Graphic designer, Stefan Sagmeister speaks to Asia Tatler about Hong Kong, the 4As awards and his latest project on his own happiness
Described as “the Johnny Depp of the design world,” Austrian-born Stefan Sagmeister worked for the late Tibor Kalman and eventually opened a studio in New York. Sagmeister, in fact, worked for the Leo Burnett advertising agency from 1991 to 1993 in Hong Kong, where he incited controversy over transforming a traditional Chinese image of four men into a bum-bearing poster for the 4As awards.
Most famous for his Grammy-award winning work, designing album covers for David Byrne and Talking Heads, as well as The Rolling Stones and Lou Reed – Sagmeister has, in the past decade, moved away from his earlier work of fashioning DIY typography with tree branches, strips of material, his own body and concentrated on finding meaning in his work and only taking on projects that interest him – a true luxury for any artist who also needs to earn a buck.
Asia Tatler: What message do you want to get across to the Hong Kong audience?
Stefan Sagmeister: How to design one’s life as a person and a designer.
AT: Meaning?
SS: When I was working in Hong Kong, I found the world of design and advertising oddly ruled by financial concerns. I am not saying money is not important when running a design studio; it is. The financial health of our little operation is on my mind, but there are so many other concerns that on a daily basis influence how we, our clients and our audiences move and feel much more.
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AT: So you didn’t like Hong Kong?
SS: I loved the city and hated the working conditions. Sixteen hours every day, including weekends, does not produce good work. It mostly produced fancy junk.
AT: Like what?
SS: Oh, there was so much: Over packaging mediocre products with many layers, printing brochures with precious pieces of vellum, not only silk-screened but also hot-stamped, in between every French-folded page. Accepting poorly thought-out instructions and briefs as a matter of course. Redoing the same job over and over again as a result. Rushing as a substitute for thinking, drinking as a valve for letting out steam . . .
Poster for Lou Reed's "Set the Twillight Reeling", 1996
AT: Tell us what happened with the 4As poster.
SS: We just took the name of the organisers of the Hong Kong Advertising Awards literally: The 4As – Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies – and showed four bare “A”s. Trite, almost. The 4 naked “A”s created quite a scandal. It was discussed for months in the trade press and was shown on the cover of the South China Morning Post.
AT: Is it true some agencies boycotted the awards?
SS: Yes, I remember. It was fun, especially because the international judges, unaware of the local controversy, bestowed the gold award on the poster. Many booed when I picked up that award.
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AT: What is your latest project?
SS: I am working on a small, but nevertheless feature-length documentary on my own happiness called The Happy Film. It’s due for release in 2013. This will be a film about trying out various tips from psychologists to see if it is possible to train the mind in the same way it is possible to train the body, with the goal of improving my own well-being.
AT: How did you come up with the idea?
SS: I was always interested in how to improve my surroundings and my well-being. In a sense, why be interested in anything else? Most things I do everyday are somehow geared towards this goal anyway And it seemed more challenging to do this in film rather than print. Trying out a new medium prevents me from becoming too complacent.
