For someone who’s achieved so much success in the graphic design world, Stefan Sagmeister is very concerned with its current state of affairs. In recent years, the straight-talking Austrian has campaigned for a shift in the use of graphic design – a moral call for designers to move away from its obvious sales and promotional functions, and focus more on informing and educating an audience instead. Not quite what we’d expect from a man who infamously had his intern take an X-acto knife to his chest and carve out text before photographing the result for an AIGA poster back in 1999.
This more anarchic side of Sagmeister is what has earned him his reputation, and a stellar list of clients, including Lou Reed, the Rolling Stones and Talking Heads. His earlier work was often riddled with typography and text created from strips of cloth or in his own handwriting, intentionally aggressive and without much apparent finesse. Underneath the snarky humour and occasional nudity though, Sagmeister’s ability to conceptualise shone through. In his newer work, the concept has become increasingly distilled and while appearing tamer than his earlier projects, the designer’s latest offerings have been more dimensional, refined and satirical than before.
When the Kunsthaus Bregenz sent us a copy of the magazine they commissioned to celebrate their 10th anniversary, we knew we had something special on our hands. Simple, yet thought provoking, it was no surprise that Sagmeister was the mastermind behind it.
Click here to read more about the idea behind Stefan Sagmeister’s collaboration with Kunsthaus Bregenz and some of his other musings and here to see a gallery of his work.
Click here to view images of the magazine.
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Stefan Sagmeister
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