Here's how the power of time-off inspired Stefan Sagmeister
By living, working, and communicating 24/7 thru screens, 2020 is showing how easy work & personal life can lose their frontiers and blend into each other. That's one of the reasons why some time-off can be life-changing.
Eleven years ago, designer Stefan Sagmeister stood in front of a TED Talks crowd in Oxford, England, and showed a new approach for a lifetime's work: taking a full sabbatical year every 7 years. As he explained, “like many things in my life that I actually love, I adapt to them and over time, get bored by them. And in our case, our work started to look the same.”
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This new approach was then masterfully translated into the poster of the School of Visual Arts in New York, Thinking That Life Will be Better in the Future is Stupid, which evokes a reflection even if taken out of context. With an entire life cycle of caterpillars and butterflies represented into the typography, Sagmeister fuses a strong idea with the sensitivity and never-ending cycle of nature.
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Here's what he has to say about the creation of the game-changing piece.
"I remember one such moment during the first sabbatical, when I contemplated becoming a film director. It became clear this would be a 10-year process, it seemed to make more sense to stay with the language I already knew, design, and see if I have anything to say that goes beyond the purely promotional. This was the beginning seed for the Things I Have Learned in my Life so far series. Ultimately, it just says that I have to live now, rather than wait for better times."
Here's to living right now — that being in the form of seizing the unique moment you're at or in a sabbatical year.
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Tap here to check the whole chat we had with Stefan about his new project on long term thinking & for more stories head to [metcha originals].