It is delightful to have a small studio – we are 10, and we have been about this size for over 25 years. It is a scale that allows designers to be thoroughly involved in their projects and the execution of them, but it allows for a diverse range of clients and wide exposure to the designing arts. Too, it allows our relationship with our clients to be intimate and earnest.
Stefan Sagmeister
On Being Self-Motivated
Much has been written over the years about Stefan Sagmeister, the Austrian-born, New York–based graphic designer and international speaker. His promotional antics have earned him lots of attention, too. He worked for Tibor Kalman at M&Co., a conceptual studio, and then moved into advertising in Hong Kong, and currently, after having a small solo studio, he has a partnership with a former employee, Jessica Walsh, “because she was uncommonly talented.” He is known for unconventional work that balances function and aesthetics – and for taking a sabbatical every seven years, leaving work to his colleagues so that he can pursue new ideas.
SVA Poster
Art Director: Stefan Sagmeister, Jessica Walsh
Designer: Stefan Sagmeister, Jessica Walsh, Santiago Carrasquilla
Photographer: Henry Leutwyler
Creative Retoucher: Erik Johansson
You began seven-year cycles interrupted by year-long sabbaticals. Aside from being a civilized way to do business, what has been your goal?
As with many big decisions in my life, there were several reasons: One was to fight routine and boredom, but there was a second one, more complex. I had the insight that I could come up with different kinds of projects when given a different time frame to spend on them. I also expected it would be joyful. What I did not expect was that these sabbaticals would change the trajectory of the studio, and I did not dare to imagine that they would be financially successful. But they were.
You've done some juicy promotions through the years, including baring yourself for the world to see. What motivates this? What do you hope the result to be?
I had opened the studio with a card showing me naked. That card turned out to be highly functional. Not only did our then only client love it (he had put it up in his office with a note saying, “the only risk is to avoid risk”) but it also attracted more clients who were likely of a more adventurous nature. The card that announced the partnership between Jessica Walsh and me was intended as a little joke on that opening card and turned out to have worked just as well: Everybody anywhere seems to know about that partnership (and that card).
As studios go, yours is very modest. In fact, you don't have a conference room for clients. What is your rationale?
I always wanted to keep our overhead small so we could luxuriate in the luxury of choosing our jobs on merit. This satisfied us more than luxurious offices.
The Happy Show
Creative Direction: Stefan Sagmeister
Art Direction & Design: Jessica Walsh
Design: Verena Michelitsch, Jordan Amer, Simon Egli, Martin Gnadt, Santiago Carrasquilla, Esther Li
When I was visiting your studio, I saw your partner, Jessica Walsh, and six or so other workers. What do they do? And do they do their own work, or only your work?
When you visited, we were at our busiest; unusually, we had three interns working at the same time. Among the designers who work for us, usually every job is owned by an individual and everybody else chips in.
What qualities do you look for when you hire or chose an intern?
Good ideas well executed.
You are known for unpredictability. What is it that you haven't tried that you'd like to do?
I have found that it is not so helpful to talk about things I have not tried yet, as the act of talking about it removes some of my desire to actually do them.
Arnold Schwartzman
Still Designing after All These Years
Arnold Schwartzman is a graphic designer and an Oscar®-winning documentary filmmaker. As a young child during WWll, he survived the enemy bombing of his home in London; consequently, he was sent to the countryside and to the village school there. Because he was not able to catch up with the much older pupils in his class, his teacher gave him cards and foreign stamps to keep him busy. “It was a blessing in disguise,” he notes, and “as a result, I grew up in a visual, nonliterary world.” He ultimately enrolled at the local art school to learn to be a commercial artist. Schwartzman began his career in British network television, moving on to become an advertising art director, and later he joined the board of directors of Conran Design Group, London. In 1978, he was invited to Los Angeles by Saul Bass to become the design director for Saul Bass and Associates. Later, on the recommendation of Bass, he produced and directed the 1981 Oscar-winning documentary feature film, Genocide. Since then he has designed Oscar posters, programs, billboards, cinema trailers, and related collateral print for the annual Academy Awards; created two murals for the grand lobby of Cunard's Queen Elizabeth; and designed the UN Peace Bell Memorial for South Korea.
Peter and the Wolf
Illustrations for television gala program, narrated by Richard Attenborough
Art Director/Designer: Arnold Schwartzman
1960
You've been practicing graphic design for almost six decades. How has it changed, and how has it remained the same?
Apart from the craft's ever-changing nomenclature, my thought process has not changed. I believe that the concept must come first, form later. My first job in 1959 was as a graphic designer for a British television station, where all programs where transmitted in black and white and went out live. Apart from my not too perfect hand-drawn lettering, the only other method available to me for producing text was the limited fonts of Letraset. This was before the introduction of rub-down type. Each letter had to be cut out from a sheet and laboriously transferred onto a cotton screen, then pressed down onto the artwork.
Do you actually consider yourself a graphic designer, or is there another rubric?
Yes, I consider myself to be first and foremost a graphic designer, but other add-ons include filmmaker, illustrator, animator, photographer, author, and also sometimes muralist and sculptor!
Today, graphic design is no longer static. You began making films a while ago. How did you transition from paper to film?
My transition from paper to film was quite seamless. I made my first film shortly after graduating from art college, during my military service in the British Army in South Korea, where I purchased an 8-mm camera and projector from the U.S. Army PX Store. My film of postarmistice Korea is considered an historic document, and the footage is now housed in London's Imperial War Museum. I eventually moved from the local television station to Britain's premiere TV network. There I had the opportunity of working with an animation camera and was able to experiment with the rudiments of animation, which finally led to working in live action.
Death by Choice
Art Director/Designer: Arnold Schwartzman
Client: BBC
1960s
How do you remain