Product Description

Just as film, art, music and literature have the power to move people, Stefan Sagmeister's innovative work shows that graphic design, too, can cut to the emotional core. His desire is to transform stale thinking--Sagmeister Made You Look will do just that. Fully illustrated, with a red PVC slipcase, this monograph covers twenty years of his graphic design and features images from the studio archive as well as specific influences and reference points for his projects and ideas. Stefan Sagmeister, born in Austria, received his MFA in graphic design from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and, as a Fulbright scholar, a master's degree from the Pratt Institute in New York. Following stints at M&Co. in New York with Tibor Kalman and as creative director at the Hong Kong office of the advertising agency Leo Burnett, Sagmeister formed the New York-based Sagmeister Inc. in 1993. Text by Peter Hall. Designed by Sagmeister Inc., New York.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1279094 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From Amazon.com
Another self-indulgent design monograph (practically everything we have ever designed including the bad stuff) is Stefan Sagmeister's hand-scrawled subtitle for the first book about his work, Made You Look. This, and the book's clear red case and silver-gilded pages, seem contrary to the raw, handwritten style he is known for, already setting us up for a wild and very personal ride through almost the entire corpus of the 39-year-old designer's work. Sagmeister once scratched words into his skin for his own lecture poster at Cranbrook, and this is the book version--sometimes enlightening, sometimes embarrassing, always self-conscious, and ultimately touching. The story is a conversation between Peter Hall's text and Sagmeister's handwritten commentary, a perfect and believable device for an absorbing dialogue. Self-indulgent as Made You Look may be, Sagmeister lays himself open with idealism, irony, and humor, creating one of the most moving books about design. --Juliette Cezzar

Radical Graphics
Sagmeister's work reveals a design schizophrenia: one moment, he's creating traditional designs that would make Massimo Vignelli nod in assent,

About the Author
Stefan Sagmeister, born in Austria, recieved his MFA in graphic design from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and, as a Fulbright scholar, a master's degree from the Pratt Institute in New York. Following Stints at M&Co. in New York with Tibor Calman and as creative director at the Hong Kong office of the advertising agency Leo Burnett, Sagmeister formed the New York-based Sagmeister Inc. in 1993.

Customer Reviews

Thanks, Stephan!
This book was such a relief for my eyes when they're all been fed up with fancy, trendy , modernistic, digital-based design books (or whatever they call themselves).
I realized that I could think and do more than "well-produced mediocrity", thanks to you, Stephan (Hope I'll be in your class one day. I just drew a picture of myself sitting at the table under the slogan fart=style in your office. I know that's where I'll be sitting at 3 years from now)
Best of the Best Books of the Year!

Overhyped designer? Maybe not enough.
This book is from an era of modern-expensive-top-of-designer-coffe-table-books and from way overhyped art directors as Bruce Mau, David Carson and others. But Stagmeister in another story. Witty, smart, so intelligent and original that I think he really deserves all these 5 stars. Even closed the book has design, good humour and idea. In overhyped designers age, this is the one who deserves it.

The favorite in my graphic design book library
Stefan Sagmeister pushes the edges way beyond recognition. He ventures places I would (or could) never dare, but this work inspires me to be a little more daring, a little edgier, to design a bit more controversially to get attention and evoke reaction. He has incredible vision and imagination, and is bold enough to carry off some very challenging and creative pieces. The line between graphic design and true art is blurred - wait, absent - in much of his work. I've read the book cover to cover a couple of times, but it's always a pleasure just to leaf through and discover something new and delightful. This is the one book I would not want to do without, if only because he inspires me to try more, do more.