Introduction
Stefan was a graphic designer based in New York. He is well-remembered for his lettering artistry. Born in August 1962, he was, Stefan co-founded Sagmeister $ Walsh Inc, a design firm. Stefan’s style was essential for his rise to fame. He employed provocative, unorthodox designs in questioning the role that designers played in the society. He received the skill of graphic design by studying in the University of Applied Arts Vienna. After this, Stefan received a scholarship to study in New York, Pratt Institute. He commenced his career as a designer when he was aged 15. By 1991, he moved to work with Leo Burnett in Hong Kong. After three years in Hong Kong, he returned to work in M&Co owned by Tibor Kalman. He did not stay here for long because Kalman decided to retire so that he could edit colors in Italy (Sagmeister et al. 42).
Sagmeister’s first major work was when he was 15 years. During this time, he wrote for Alphom magazine (Allison, 135). His core role at this magazine was writing articles to enable the magazine sell. However, as he later learned, it was more enjoyable working on the layout than writing the articles. Despite his young age as a designer during this time, Sagmeister was so peripatetic. In 1991, he earned himself a special position working with Leo Burnett. It is a surprise that this job in Hong Kong failed to trigger Sagmeister’s atavistic rebellion. However, it gave him a chance to taste other worlds (Frame et al. 69).
Sagmeister’s major weapon was that he worked through networking, easily making friends who would later shape his career in a positive way. While study in New York, he befriended Tobor Kalman, a design bad boy (Jobling et al. 261). According to Sagmeister, Kalman turned out to be an influential person in his life and career in designing. Throughout his life, Sagmeister considered Kalman as his true hero, exposing his other qualities of appreciating good deeds. The interaction between them turned out to be strong as they had several similar ideas and a similar sketch on how to implement them.
Shifting from one field to another
It is through working with Kalman that Sagmeister learned his trade. During the time that Kalman hired him, Sagmeister learned that Kalman always gave advice that was wisdom-laced. This proved to be special as Sagmeister was able to cultivate his career in a positive manner (Justice et al. 76). The freedom that Kalman gave Sagmeister was essential in building Sagmeister’s confidence. For instance, Kalman encouraged him to always pursue his creative restlessness. Kalman’s character made this possible as he encouraged him to shift from one field to another, depending on how comfortable he was at a given field. It is because of this that Sagmeister maneuvered the fields of book and magazine editing, corporate design, products, documentary movies, music videos, magazine editing among many more others. Sagmeister was synonymous with his mentality that one should do everything twice. According to him, the first time means one does not know what they are doing. The second time, one is in a position to do it. The third time, the act becomes boring (Targ et al. 118).
As a CD cover designer
The next major work of Sagmeister was as a CD cover designer. He specialized in this sector after Kalman moved to Rome following the disbandment of M&Co. Kalman’s new role in Italy was to edit the magazine “Colors”. According to I.D. magazine, the CD package designs by Sagmeister were the basis of poetry. His work was intense, evocative, distilled and utterly complete. It is because of this that the intentions of Sagmeister set new standards. Among the musicians Sagmeister designed for went on to become musical heroes. Some of them included Lou Reed, Jay-Z, Mick Jagger and David Byrne (Lamprecht et al. 118). Taking advantage of the personas of the artists, Sagmeister managed to create a unique artwork. He mostly used packaging and printing tricks which mostly involved die-cuts, laser-cuts and model building. He later received two Grammy Awards because of his eclectic and elegant concepts.
Visual Arts
In 2003, Sagmeister worked on other major works different from what he did early on. After handling devices while on a trip to Seoul, he decided to venture in Visual Arts. His reason was based on the vision that both design and art would prove to be irrelevant in the next two years. In the year 2008, he took a one-year sabbatical from active work, taking a retreat in Bali.
After the sabbatical, Sagmeister shifted his focus to text-based artwork. In this work, he used text fragments and aphorisms to express the ideas that he designed with the aim of fostering individual thought. Most of his works were published in his monograph. In 2012, he co-founded Sagmeister & Walsh.
Works Cited
Sagmeister Stefan, Bernhard Lamprecht, Elke Kraker, Stefan KÃstler, Birgit Ungerbck, and Torsten Mayr. "Filter-free integrated sensor array based on luminescence and absorbance measurements using ring-shaped organic photodiodes." Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 404.10 (2012): 2841-2849. Print.
Allison, Deborah. "Uncredited: Graphic Design & Opening Titles in Movies." Design and Culture 1.1 (2009): 135-136. Print.
Frame, Barbara. "Graphic design before graphic designers: the printer as designer and craftsman, 1700 “1914/The book of books: 500 years of graphic innovation." The Australian Library Journal 62.1 (2013): 69-70. Print.
"Graphic design, referenced: a visual guide to the language, applications, and history of graphic design." Choice Reviews Online 47.08 (2010): 47-4211-47-4211. Print.
Jobling, P.. "Graphic Design History * Clean New World: Culture, Politics, and Graphic Design." Journal of Design History 16.3 (2003): 260-262. Print.
Justice, Lorraine. "Technology in Graphic Design: A Survey of the Changing Tasks and Environment of Graphic Designers." Design Management Journal (Former Series) 4.2 (1993): 74-79. Print.
Lamprecht, Bernhard, Andreas Tschepp, Merima, Stefan Sagmeister, Volker Ribitsch, and Stefan KÃstler. "A luminescence lifetime-based capillary oxygen sensor utilizing monolithically integrated organic photodiodes." The Analyst 138.20 (2013): 5875. Print.
Sagmeister, Stefan, Tobias Abel, Torsten Mayr, Birgit UngerbÃck, Joachim R. Krenn, Harald Ditlbacher, Nicole Galler, Volker Ribitsch, Stefan KÃstler, Elke Kraker, and Bernhard Lamprecht. "Screen-printed polymer waveguides for integrated optics." Applied Physics B 111.4 (2013): 647-650. Print.
Stefan, Sagmeister. "Graphic Abstrract." Letters in Drug Design & Discovery 9.5 (2012): 9-12. Print.
Targ, Rebecca. "Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide." Design and Culture 2.1 (2010): 117-119. Print.
