Stefan Sagmeister: Happiness by design

Translator: Manex artola Reviewer: olatz mercader

About 15 years ago, I went to visit a friend in Hong Kong.

Duela 15 bat urte, lagun bat bisitatzera joan nintzen Hong Kong-era

And at the time I was very superstitious.

Garai hartan superstizioz betea nengoen.

So, upon landing -- this was still at the old Hong Kong airport

Beraz, lurreratu baino lehen--- hau oraindik Hong Kong-eko airoportu zaharrean zen

that's Kai Tak, when it was smack in the middle of the city --

Kai Tak -en, hiriaren erdian jausten zinen bete-betean----

I thought, "If I see something good, I'm going to have a great time here in

--Pentsatu nuen: Zerbait ona ikusten badut, primeran pasako dut hemen

my two weeks. And if I see something negative, I'm going to be miserable, indeed."

bi aste hauetan. Eta zerbait negatiboa ikusten badut, oso gaizki sentituko naiz, benetan.

So the plane landed in between the buildings

Hala, hegazkina eraikinen artean lurreratu zen

and got to a full stop in front of this little billboard.

eta iragarki txiki honen aurrean gelditu zen.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

And I actually went to see some of the design companies

Eta Hong Kong-en dauden diseinu konpainiatako

in Hong Kong in my stay there.

batzu bisitatu nituen nire egonaldian,

And it turned out that --

eta zera gertatu zen-----

I just went to see, you know, what they are doing in Hong Kong.

Ni Hong Kong-en zer egiten ari zen ikustera joan nintzen soilik, badakizue.

But I actually walked away with a great job offer.

Baina handik lan eskeintza izugarri on batekin atera nintzen.

And I flew back to Austria, packed my bags,

Austriara itzuli nintzen, nire ekipaia prestatu,

and, another week later, I was again on my way to Hong Kong

eta, astebete beranduago, berriro Hong Kong-era bidean nindoan

still superstitions and thinking, "Well, if that 'Winner' billboard is still up,

oraindik superstizioso eta pentsatuz: Tira, "Irabazle" dion iragarkia oraindik hor badago,

I'm going to have a good time working here.

izugarri ondo pasako dut han lanean.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

But if it's gone, it's going to be really miserable and stressful."

Baina kendu badute, deprimitzeko modukoa eta estresagarria izango da.

So it turned out that not only was the billboard still up

Eta ikusi nuen iragarkiak ez zuela han jarraitzen soilik,

but they had put this one right next to it.

beste hau jarri zuten haren ondoan.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

On the other hand, it also taught me where superstition gets me

Bestalde, honek erakutsi zidan nora naraman superstizioak

because I really had a terrible time in Hong Kong.

Ikaragarri gaizki pasa bait nuen Hong Kong-en.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

However, I did have a number of real moments of happiness in my life --

Edonola, benetazko zoriona izan dut nere bizitzako zenbait momentutan----

of, you know, I think what the conference brochure refers to

----badakizue, hitzaldi hontako foiletoak dion bezela

as "moments that take your breath away."

arnasik gabe uzten zaituzten momentu hoiek.

And since I'm a big list maker, I actually listed them all.

Eta primerako zerrenda-egilea naizenen, denak zerrendan jarri ditut.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

Now, you don't have to go through the trouble of reading them

Baina ez duzue irakurtzen lanik hartu behar

and I won't read them for you.

eta ez ditut zuentzako irakurriko.

I know that it's incredibly boring to hear about other people's happinesses.

Badakit besteen zorionari buruz entzutea ikaragarri aspergarria dela.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

What I did do, though is, I actually looked at them from a design standpoint

Egin dudana da, diseinuaren ikuspegitik aztertu

and just eliminated all the ones that had nothing to do with design.

eta diseinuarekin zerikusirik ez zutenak baztertu ditut.

And, very surprisingly, over half of them had, actually, something to do with design.

Eta, harrigarria bada ere, ia erdiak bazuten diseinuarekin zerikusirik.

