Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far

Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now. Living to experience something tomorrow is nonproductive and time consuming. Everyday will have a tomorrow and if for some reason it doesn’t then you spent your last day dwindling the hours away thinking of the possibility of tomorrow. Throughout Stefan Sagmeister’s book Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far you can find countless phrases to live your life by. 

Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister was born in Austria and attended the University of Applied Arts Vienna and Pratt Institute in New York City. He has believed in keeping a personal diary to help in his progression through his design and his life. In this diary he makes lists, ones that could grab anyones attention not just designers. With the over all themes of the lists  being: how to be happy. In 2000, Sagmeister took an experimental year off from all commercial work and focused on philosophical reflection. After opening his office after the year off many of the items he worked on throughout the year became incorporated into projects for clients. Many of the works were also modeled into exhibitions. Many of these pieces were more successful in an exhibition setting rather in print form due to the interactive nature of the piece.  

When holding Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far in your hands it is quite daunting. The front cover presents Sagmeister from the hair on his head to the base of his neck allowing only his face to be the cover. Aside from the fact his eyes look as they are piercing your soul his face is covered with die-cuts giving his face a scaly appearance yet it looks normal. As you turn the box in your hands you see the title of the books in large type on the outside of the box that the books lie in. Flipping to the back of the box you see his the back of his head. To view the contents of the box you pull the books from the  top as if you were reaching into Sagmeister’s brain and pulling out the contents. While pulling the fifteen stitch bound signatures from the box you see that the die-cuts on the front leaving the shape of Stefan’s face yet draining it of all color that it once had. It looks as if you had just pulled all knowledge from him and his penetrating eyes are on you to see if you take his knowledge and learn from it. The fifteen different signatures are in no particular order, allowing you to look at them in any fashion that you choose. When you are done with the book you can slide the signatures into the box that once housed them. As you do so you will notice that again the die-cuts that make up Stefan’s face take a new shape. With different images covering each section you see his face become what that section is. It is like you are giving Sagmeister back the knowledge that he let you barrow for a short time and experience that he knows you will carry with you for quite some time.

As you hold the fifteen different signatures or booklets in your hand one thing is for sure, it was a conscious choice to have these ideas separated into individual booklets rather than chapters or sections within one large book. To layout all of the signatures it is clear that each have taken on their own personality, characteristics and themes. With themes varying from fields, gardens, flags, salt, animals, cuts of meat, wallpaper, geometric shapes and gradients. One signature stands out from the rest and that is the one that has the shapes that match up perfectly with the die-cuts on the box to create a whole picture of Sagmeister’s face. Showing that he is a whole person now with the knowledge that he has acquired throughout his life so far. (Side note: when the book is purchased this is the way that the book appears.) While looking through each of the booklets you can see short sentences laid out before you in nature, a home, public or computer drawings that are the mottos that are the things that Sagmeister has collected in his personal diary throughout his life. Each are typographical structures that are made up of anything. Some of these items are toilet paper throughout trees where others are from metal piping laying in a swimming pool. Some of these booklets contain more than one motto but it is clear that the motto or mottos that are showcased inside are direct contributors to the outside coverings. Accompanied by each motto there is a short write up, none of them exceeding a page, of why this is something that is important to him and how it came about. 

The mottos that Sagmeister works with though out The Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far could be argued that they are nothing short of an inspiration magnet. This may be true, you might be able to find “Everything I do always comes back to me.” on your grandmother’s refrigerator but it is not about what the motto is but what meaning it holds for an individual. It is normal for a designer, of any sort, to work backwards rather than forwards. One many have to worry about production before even putting the first pencil to paper. That is what Sagmeister is doing with these mottos. Even though many of these could have been around for years, many of them he may have seen before. Seeing the final product but having to experience something in life to have an association with the it is something that is true in all of us.

