from https://sagmeister.com/
Album Covers for Musicians (David Byrne, The Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Aerosmith & etc.)

He also designed album covers for musicians such as Lou Reed, OK Go, The Rolling Stones, David Byrne, Jay Z, Aerosmith and Pat Metheny. He is the co-founder of Sagmeister & Walsh, a well-known famous design firm. Living by his motto, “Design that needed guts from the creator and still carries of these guts in the final execution,” he creates intriguing and provocative designs that gave the status of graphic designers a redefinition.

Sagmeister & Walsh, taken from https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52327db1e4b09f8abccee0aa/1460640537384-W578LHL865G0VXPPXRU0/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kCP-RXyubmhYUirYdisySENZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpxPNAiIggRQ2U3sCnuexZy_sG_fmA474tB_cUaQ2lyK3sXK-xIBy-b7DbxTc0lI7o0/image-asset.png

He is really creative on giving innovative and unique art direction for projects, where he does not go with what is available commercially, but produces work that evokes emotions, with a human approach to it. His work ethics is also a point to learn, where he do not just focus on profits, but on projects that he will be happy and love doing.

On top of that, the personal well-being of him as a creative practitioner is also very important for him, where he takes a year-long sabbatical to ensure that he does not lose interest in his passion for creating.

Being an influential figure, he also provides a lot of help and advice for budding designers by giving feedback on their work. He currently has an ongoing series on his Instagram where he uses it as a platform to critique work that people have sent him. It’s very heart-warming to see people within the creative industry offering help to each other to grow their own creative practice, and I enjoy reading the critiques he offers to learn some dos and don’ts myself too.

(303 words)

References:

Famous, G. D. (2018). Stefan Sagmeister: Biography, Designs and Facts. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://www.famousgraphicdesigners.org/stefan-sagmeister

Heller, S. (2013, September 2). Stefan Sagmeister. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://www.aiga.org/medalist-stefan-sagmeister

Sagmeister, S. (2020). Work – Sagmeister Inc. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://sagmeister.com/

Sagmeister, S., & Walsh, J. (2020). Work – Sagmeister & Walsh. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://sagmeisterwalsh.com/

Wikipedia, O. (2020, September 16). Stefan Sagmeister. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Sagmeister