So there are, of course, two different possibilities.

Beraz, noski, bi aukera ezberdin daude.

There's one from a consumer's point of view --

Bata, konstumitzailearen ikuspuntutik---

where I was happy while experiencing design.

---non diseinua esperimentatzerakoan zoriontsu nintzen.

And I'll just give you one example. I had gotten my first Walkman.

Eta adibide bat emango dizuet. Nire lehen Walkman-a lortu nuen.

This is 1983.

1983. urtea da.

My brother had this great Yamaha motorcycle

Nire anaiak Yamaha moto aparta zeukan

that he was willing to borrow to me freely.

eta neri eragozpenik gabe uzteko desiatzen zegoen.

And The Police's "Synchronicity"

Eta The Police-n "Sincronicity"

cassette had just been released

kasetea orduantxe kaleratu berria zen.

and there was no helmet law in my hometown of Bregenz.

eta ez zegoen kaskuari buruzko araurik nire herrian, Bregenz-en.

So you could drive up into the mountains

Beraz mendietan gora gida zenezake

freely blasting The Police on the new Sony Walkman.

Sony Walkman berrian The Police lehertu beharrean entzunez.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

And I remember it as a true moment of happiness.

Gogoan dut hura benetako zorion momentu bat izan zela.

You know, of course, they are related to this combination of

Badakizue, noski, lotura duela diseinuarekin

at least two of them being, you know, design objects.

harremana duten bi elementurekin guztienez.

And, you know, there's a scale of happiness when you talk about in design

Eta, badakizue, diseinu arloan zorionari buruz ari zarenean eskala bat dago

but the motorcycle incident would definitely be, you know,

eta motoaren gertakaria zalantzarik gabe, hemen nonbait

situated somewhere here -- right in there between Delight and Bliss.

kokatuko litzateke----hortxe, Plazerra eta Estasiaren artean.

Now, there is the other part, from a designer's standpoint --

Orain, bada beste zati bat, diseinatzailearen ikuspuntutik----

if you're happy while actually doing it.

---- diseinatzen ari zarela zoriontsu zarenean.

And one way to see how happy designers are when they're designing could be to

Eta diseinatzeaileak diseinatzen ari direnean zeinen zoriontsu diren jakiteko era bat

look at the authors' photos on the back of their monographs?

izan al daiteke monagrafien atzelkaldean egilearen argazkiari begiratzea?

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

So, according to this, the Australians and the Japanese

Tira, horren arabera, Australiarrak eta Japoniarrak,

as well as the Mexicans

baita Mexikarrak

are very happy.

oso zoriontsuak dira

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

While, somewhat, the Spaniards ...

Bien bitartean, nolabait, Espainiarrak

and, I think, particularly, the Swiss

...eta bereziki, uste dut, Suitzarrak

(Laughter),

(Barreak)

don't seem to be doing all that well.

ez dabiltza horren ondo.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

Last November, a museum opened in Tokyo called The Mori Museum,

Pasa den Azaroan, museo bat ireki zuten Tokyon, Morí Museoa

in a skyscraper, up on the 56th floor.

etxe orratz baten 56. solairuan.

And their inaugural exhibit was called "Happiness."

Eta beraien inaugurazio-erakustaldia "Zoriona" deitzen zen.

And I went, very eagerly, to see it, because --

Eta ikustera joan nintzen, izugarrizko gogoarekin, zeren----

well, also, with an eye on this conference.

Tira, hitzaldi hontan ere pentsatuz.

And they interestingly sectioned the exhibit off into four different areas.

Eta erakusketa lau atal ezberdinetan zatitu zuten.

Under "Arcadia," they showed things like this, from the Edo period --

"Arkadia" zatian, honelako gauzak erakutsi zutuzten, Edo arokoak---

a hundred ways to write "happiness" in different forms.

-----"Zoriona" forma ezberdinetan idazteko ehun era.

