Before meeting Stefan Sagmeister, I’ve always imagined him being somebody totally out of reach, would expect him to answer questions very rigidly and probably not very easy to start a conversation with him and keep it going. He was totally the opposite. And I sure am glad that I had the rare opportunity to spend an evening with him.

After a talk which he was giving in Kuala Lumpur sometime ago, my colleagues and I were asked to accompany Stefan for a little tour to somewhere which he might be interested to visit around Kuala Lumpur city. Before boarding our transport, we had in minds to take him to Central Market, where the art scene is probably most happening around the city. But while discussing with him where he wants to visit, he gave an answer which surprised me; Batu Caves.

I admit I have not yet been up the caves before that. And while being asked by him whether I have been up there or not, I could not help but feel a little bit embarrassed and answer with an honest ‘no’. Same goes with the rest of the gang. We were also accompanied by Stefan’s friend, Alexander, who was then an artist in Bangkok. He told me that they both meet when Stefan hitch-hiked from his hometown back in Vienna. And I asked him if he had that funny long extreme left-parting hairstyle back then, he said yes with a huge laugh.

Like Neville Brody, he was also interested in the cultural heritage which Malaysia has. He spoke of his wish to visit the Islamic Arts Museum and also other spots which have deep roots in forming the Malaysia we know of today.

Batu Caves was almost an hours ride from the talk venue so we had lots of time to chat. We talked on his new projects back then like the famous digitally woven spider web which gets ripped everytime a viewer’s reflection passes it and reconstructs itself time and time again. Also we talked about the capabilities of new media and upcoming technological gizmos which seems really fascinating to talk about especially with him. He seems so interested in the advantages these things can offer. We also talked about Neville Brody; on being politically correct in design conferences (I’ll keep this open to your imagination). And also photoshop drop shadow effects.

We arrived and climb the stairs up to the caves. Up there, we were analyzing shapes of rocks which look almost like hanging alligators. And also stood silently observing the monks doing their prayer routines. We had a some drinks after that and then talked a little a project where he was commissioned to design a packaging for a cigarette company which did not manage to hit the market.

On the way to the seafood restaurant, we spoke of the newly reunited David Lee Roth and Van Halen gig. And he spoke of him being a band which he played flute in. Also touched a little or two about religion and beliefs. Over dinner we had more conversations about our lifestyles. Things that we do in our weekends and off times.

It won’t be until a few weeks later when we would meet in Goa for a design conference. It felt really warm talking to him and do a little catch up on things. The airline company actually misplaced his bags into another flight on that trip! But he sure does seem like he is having a great time during the conference.

After all that being said, I learned two important things from him:

And also, being as honest as possible in life.

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Stefan Sagmeister is probably what every young designer in my era look up to for inspiration and want to be like. He has designed album covers for the Rolling Stones, the Talking Heads, Live, etc. He is very tall.

I think I am considerately lucky. I meet a lot of my design heroes in my first four years working professionally as a graphic designer. It was a thrill to meet and hear these heroes speak and observing them live in person. I do believe that what we hear and read from blogs and other media might not reflect the personality or energy these individuals carry. Even by observing their works closely, its still hard to accurately identify with the characteristics the person has as an individual to the people he/she is around.

My first encounter of an absolutely famous designer would be Neville Brody of Research Studios. It was back in 2006 when Mr. Brody first visited India to speak in a design conference. He seemed really happy and excited to be there. All I could do to get an excuse to start a conversation is to ask for his autograph. Upon approaching him, he declined and mentioned that he needed to rush off to get something from his room. Probably his computer for his presentation which was coming up pretty soon.

It won’t be until the conference was over, and while I was having lunch with a colleague when he approached us and I asked for his autograph again. He gave me this:

Well, I must say I was happy to even get this from him. He looked pretty bored while signing it; probably because he had signed a thousand autographs before that.

Yearly, we would be in the same design conference but well, he being speaker and me delegate, I never could find a good reason to go approach him for a talk. Until last year when I had to pick him up from the airport for him to speak in a design conference the company was organizing. I was late. He was waiting. I had one of his framed up posters as a hoarding for him to know who to follow to bring him to the designated hotel. We got a cab, hopped in. In not more than 5 mins in the cab, he pointed out to me a Maggi Noodles Truck, with FF Blur on it. It was indeed ironic to be greeted in such a way. ‘Hey, that looks like one of my typeface…’.

We talked about the long stretch of empty apartments and houses we spotted along the way to the hotel; why were they empty and non-vacant. Conversation then moved on to him asking whether there was a sort of ancient writing for the Malaysian language and also I gave him a brief history of Malaysia. He seems to be interested in that point: On how the Indians from India immigrated over, the Chinese from China, Malays for Indonesia, etc. And of course, we talked a little about what his studio does and what Figtree does.