These compilations of booklets and the work produced in them are work done by Sagmeister and the small group of his employees yet this isn’t a book about his work. This is to showcase what he believes are the things in his life that he has learned and events and people that effected change in him. For designers this is one of the most important books to add to your library. Most design books tell you how to do this or that and why it makes sense. Colleges and Universities acquire money in that way with many wanting to know the basics. Sagmeister goes beyond that. It is about where you get the idea to create work and what inspires it. With art and design alike drawing from past work to create something new there needs to be something more than “this looks right” in a piece. The most famous out of the series of booklets is “Trying to look good limits my life”. The work is displayed throughout materials strung through fences and items lying in swimming pools. Although the work in other booklets that are more successful the message behind this motto is so overpowering. Sagmeister explains that by him always feeling the need to be nice it restricts himself. In his professional and in others fields being nice isn’t always going to get the job done. Whether you like Sagmeister’s work or you hate it there is something to be learned from this series of booklets. With the mottos mixed with the construction of typographical structures you can see how he is drawing from life inspiration to create successful and effective design.

'Pursuit of Happyness' (favorite movie)

‘Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do something...you got that?’ 

‘Alright.’

‘You want something...you go get, period.’

From ‘rags to riches’ is a story that has been seen and heard before. However, this theme doesn’t alway imply that you will see someone take control of their own fate. In The Pursuit of Happyness, based on a true story, you follow along side with Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith, as he sets out to take control of his professional and personal life with his son Christopher, played by Smith’s actual son Jaden Smith. 

Chris Gardner is doing his best at keeping his family afloat but his best just isn’t good enough anymore. With his wife, Linda, and child relying on him to pull the most financial weight in the household Chris isn’t producing with the sales on the portable x-ray machines, a company that they bought into years before. The family is faced with ongoing problems with paying their taxes. Linda can’t take the pressure of working the multiple shifts a day just to barely put food on the table. She leaves, with Christopher, when Chris is just returning home from a long day of not making a sale, again. Chris puts his foot down that she will not be taking his son after making a promise to himself at a young age that his kids would know who their father was.

While making sales calls Chris inquires about an internship at a stockbroker firm. In pursuit to receive one of the few spots available Gardner woes one of the partners with his ability to complete a rubik’s cube while sharing a taxi ride. He is granted a spot at the internship but not before he is kicked out of his apartment, kicked out of his hotel room, and sleeps with his son in a restroom in the subway. 

With a reoccurring theme of “go for your dreams” message and being completely uplifting, you will finish this movie believing that anything is possible. This is by far the best performance of Will Smith’s career thus far and a great beginning to his sons promising career ahead.  

'Silent Alarm' (favorite album)

2 cup rhythm 

1 cup London feel

1 cup unique sound

1/2 cup strong progression

Mix all ingredients well to ensure a smooth consistency. Enjoy.

If one could make the London based band Bloc Party into a recipe it would resemble something like the one listed above. Their debut album, ‘Silent Alarm’, was released in February in 2005. The album sits at 14 tracks long and while that might appear to be on the long side, all 14 of them are completely necessary. 

The first four tracks Like Eating Glass, Helicopter, Positive Tension, and Banquet are energy filled tracks that display pizzazz and a stamina that is a prelude to the entire album. Each track has it’s own sound that is possible from the stupefying drumming from Matt Tong. His drumming is so precise and accurate it could be mistaken for a machine. The astonishing drumming fuses ever so nicely with the guitar and bass work from Russell Lissack, Kele Okereke, and Gordon Moakes. 

Throughout the album there is a keen sense of progression between the fast paced, energy filled songs, the steady heart felt songs and the songs that start out slow and climax just like a classic rock song. This Modern Love is a quintessential look at the range that Bloc Party can produce. While starting as your typical slow song it quickly progresses to a fast paced ballot. 

Silent Alarm is an album that you can listen to without skipping a song in its entirety. You may want to save yourself some time and just going ahead and put this album on repeat for about the next month or so.

'Never Sleep' (favorite book)

“There is a major disconnect between the life of a design student an the transition to being a design professional”. This statement can be read loud and clear on the back of the book ‘Never Sleep’. This is a statement that could ring true for any college student no matter the major. With the economy in its’ current state this may ring most true for a design student. Design not valued nearly as much as an accountant in the corporate world can be quite the reality to stomach after four years or more of dedication. 