Or they had this apple by Yoko Ono -- that, of course, later on

edota Yoko Ono-ren sagar hau zeukaten -- noski, beranduago

was, you know, made into the label for The Beatles.

badakizue, Beatles-en label bilakatu zena.

Under "Nirvana" they showed this Constable painting.

"Nirvana" zatian, Constable-ren margo hau zegoen.

And there was a little -- an interesting theory about abstraction.

Eta bazen---abstrakzioari buruzko teoria interesgarri bat.

This is a blue field -- it's actually an Yves Klein painting.

Hau eremu urdin bat da ---- Izatez Yves Kline-ren margo bat da.

And the theory was that if you abstract an image, you really, you know

Eta teoria zen irudia abstraitu ezkero, nolabait

open as much room for the un-representable --

irudika ezin daitekeenari atea zabaltzen zaiola -----

and, therefore, you know, are able to involve the viewer more.

---eta horren ondorioz, ikuslea partaide egiteko kapazagoa zara.

Then, under "Desire," they showed these Shunsho paintings --

Ondoren, "Desio" atalean, Sunsho margo hauek zeuden---

also from the Edo period -- ink on silk.

---Edo arokoak hauek ere---- tintaz margotutako zeta.

And, lastly, under "Harmony," they had this 13th-century mandala from Tibet.

Eta, amaitzeko, "Armonia" atalean, 13. mendeko mandala tibetar hau zuten.

Now, what I took away from the exhibit was that

Orain, erakusketatik atera nuen ondorioa izan zen,

maybe with the exception of the mandala

eta agian mandalaren salbuespenarekin,

most of the pieces in there were actually about the visualization of happiness

piezetarik gehienak zorionaren irudikapenari buruzkoak zirela

and not about happiness.

ez ez zorionari buruzkoak.

And I felt a little bit cheated, because the visualization --

Eta piskat engainatuta sentitu nintzen, zeren irudikapena----

that's a really easy thing to do.

--- oso gauza errexa da.

And, you know, my studio -- we've done it all the time.

Eta, badakizue, gure estudioan---- hori egin dugu etengabe.

This is, you know, a book.

Hau da, badakizue, liburu bat.

A happy dog -- and you take it out, it's an aggressive dog.

Txakur zoriontsu bat --- ateratzen duzu, eta txakur agresibo bat da.

It's a happy David Byrne and an angry David Byrne.

Hau David Byrne zoriontsu bat da, eta haserre dagoen David Byrne bat.

Or a jazz poster with a happy face and a more aggressive face.

Edo jazz poster bat, aurpegi zoriontsu eta agresiboagoa den aurpegi batekin.

You know, that's not a big deal to accomplish.

Badakizue, ez da gauza zaila hori lortzea.

It has gotten to the point where, you know, within advertising

Puntu batetara iritsi gara non, badakizue, iragarki eta zinema

or within the movie industry, "happy" has gotten such a bad reputation that

industrian, "zoriontsu" izateak hain erreputazio txarra lortu du,

if you actually want to do something with the subject

horri buruz zerbait egin nahi izan ezkero

and still appear authentic, you almost would have to, you know,

eta hala ere autentikotasun itxura eman, zera egin beharko zenukeela, badakizu

do it from a cynical point of view.

ikuspuntu ziniko batetik egin.

This is, you know, the movie poster.

Hau da, dakizuenez, filmaren posterra.

Or we, a couple of weeks ago, designed a box set for The Talking Heads

Edo geuk, duela pare bat aste, Talking Heads- entzat diseinatu genuen kaxa.

where the happiness visualized on the cover definitely has, very much, a dark side to it.

Non azalean bisualizatzen den zorionak gehienbat alderdi iluna azpimarratzen duen.

Much, much more difficult is this, where the designs actually can evoke happiness --

Askoz ere zailagoa da diseinuaren bitartez zorionari dei edo oles egitea

and I'm going to just show you three that actually did this for me.

eta nigan eragin hori izan zuten hiru adibide erakutsiko dizkizuet.

