Stefan Sagmeister is a Austrian designer working in New York City whose work gets attention worldwide. He's done projects for so famous clients like, e.g. Adobe, the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, Aerosmith etc. Sagmeister got awarded with the Lucky Strike Award 2009 which is endowed with 50.000$. Moreover, he got nominated for the Grammy because of his awesome CD cover designs four times and got awarded once, for the cover of the Talking Heads album "Once In A Lifetime" in 2005. Since 1993 Sagmeister runs a small design studio in New York City.

What inspires you at the moments of creation?

One of my most frequent sources of inspiration is a newly occupied hotel room. I find it easy to work far away from the studio, where thoughts about the implementation of an idea don't come to mind immediately but I can dream a bit more freely

"Our own tongues weren't long enough. So (photographer) Tom Schierlitz went to the meat market and came back with cow's tongues. They looked great."

How do you define 'creativity'?

To create with open perception.

How do you see design for business purposes? In the enthusiasm of selling, is it possible to say that the end justifies the means?

I think we are responsible for anything we do, walking down the street, climbing a mountain and selling a product. We can do all three in a wonderful, sweet and elegant fashion, or we can fuck it up. It’s all up to us.

For whom would you like to design?

Coca Cola and King Crimson.

This work is created out of 2500 paper coffee cups and symbolizes the pure caffeine design students are often running on.

How do you know when to say no to a potential client?

When the product is bad. When I don't like them. When they have rush jobs (clients who are bad at scheduling a job are often bad in other areas too).

What aspects of CD packaging drew you to doing CD packaging design for the music industry, and why do you feel you've been so successful at it?

Music is my other big interest in life. Its more interesting to go to meetings with Lou Reed and David Byrne than spending my time with marketing managers. CD covers normally don't get thrown away. Many CD's are distributed internationally and printed in large quantities. I am very tall, so I love working on something very small.

Sagmeister won the Grammy for designing this CD box of the Talking Heads.

Why did David Byrne, the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed come to you to design their CDs?

Free lemon wafers.

What would make you NOT do a CD for a band that asked?

1. Bad music. There is an old (but nevertheless true) adage that your cover is only as good as the music it packages.
2. The need for a big breasted female astronaut having to play a major role on the cover (=actual request)
3. Nasty people"

TED talks

Stefan Sagmeister shares happy design

Stefan Sagmeister on what he has learned

For more information visit:

http://www.sagmeister.com
http://twitter.com/sagmeisterinc

Update: Stefan Sagmeister has just won his second Grammy for the best box design on Monday.