try something new: Stefan Sagmeister

Okay. So you’ve heard of the classical artists like Picasso and Van Gogh. You’ve probably even heard of some modern painters and commercial artists.

But what about graphic designers?

Stefan Sagmeister is an Austrian-born designer who has created some amazing work in the past few years. I confess: I have a bit of a crush on him. I discovered him by a happy accident when I saw his TED talk on how Design can make you happy, and found it to be humorous and multi-faceted and not taking himself (or design) too seriously, yet having a focused quality to the work.

Here is Stefan Sagmeister’s Four-Part Design process, according to his book, “Made You Look”

1.) Think about the project from any point of view–your mom’s, yours, from the point of view of color, from the point of view of form–and write each response down on an index card.

2.) Spread all the cards down on a table to see if you can find the relationship between ideas.

3.) Forget about the whole thing.

4.) The idea will miraculously strike you when you least expect it.

So this got me to thinking–in addition to “trying something new” by now seeking out Stefan Sagmeister and learning about him, I wondered: could his design process be applied to a life challenge of sorts?

So, Try Something New: Think of an issue that you’ve been grappling with lately. Write it down from your point of view, your mom’s point of view…choose like 10 people. Put each point of view on an index card. Then spread them all on a table, and look for the common thread between all points of view. 

Then walk away.

Trust that the idea will strike you miraculously when you least expect it.

It’s “Try Something New” month, so consider that there’s embracing this as a fun way to approach a sticky situation, or there’s declaring it won’t work from the get-go…to what are you more committed?

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