This is a campaign done by a young artist in New York, who calls himself "True."

Kanpaina hau bere burua True deitzen duen artista gazte batek egin zuen.

Everybody who has ridden the New York subway system will be

New Yorkeko metro sarean ibili zareten guztiok

familiar with these signs?

ezagunak dituzue seinale hauek?

True printed his own version of these signs.

Truek seinale hauen bertsio propioa egin zuen.

Met every Wednesday at a subway stop with 20 of his friends.

Asteazkenero metro geltoki batean geratzen zen 20 lagunekin.

They divided up the different subway lines and added their own version.

Metro- linea ezberdinetatik sakabanatzen ziren bere bertsioa gehitzeko.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

So this is one.

Beraz hau.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

Now, the way this works in the system is that nobody ever looks at these signs.

Tira, sistemak funtzionatzen duen moduan, inork ez ditu seinale hauek begiratzen

So you're

Beraz zoaz

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

you're really bored in the subway, and you kind of stare at something.

erabat aspertuta zoaz metroan, eta zerbaiti begiratzen diozu.

And it takes you a while until it actually --

Eta denbora piskat behar duzu konturatzeko

you realize that this says something different than what it normally says.

ez dela seinale normala, beste zerbait adierazten duela.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

I mean, that's, at least, how it made me happy.

Eta azkenean, horrela egin ninduen zoriontsu.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

Now, True is a real humanitarian.

Hori bai, True benetako humanitarioa da.

He didn't want any of his friends to be arrested,

Ez zuen nahi bere lagunetako inor atxilotua izaterik.

so he supplied everybody with this fake volunteer card.

Beraz guztiei bolondres-txartel faltsu hau eman zien.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

And also gave this fake letter from the MTA to everybody --

Eta metro konpainiaren gutun faltsu bat ere eman zien guztiei---

sort of like pretending that it's an art project

guzti hura arte proiektu baten parte zela itxura eginez

financed by The Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Hiri Garraio Erakundeak finantziatutakoa.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

Another New York project.

New Yorken garatutako beste proiektu bat.

This is at P.S. 1 -- a sculpture that's basically a square room

Hau Moma PS.1.-ean dago ---- oinarrian gela lauki bat den eskultura bat da

by James Turrell, that has a retractable ceiling.

James Turrell-ena, sabai mugikor bat dauka.

Opens up at dusk and dawn every day.

Ilunsentian eta goiztirian irekitzen da egunero.

You don't see the horizon.

Ez duzu zerumuga ikusten.

You're just in there, watching the incredible, subtle changes of color in the sky.

Hor barruan sartuta zaude, zeruko koloreen aldaketa sarkor, harrigarriari begira.

And the room is truly something to be seen.

Gela hau ikusi beharreko zerbait da benetan.

People's demeanor changes when they go in there.

Jendearen portaera aldatu egiten da bertara sartzerakoan.

And, for sure, I haven't looked at the sky in the same way

Eta, noski, ez diot sekula zeruari berdin begiratu

after spending an hour in there.

bertan ordubete pasa nuenetik.

There are, of course, more than those three projects that I'm showing here.

Badaude, noski, hemen erakusten ari naizen hiru proeiktu hauek baino gehiago.

I would definitely say that observing Vik Muniz' "Cloud"

Zalantzarik gabe esango nuke Vic Muniz-en "Lainoa" ikusteak

a couple of years ago in Manhattan for sure made me happy, as well.

Manhattanen duela bi urte, zoriontsu egin ninduela, baita ere.

But my last project is, again, from a young designer in New York.

Baina nire azken proiektua, berriro, New York-eko diseinatzaile gazte batena da.

He's from Korea originally.

Bera Koarearra da jatorriz.

And he took it upon himself to print 55,000 speech bubbles --

Eta 55.000 komiki-globo inprimatzea bere gain hartu zuen---

empty speech bubbles stickers, large ones and small ones.

