Sage-Meister

Graphic designer and typographer Stefan Sagmeister has produced Another Book about Promotion and Sales Material.

He’s saved us the job of pointing out how many of these kinds of book there are – and we do receive quite a few – but it’s a very highly produced, well executed retrospective of the last ten years of his career in art direction and graphic design, for big name bands including The Rolling Stones and Talking Heads, big name brands like Levis and personal projects.

All of the work in this book is new, hasn’t featured in his last two, and concentrates largely on commercial work.

It has been published in one of Sagmeister’s fallow years, a sabbatical he takes every seven years to look at experimental personal projects, rather than commercial work.

There are plenty of colour images and design justification from Sagmeister but also some analysis from others and upfront a Q+A where he explains where commercial and cultural projects depart and share common ground.

There’s a nice section by Canadian designer Marian Bantjes, which is astute – although maybe slightly sycophantic – dissecting Sagmeister’s working practices and thought process.

Of the man who ‘sort of glued’ two busses together, one on-top of the other, she says, ‘The difference between Stephan and the rest of us is that not only does he have these great ideas but he never seems to wake up and reach the denouncement of “Yeah, right.”’

Another Book about Promotion and Sales Material is published in September by Abrams & Chronicle Books, priced £26.99