I had heard rumors about this book before I saw it- there all these different versions of his face you can make… huh? Turns out by changing the order of the fifteen booklets inside the laser cut box cover, you can change Sagmeister’s face to look a variety of ways- made of chunks of meat, full of pimples, covered in flowers. The booklet covers also somehow correspond to what is inside of each. Each booklet has one or more statements Sagmeister has come up with to remind him of the right path in life. The sayings are things like- Everybody [Always] Thinks they Are Right, Drugs Are Fun in the Beginning But Become a Drag Later on, Trying To Look Good Limits My Life and Everything I do Always Comes Back to Me. Each sentence is made in some obscure crazy creative way- mostly the letters are arranged with real or seemingly real objects to form the letters- poured formed sugar, Caution police tape wrapped on chain link fence, letters hidden in microscopic pictures or in spider webs. It’s sometimes hard to find the next work hidden somewhere in the photo and it sure is a satisfying surprise when you do. In the end of each booklet he explains how he came to believe each maxim and sometimes why it was executed in such a way. These typographic works were somehow used for clients as well and became billboards, posters, installations, advertising campaigns etc. I haven’t read the essays yet by Steven Heller, Guggenheim curator Nancy Spector, and psychologist Daniel Nettle since this book just came yesterday but I definitely plan to. Get your copy right here.

© Julia Rothman 2007