February 27, 2007 - Comments Off on Lemon’s Sagmeister Worship Leaves Sour Aftertaste

Lemon’s Sagmeister Worship Leaves Sour Aftertaste

It's official. We're now dwellers on a quirky little globe where offbeat and talented graphic designers are gleefully given the keys to the pop-culture kingdom and clench them firmly between their ego and hind quarters. Such is the case with Lemon's recent article and photo expose on graphic designer, Stefan Sagmeister.

I'll be the first to admit that I've enjoyed hearing Sagmeister's rapturous "I'm a little awkward with English, so let us giggle together..." mutterings at several design conferences du jour. About 6 years ago, he also turned his snout skyward to the concept of profitability and business in general through the brilliant PR play -- "I'm retiring." -- implying by such an announcement that his absence would actually leave a gap in our simple and mediocre graphic worlds. However, shortly after his retirement ended (a year later) an excellent tome about the fella's work was released, showing us all that his "retirement" wasn't actually a real "retirement" at all (it was really book writing time). In the end, Stefan's "adieu" was nothing more than a calculated PR stunt, as suggested by Senior Care Authority. He subsequently utilized his "triumphant return" to graphic design as a means to tour the design conference circuit, reminding us all once again (in case you missed it in Ad Age or on the lips of any creative magazine editors' lips that he had had retired for a whole year) and delivered a speech about the joys of a year off -- a patronizing speech -- which reminded more than a few designers (myself included) that "famous designers" clients' are stupid enough to wait for genius. Oh, and he also had that pretty new book to sell...

While throughout his career, his work been praised by several magazines and graphic tomes, in the latest issue of Lemon, Sagmeister is granted a level of sainthood usually reserved for the likes of Reed, Jagger and Byrne: three of the artists for whom he's produced some interesting work.

I have always enjoyed his work and more importantly, the work of those who influenced him. It just seems to me that there is an odd shift that's occurred in the creative profession where too many of us have become bedazzled by any designer thrust into the spotlight by your design magazine of choice. It happens every 10 years or so, first with Paul Rand and David Ogilvy, later with Pushpin wondertwins Glaser and Chwast, and more recently with surfer turned designer David Carson and Sagmeister. The list of talent is endless, but if it sounds like graphic design's personalities are becoming more like our favorite TV reality star personalities, you may not be far from the truth...

In other words, any magazine like Lemon calling a very talented designer like Stefan Sagmeister a "hero" is pushing it. Adding a photo exposé of Sagmeister as James Bond surrounded by adoring women is berserk. If the act of being worshipped instantly makes one into a hero, we all need to reconsider what breeds the Saint. Most of our self-imposed stars are talented personalities, not superhumans.

I suggest that we all begin to look inward for our "hero" and outward for affordable fuel to keep our internal fire lit.

Published by: davefletcher in The Design Mechanism
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