Flush — A Design Blog by Ivan W. Lam at ivanwlam.com

So here’s my “review” of the Sagmeister lecture last night.

Summary:

This was my first AIGA design lecture and my second AIGA event (I went to the 50 Books/50 Covers opening at Chronicle Books last fall), and overall, I’m pleased with the event (good job putting the event together, Amy et al!). The reception was nice with good appetizer things and a fine selection of refreshments. Sagmeister was wonderful, and that’s probably still true sans my huge-fan bias towards his work.

The Rest

I should, though, advise those who haven’t gone to a lot of these events to bring at least one friend to these things, especially if you’re shy like me. I was so excited about Sagmeister speaking in SF that I immediately bought a ticket without thinking about bringing someone or asking any of my designer friends to go with me (partly because almost none of my designer friends knew of Stefan Sagmeister and his work, which was sad in and of itself).

While I think Stefan’s work is always brilliant and inspiring, I thought that the presentation was “normal” and expected, but only probably because I’m already familiar with many pieces of his “Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far ” project through the design blogs and a lot of his transcribed and video interviews online. Watching him and his work on stage was almost just like watching those video interviews and reading the blogs, which was why his presentation felt “normal” and “expected,” except for that part in the beginning when he suddenly started smelling urine on stage and assured us that it wasn’t him and said that “I don’t pee in my pants.” That pretty much effectively broke the ice from the start!

In any case, even if I’m not a fan and don’t know much about Sagmeister, I still think I would be fascinated by how extremely creative and outside-the-box this designer is. I mean, the lady who sat next to me and said she didn’t know much about Sagmeister except for the body-cutting mailer was teary after the presentation and said that it was inspiring.

I was confused as to why only the side projectors showed the images but the middle one did not. I figured it might have to do with wanting to show the name of the lecture series since it was being recorded, but the entire middle section (where I was) had to look around the wooden columns to see the images on the screen.

Personally, I wish there was more time for questions after his presentation, but I understand that the presentation had already gone over the allotted time and he still had to sign a long line of books before ending the evening. Speaking of his book, I also wish I had gotten up immediately after the presentation to get his book at the table when he was answering questions so I could get him to sign it afterwards. Maybe I will do that next time, whenever that is, because I know this won’t be the last time I watch him speak in person.

Lecture Review Main Points and Advice:

• The event was good and enjoyable.
• Go with friends (at least one) and socialize.
• Buy the book if you already knew you want it, and then get it signed.

Flush.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 22:08 and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.