‘Never Sleep’, written by Andre Andreev and Dan Covert, set out to tell others of transitions through their life so far. With each section dedicated to high school, art school, graduation, first jobs, and starting their own studio Dress Code. The opening page to each section begins with a paragraph or so of five to ten word sentences as a preface to what you will find in the entire section. Aside from the witty section openers, from cover to cover you will find many of their works from just when they were discovering design up to their work they did for MTV before starting their own studio and what they endured through each of them. 

This book is not made to showcase the work of Andre and Dan but to show their progression as students to working professionals. Throughout the 256 pages you are on a journey with them and learning something new along the way. Breaks are incorporated about every 50 pages within the book which showcases a question and answer section. Entertaining questions like “What are design firms looking for?” to “ Is there any better way to keep myself awake apart from consuming caffeine?”, showing that no question is a stupid question. 

'Aqua'

The skyline of Chicago is beautiful. No one can deny that fact but if given a bucket of legos and a photograph of it then one could recreate it. Majority of the building are square, tall, maybe a curve here and there and most importantly there is glass. If a residential building then maybe a balcony here and there. As always there is an exception to every ‘rule’...Aqua. The building stands tall at 225 North Columbus Drive. The structure claims ideals and titles that not many others can touch with a ten foot pole.

Aqua stands at 86 stories tall with a residential buyer in mind. The building is designed by Jeanne Gang. Gang is the principal and founder of the firm Studio Gang Architects. Aqua was the firms first skyscraper project. With a woman in charge and the building standing those 86 stories Jeanne Gang holds the title of the tallest building in the world designed by a woman. There is more to this building than a world record.

The interesting thing about Aqua is it’s ever changing exterior. Whether you are in a car on Lake Shore Drive, on the bus coming down Michigan Avenue or walking down any street in the neighboring downtown area the shape of the building seems to change with every angle that you are approaching it. Even greater, if you stand outside the structure and look directly up the building looks anything but a perfect square. It resembles weathered rocks and stones that you would find in the Grand Canyon. The reason for this ever changing exterior is it balconies. The sporadic placement, which actually holds a purpose, give the building its character.

With the balconies playing such large part in the exterior and drawing so much attention there is always function that follows a form. The balconies were designed to be up to 12 feet wide in some areas of the building. Made out of limestone the ledges were designed with inspiration from the great lakes. The wave shaped balconies mimic the Chicago shoreline and the waves that crash onto it perfectly. When looking directly up at the building you can actually see the movement of the balconies to create an even deeper impact of water. What is even more interesting is the fact that these sporadic wave balconies are actually considered ‘green’. The width of the ledges allow the building to have solar shading keeping cooling cost down. Also, the place of the waves allow birds to notice that this is a building rather than accidentally flying into the side due to the windows.

This structure has won more than just the award for being the tallest building in the world designed by a woman. There are actually quite a few others and rightfully so. The firm has already been granted from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals due to birds being able to the wave balconies and not be as likely to fly into the side of the building. The structure actually posses enough energy saving features to obtain the LEED silver rating. This is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design which is granted from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The building is being split into one part residential and the other will be a space that holds 215 hotel rooms. The Carlson Hotels Worldwide are spending around $125 million to open their first Radisson Blu hotel in the United States on 18 floors of the building.

Aqua is a sight to behold. To take a structure that is as large and tall as this one and design something that can be seen in so many angles is amazing. With the balconies actually serving a purpose other than just a place to sit a chair or maybe a side table but for the people of the building to actually take in all the the Aqua has to offer. Here is to hoping that more designers take this out of the box approach in creating structures that form a skyline while serving as a habitat.

'Black Dogs'

Every now and then there is a book that you pick up, despite whether or not the the story line is considered deep or shallow, you can not manage to put it down until it is complete. In Jason Buhrmester’s first fiction novel, Black Dogs, the diverse personalities, mannerisms and intelligence, or the lack there of, of each person within the group of long time friends and how they play off of one another is what keeps you reading.

Within this world of fiction that Buhrmester has created within Baltimore, Maryland Patrick, Alex, Pete, and Keith all grew up together. Within their world they don’t live such a glamorous life. They spend their free time scamming and stealing from everyone and everywhere they think of. Patrick and Alex are the only two that completed high school, Pete works at the local record store and Keith makes his way through life working for a man that installs car stereos then steals them back for him after scouting out where the customer lives. They all have their own lives yet there is two things that keep them joined at the hip...they love running scams which they are seemingly good at and their love for music.

