JADE:Sagmeister

I chose the work Sagmeister did for Rolling Stones, basically because I love the CD cover design and I’ve always liked looking at different and unusual CD covers. It’s also pretty relevant to the two interviews with Sagmeister. In one of the interviews he says, “I have always been interested in music although now a diminishing part of my life.” I found it surprising for him to say it was now “diminishing”. He then says “Growing older (I’m 43 now) I can say that looking back music was much more important to me when I was 23.” I think that comment shows that he (like every one) becomes more stable and mature as the years pass.

Another relevant question and answer in this interview is, “Do you always like the music of the bands you work with?

We always try not to have to work with musicians or any other clients who we don’t like. There is absolutely no excuse to work with ass-holes.”

In the other interview he says, “that’s one good sign of a designer – to be able to persuade or put alternatives forward to a client.” But in the summary next to the CD cover he did for The Rolling Stones on his website, it sound as if Mick Jagger was the main persuasion behind the design. I think this shows that, although Sagmeister comes off as a bit over confident and blunt or cocky, he definitely has respect for the band and their work. So my point is there is a very humble and respectable side to Sagmeister.

In this second interview he answers the question, “you can do something, and if you do it smartly and for the right reasons, it works.” This relates to his design for The Rolling Stones because after reading the summary about the CD cover he designed for the band, it definitely sounds as if it was done for all the right reasons, and in a logical way. For a start, the title of the album is Bridges to Babylon. Mick Jagger then sent him to the British Museum in London to check out the Babylonian collection. He then came back with lots of photos, and then the decision was made that an Assyrian Lion would make a good symbol for the CD cover as well as for the tour and various merchandise materials. Then they got further reasoning and inspiration from a stage design featuring a stylistic time trip with Roman columns, Babylonian patterns and futuristic sculptures. But not everything about the CD cover was straightforward. As said in the summary, “We felt free to mix it up as well, put the Assyrian lion into a 16th century heraldic pose, had him illustrated in a 70ies Sci Fi style.”