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Job: 02762 Title: 365 Habits of Successful Graphic Designers (Rockport)
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In completing their first annual report,
Sagmeister Studio discovered that the process
differed from less conventional jobs such as
music packaging. The client was Zumtobel, a
European manufacturer. Sagmeister flew to
the Zumtobel headquarters to immerse himself
in their business. They gave him an extensive
tour of their factory, showing him what they had
done in the past and where they were in the
present. Sagmeister returned to New York and
worked out one very tight suggestion for the
annual report based on what he learned about
their business on his visit. They liked what they
saw and adopted the design.
Sagmeister had sensed immediately that the
client was unusual. He met with the CEO,
who said that there was a 95 percent chance
that the design, whatever it might be, would
be adopted without reservation. This was a
singular occasion for Sagmeister, who at first
thought it was somewhat foolish of the CEO
to reveal such information. “I could have just
as easily taken advantage of it and come back
with three half-penises on the cover. But as it
happens in real life, if you get a lot of trust, you
are very unlikely to misuse it,” he comments.
Sagmeister believes this trust was established
because of his face-to-face interaction with the
CEO and the physical interaction with the space
of the company. He knew for himself that he
could not submit a design without being 100
percent happy with it. With this design, how-
ever, he was convinced of its appropriateness
to the project at hand and knew that it fit the
client’s needs exactly. He notes, “The fact that
we pushed it to that point had a lot to do with
the trust we established because of a meeting.”
VISIT THE CLIENT’S SITE —PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL
STEFAN SAGMEISTER
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Zumtobel annual report, designed by Stefan Sagmeister
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365 HABITS OF SUCCESSFUL GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Job: 02762 Title: 365 Habits of Successful Graphic Designers (Rockport)
Page: 86
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Zumtobel annual report, designed by Stefan Sagmeister
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