Stefan Sagmeister

Stefan
his

Sagmeister is an Austrian graphic designer that influenced the world with

unique creative thinking. He became renowned for his unorthodox,
provocative and peculiar designs, such as the event poster for an
American Institute of Graphic Arts lecture in 1999 where he
carved the information into his naked body. His CD package
designs were widely acclaimed by critics for their elegant and
eclectic concepts. The Rolling Stones Bridges to Babylon,
Talking Heads Once in a Lifetime or David Byrnes Feelings
were outstandingly designed using diverse printing and
packaging techniques, such as laser-cuts, die-cuts or model
building.

Firstly, Stefan Sagmeister taught me an essential lesson: a great graphic designer

pursues a calling, not a career. For him, the career is something that provides sufficient
financial resources to spend on another leveling mechanism. Contrarily, the calling
involves passion, hard-work and dedication while being unconcerned about the monetary
gains. His commitment allowed him to design memorable eye-catching graphics and
develop a unique style. Therefore, I have started to keep a Design Idea Book, a
notebook full of random ideas, sketches, thoughts and insights from my daily life that I
could use in future projects.
Lastly, I was fascinated by his ability to remain original in spite of the trends and
conventions that most designers followed. He achieved this by constantly travelling
around the world to get inspired and to refresh his ideas. Stefan Sagmeister was
influenced by his journeys in Honk Kong, Bali or Indonesia when he produced Casa da
Musica identity or the movie The Happy Film. To apply this knowledge, I have the used
my trip to the Adriatic Sea in Croatia as inspiration for my poster for Centre of Excellence
in Physics Bucharest.
To conclude, Stefan Sagmeister is a remarkable artist, an inventive leader and a great
role-model for all generations of graphic designers, spreading his knowledge through
international TED Talks and lectures.

Poster for an American Institute

of Graphic Arts lecture

The Rolling Stones Bridges to

Babylon album cover

Casa da Musica of Porto identity