Core77

Stefan doesn't care about kerning!!

Yup. You heard it here first. We were up close n personal with the king of graphic design.

Here are a few choice, albeit paraphrased, sound bites from Sagmeister's round table discussion at Gravity Free:

Sag on Pencils vs Illustrator:

Young designers today are as skilled on Illustrator as I am with a pencil. It's a tool. So fine, treat it as a tool, but not as a solution.

Sag on sabbaticals:

Gaps are a possibility for re-organization

Sag on Art vs Design:

I like making things that are useful for the world. Design bridges that gap between conceptual art and marketplace.

more after the jump

Sag on New York vs Euorpe:

I love it. I love New York. I opened my studio to work with music industry clients. I couldn't have done that anywhere in Europe, except London. I like London just fine but New York is more cultural...

Sag on Typography:

I am not a typographer. I started working in Design by working on an Austrian magazine. I had more fun making the layouts than writing the articles. We would Letraset everything in those days. But we didn't have any money, so we would get ad agencies and design companies to donate their old letters. We always ended up missing the 'e'. I got so tired of looking for it, that I ended up just drawing the headlines myself.....so when you talk about kerning...well, I don't really care. I appreciate it's importance, but honestly I just don't care that much. In the studio, we aim to create typographically correct work, but if I, personally, was asked to specify the kerning in a design I don't know if I could...

Sag on Sketchbooks

I keep a very neat sketchbook.
I keep a separate diary that I type on the computer. Every Saturday. I type it because sometimes I get so excited that I can't read my writing.

Sag on Size

It matters. Size matters. I couldn't take a year of sabbatical if the studio was 100 people. That's why we stay small. Very small.

Sag on Design

I design because it is Life. Everything is design. Your hair, your lipstick, the air conditioning vents, I can't go anywhere without seeing Design. I believe it has contributed to a better life. I believe I live in a better life now than in the 19th century. And that is due to the influence of Architecture and Design....I am happy to be alive now.