Few days later we would go watch football, thanks to Andy Altmann of Why Not Associates love for Manchester United (dragged along the guys from DixonBaxi as well). But before that, we had some Penang food, of which he taught the jelly in the Ais Kacang tasted medical. It was here that we had our goodbyes. I thought he would be around of this years Designyatra conference in India but was not present.

I only had 5 golden minutes with Erik Spiekermann. I brought along with me to India this time, a fontshop tribute issue to him containing wishes from various designers and students to him. It would be ashame not to enhance the booklet with his signature on it of course! He seemed suprised to see that book and asked how did I get it; it was a very personal thing to him he mentioned. He also seemed suprised when I mentioned to him that I do have some other fontshop publications and the really old druk publications, maked even more suprised. He was the one who told me that that particular issue was designed by some of his students for him and printed at the Hague in a very limited run. He was really chatty, took him quite a lot of words with me to get the date and location correct on this one:

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Both Neville Brody and Erik Spiekermann are design legends and very influential typographers.

I have been studying Electric Ladyland for the past few weeks; digging up details from interviews, reading articles, etc. And I find it really fascinating.

To further complete my Hendrix Experience, I bought these two DVD to play with. I think they are awesome. Although there are no  details on his guitar rig while recording still the lessons given are good enough for one to at least get an idea of how imaginative Hendrix’s mind is, especially on the guitar.

And I do love the artwork for Axis:Bold As Love.

Somehow, it felt relaxing; something good to ease yourself. I guess it’s good to quite down at times.

End. For more, click here.

I remember sitting about 30 rows away listening to these guys talk. Mark the dates, Save some cash and bring your books to be autographed (yeah right, you groupie!). November 13th-14th, somewhere around Kuala Lumpur.

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Edit*
Okay, for the benifit of Googlers who try really hard to find out whether are the listed heroes below coming down Malaysia or not, I have actually edited this post to help increase traffic a bit. It sounds really cheesy, but, oh well…, I hope somebody appreciates this:

“Andy Altmann of Why Not Associates is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”

“Neville Brody of Research Studios is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”

“Vince Frost of Frost Design is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”

“Wally Olins of Saffron Brand Consultants is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”

“Simon Dixon & Aporva Baxi of DixonBaxi is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”

“Paul Hughes of Lava is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”

Also featuring some other cool designers such as William Harold Wong, Chris Lee & others!

The Gill Sans (left) & Uhertype (right) spread:

A little surprise comes with this issue as well; a little booklet called ‘Formenwandlungen der &–Zeichen’. Correct me if I’m wrong please; Is actually a reprint of Jan’s 1953 publication on the typographical character ‘&’ which includes 288 varieties from the year 79 to the 19th century. With a little help from technology via Google translator, you can preview the whole book, all 288 varieties in English here.

Lastly, sorry for the very lame photography.

Taken from one of the six amazing stories on We tell stories by Penguin. (Theres a PDF download to it!) Read more about these elsewhere here & here.

Those days, I would grab any Phaidon design books almost without even looking at the price tag. Books by Princeton Architectural Press become instant classics on my shelf. Most of my design heros monographs come from Booth Clibborn while Hyphen Press feeds me with really serious heavy reading. Books published by Laurence King have also been among the prominent ones on the bookshelf.

As a student, I’ve always refer to these books as a guide on what design is and about. Also used them as visual references at times. Definitely allowed them to inspire me a lot during that time. They also played a very important role in shaping all my current design thoughts.

The only two books that I might purchase for now is Things I have learned in my life so far & Jonathan Barnbrooks new design monograph. I have also considered Micheal Bierut’s book, Maira Kalman’s, Rick Poynor’s Designing Pornotopia and anything by Jessica Helford.

But most of my money for the books went to the below:

1. Deevana Resort, Patong, Phuket
2. Island hopping
3. Bangla Boxing Stadium
4. Beer, beer & more beer
5. Shooting bullets through Revolver’s and Sniper’s
6. Food, deserts, food, deserts
7. Buying ammo for Songkran

The thing is I have no regrets on any of the above. In fact, I feel even much more inspired by these things compared to looking at design books. Or reading Emigre magazines from cover to cover. I find myself refreshed after that crazy trip to Phuket with three amigos (will try to post pictures later, I didn’t bring a camera with me).

I learned to look at things in a more global way. Absorb in foreign culture, knowledge and lifestyle in a much faster phrase compared to staring at a book. I find things like this educating as well. By just pushing yourself a little to the edge, you see the much wider horizon. Plus, its really an enjoying thing to do; traveling. I guess my next trip might be maybe even sooner than I think it will be.

So I guess that proves that trying to fill up your environment with design is not really a fun thing to do at times.