Stefan Sagmeister is a graphic designer, typographer, and artist known not only for his artwork, but also for his authorship, and motivational speaking. He has created a brand that, while having commercial appeal, also has a sharp eye for detail, and carries the emotional weight, and sense of design of other current artists. Is work, when compared to other commercial art used similarly, is much more aligned with fine art, and as such appears to have more artistic value.
Stefan Sagmeister was born in August 1962 in Austria. His Austrian citizenry ultimately shaped him significantly as an artist. He left Austria and traveled to Vienna in order to study graphic design and applied arts. He also studied in New York, via the Fullbright scholarship, however was forced by Austrian law to return to that country, to fulfill his military and public service obligation (LCC Photography 1). This obligatory service led him to do design work for the city, which was his first significant professional experience as a designer. He also gained experience doing side jobs, or acting as a freelance designer on the side during that time. This eventually led him to work with Leo Burnett in Hong Kong, which allowed them to work more in advertising and commercial design (LCC Photography 1). After working abroad for several years, he ultimately took a job working for Tibor Kalman, which allowed him to build a strong personal reputation before M&Co closed its doors, at which time he founded his own agency(LCC Photography 1).
As an artist, at Sagmeister Inc., he has most prominently developed commercial art for the music industry, through the influence of his early educators and business associations are reflected in his work. In contrast, however, his commercial design is more art based, and less commercial than many of his peers, in that he has an eye for details and balance that is uncommon in commercial art.
Among his most well-known works is the poster and cover art for Set the Twilight Reeling album by Lou Reed (Abbot 1). The title track of the album has lyrics that refer to a star that has newly emerged. It was this idea that Sagmeister tried to embody in the multilayer album cover design. The original jewel case used on the album had a deep purple cover that, when placed over the album insert appeared to show a dark blue and purple image of Lou Reed’s face (Sagmeister & Walsh, 1). However, when that insert was removed from the case, the insert was a bright yellow sunburst design, representing the bright birth of a star out of darkness. Together the CD itself, and the ret card, cam together to form a eclipse, which is also refered to as the “ultimate twilight” (Sagmeister & Walsh 1) Further, the typography of the album was specifically designed to reflect the lyrical prose and theme of the album itself.
This is a clear demonstration of the multifaceted design that Sagmeister built into his commercial design. Generally, commercial design is flat, and revolves around a single image, that focuses on sales as much, or more, than it focuses on artistry, however Sagmeister’s design incorporated multiple elements of design, themes from the lyric, a union of artistry and topography and developed something that was ultimately aligned with both Reed’s vision for the album and the music’s lyrical prose.
It is the depth of his work that has also allowed it to have many of the same features as fine art. Because of his painstaking attention to detail there are elements of the artwork that catch you anew every time you look at it (LCC Photography 1). Whether it is the typographic features, and a single work on the face of Reed inside the case, or the use of greens in the sunburst on his face, the details create an image that is more than it can be simply taken for at face value, and which is valuable enough to warrant a second, or even a third, thoughtful look.
In terms of his influences, Sagmeister was once quoted as saying ““Tibor Kalman was the single most influential person in my design life and my one and only design hero,” he says. There were probably a number of people around who were as smart as Tibor (and there were certainly a lot who were better at designing), but nobody else could sell these concepts without any changes, get those ideas with almost no alterations out into the hands of the public. Nobody else was as passionate” (Alderson, 1) This is certainly reflected in his work today, in that he is capable of commercial success without losing the passion that is behind the work itself. This creates the ability to be both prolific, delivering commercial images in a timely fashion, without losing the features of passionate artistry that set him apart from other artists.
As a commercial artist and graphic designer, Stefan Sagmeister has made a name for himself, not only for working with musical greats like Rolling Stones and Lou Reed, but perhps more significantly for his ability to create award winning designs that speak to the viewer, and which maintain their artistic qualities, in spite of their need to be commercial. Today, he is well known as a typographer, artist author, and speaker, in addition to owning his own design firm. Starting with the work he created for Lou Reed, for the Album Set the Twilight Reeling, Sagmeister has created a brand that delivers multifaceted detailed art, for use in the commercial setting. When his work is compared to other commercial artistry the styles that inspire him are self-evident, and the final product is as much fine art as it is advertistry in nature.
Works Cited:
Abbott, Bonnie. “Lou Red: A Eulogy of Album Covers.” Desktop, Culture of Design. 2013. Web.
Alderson, Rob. “Why Sagmeister & Walsh Works: An interview with the renowned design duo about their partnership” Its Nice That. 2015. Web
LCC Photography. “Stefan Sagmeister” Design Research. N.d. Web.
Sagmeister & Walsh. “Lou Reed, ‘Set the Twilight Reeling’.” Design Products. 2016. Web.
