http://swisslegacy.com/2008/01/13/things-i-have-learned-in-my-life-so-far-2/ Swiss Legacy, by the initiative of Art Director Xavier Encinas, is a blog focused on typography, graphic design and inspirational matters. Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:53:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://swisslegacy.com/2008/01/13/things-i-have-learned-in-my-life-so-far-2/#comment-604 Jeff Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:53:31 +0000 http://www.swisslegacy.com/index.php/2008/01/13/things-i-have-learned-in-my-life-so-far/#comment-604 I love your blog but I'm so sick of seeing Sagmeister's work everywhere! The U.S. design press swoons every time he turns around. A lot of his work is very clever but decidedly ugly and often gimmicky, in my opinion. He's bascially an artist posing as a designer, as the work is bizarrely impractical or stunt-like. The photo you have posted with the article, for example: a giant inflated bear or something... is that graphic design? Does it mean anything? For his girlfriend, a fashion designer, he made an ad by spelling words with paper towels on a wood floor and photographing it. That was it. Unexpected, yes, but would anyone look at that and want to buy the fashions (which aren't even pictured?) He also shocks people by taking pictures of his genitals, dead animal parts, etc., which of course causes a stir but seems like resorting to the lowest form of tactics. The U.S. design press has a fetish for novelty, which Sagmeister manipulates like Madonna does with the pop music media. But his work utterly lacks functionalism, elegance or restraint, which are the hallmarks of the Swiss legacy, I think, and what I love and admire about so much of the work posted on your blog. Others are free to disagree with me, obviously. I'm sure I'm in the minority. I love your blog but I’m so sick of seeing Sagmeister’s work everywhere! The U.S. design press swoons every time he turns around. A lot of his work is very clever but decidedly ugly and often gimmicky, in my opinion. He’s bascially an artist posing as a designer, as the work is bizarrely impractical or stunt-like. The photo you have posted with the article, for example: a giant inflated bear or something… is that graphic design? Does it mean anything? For his girlfriend, a fashion designer, he made an ad by spelling words with paper towels on a wood floor and photographing it. That was it. Unexpected, yes, but would anyone look at that and want to buy the fashions (which aren’t even pictured?) He also shocks people by taking pictures of his genitals, dead animal parts, etc., which of course causes a stir but seems like resorting to the lowest form of tactics.
The U.S. design press has a fetish for novelty, which Sagmeister manipulates like Madonna does with the pop music media. But his work utterly lacks functionalism, elegance or restraint, which are the hallmarks of the Swiss legacy, I think, and what I love and admire about so much of the work posted on your blog.
Others are free to disagree with me, obviously. I’m sure I’m in the minority.

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