Patrick runs away to New York to work as a catering employee behind stage for different acts. He is leaving in his past a scam that went wrong that leaves a friend in jail and a trail of relationships ruined. He only returns to surprisingly attend Alex’s welcome home party from an eight month stint in County jail and to pull the gang back together for scam that will surpass every one they have ever pulled. He is only home a short time and Patrick is ready to let everyone in on his idea which he has been plotting for some time. With everyone, especially Alex, very skeptical about the whole plan that involves large sums of money and Led Zeppelin. Buhrmester creates such situations and robbers around the big plan of robbing one of the most popular bands of the time period that it almost seems real. The boys find themselves in one lie after another while trying to pull off the new scam. One lie lands them being mixed up with Backwoods Billy’s pawn shop and his Holy Ghosts Christian motorcycle gang, one place and persons that they don’t want to be aquatinted with. As time passes and Patrick is still at home you see him mending relationships, if you can call them that, every places that he visits and it continues the longer that he is home in Baltimore. We see that Patrick does everything in a certain order and for reasons that he only knows...and mending those relationships are no different.

There are hiccups along the way that don’t exactly make the boy’s lives any easier but why should it. The carry along in their lives not really thinking about what consequences their actions are going to carry and when they do, they don’t care about the possible outcome. Relationships get mended in a round about way that seem to work out for Patrick even though he knows that they might not last.    

You don’t have to be a music lover to read this book but if you are it sure wouldn’t hurt matters any. On that same note, you don’t have to know who Led Zeppelin is or have listened to the bands music to understand what level of popularity they are at. This fiction novel is written in a language that anyone can understand and enjoy. Buhrmester has created a world in Baltimore, Maryland that you are completely consumed with for all two hundred and forty-one pages.

'Hitch'

People can count on one hand how many GOOD romantic comedies, “chick flicks”, they have seen in there life time. There just are not many out there that are worth the price of visiting a movie theater, that being said – here we have Will Smith, Kevin James, and Eva Mendes. If there is a cast of a romantic comedy that could stand a test at the box office then it would be this one. 

“Hitch”, directed by Andy Tennant, is a romantic comedy that has just the right amount of unpredictability, humor and cuteness. The setting is in New York City where men are relying on the Date Doctor, Hitch, to help them finally court the women that they have been eyeing. The bachelors in need of social guidance range any where from bald, nerdy, shy, awkward, and so on. With each case that is presented to the Doctor he finds an original way of making it so that the man and the one to be sweep off her feet can meet.   

Alex “Hitch” Hitchens, played by Will Smith, is a professional dating consultant. His business is completely on a referral basis from men around the city and just known as a consultant to a onlooker. Hitchens learns at a young age that there is a time and place for things to be said to a woman. Taking his knowledge that he learned the hard way he coaches men to have class, style, and social skills that hinder them from approaching the woman of their dreams.

Then there is Kevin James playing the role of Albert Brenneman, a accountant at a large firm, that is seeking Hitchens help. Albert is seeking the attention and affection of a client of his firm named Allegra Cole. Allegra is an wealthy, good looking celebrity (think Paris Hilton) that doesn’t even know that Albert exist. After both Alex and Albert agree that pursuing Allegra is a ridiculous task they set out to do work. 

As Hitchens goes through the motions with Albert he crosses paths with Sara Melas, played by Eva Mendes, who is a gossip columnist. Sara hasn’t had a relationship in two years due to being married to her career of always knowing what the celebrities are doing and who they are dating. One would think that a professional dating consultant would have it made in the dating world but when Mr. Hitchens meets Sara Melas it is quite the opposite.  

Will Smith plays this character so right that you can’t imagine anyone else delivering the role. Smith’s natural ability to be a “funny guy” makes his character easy on the eyes. The humor comes easy to Smith making the entire movie enjoyable, even in the spots that the plot is lacking...you laugh and smile with him through it all. Further more you have the Smith-James dynamic which alone is worth going to see this movie. By far the most memorable scene in the entire film goes to these two.