---- hutsik zeuden komiki-globo pegatinak ziren, handiak eta txikiak.

And he goes around New York and just puts them, empty as they are, on posters.

Eta New York osoan zehar ipintzen ditu, hutsik, posterrei itsatsita

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

And other people go and fill them in.

eta beste pertsona batzuk bete egiten dituzte.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

This one says, "Please let me die in peace."

Honek dio: Mesedez, utzi pakean hiltzen.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

I think that was --

Uste dut horixe zela-----

the most surprising to myself was that the writing was actually so good.

Gehien txunditu ninduena izan zen bertan idatzitakoa benetan oso ona zela.

This is on a musician poster, that says:

Hau musikari baten posterrean zegoen, horrela dio:

"I am concerned that my CD will not sell more than 200,000 units

Kezkatuta nago nire CD-ak ez ote dituen 200.000. kopia baino gehiago salduko.

and that, as a result, my recoupable advance

eta hori dela eta, diska etxeak aurreratutako dirua

from my label will be taken from me,

kendu egingo didate.

after which, my contract will be cancelled,

Eta ondoren, nire kontratua bertan behera utziko dute,

and I'll be back doing Journey covers on Bleecker Street."

eta Jorney-ren ordezkapenak egitera itzuliko naiz Bleecker kalera.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

I think the reason this works so well is because everybody involved wins.

Uste dut partehartzaile guztiek irabazten dutelako funtzionatzen duela hain ondo.

Jee gets to have his project;

Jee-k bere proiektua lortzen du;

the public gets a sweeter environment;

publikoak ingurune gozoagoa lortzen du,

and different public gets a place to express itself;

eta publiko ezberdinak adierazpenerako toki bat lortzen du.

and the advertisers finally get somebody to look at their ads.

eta iragarleek azkenean norbaitek bere iragarkiei begiratzea lortzen dute.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

Well, there was a question, of course, that was on my mind for a while:

Tira, galdera bat zegoen, noski, nere buruan bueltaka:

You know, can I do more of the things that I like doing in design

Badakizue, diseinuan gustoko ditudan gauzetatik gehiago egin al ditzaket,

and less of the ones that I don't like to be doing?

eta egitea gustoko ez dudanetatik gutxiago?

Which brought me back to my list making --

Horrek berriro zerrenda bat egitera eraman ninduen---

you know, just to see what I actually like about my job.

---badakizue, nire lanari dagokionez gustoko dudana ikusteko.

You know, one is: just working without pressure.

Hoietako gauza bat da: inolako presiorik gabe lan egitea.

Then: working concentrated, without being frazzled.

Ondoren: kontzentratuta lan egitea, erreta egon gabe.

Or, as Nancy said before, like really immerse oneself into it.

edo, Nancy-k esan duen bezala, lanean benetan murgilduta egon.

Try not to get stuck doing the same thing --

Beti gauza berdina eginez blokeatuta ez geratzen saiatu---

or try not get stuck behind the computer all day.

---- edo egun guztia ordenagailuaren aurrean trabatuta ez pasatzen saiatu.

This is, you know, related to it: getting out of the studio.

Hau, badakizue, estudiotik ateratzearekin lotuta dago.

Then, of course, trying to, you know, work on things

Ondoren, noski, saitu kontestua garrantzitsua zaidan

where the content is actually important for me.

proiektuetan lan egiten.

And being able to enjoy the end results.

Eta kapaza izan azken emaitzarekin gozatzeko.

And then I found another list in one of my diaries that actually contained

Eta ondoren nire egunerokoan beste zerrenda bat topatu nuen

all the things that I thought I learned in my life so far.

nire ustez bizitza guztian ikasi ditudan gauzekin.

And, just about at that time, an Austrian magazine called and asked

Eta, orduantxe, Austriako aldizkari batetik deitu eta galdetu zidaten

if we would want to do six spreads -- design six spreads

ea sei orrialde egin nahi nituen---sei orrialde diseinatu

that work like dividing pages between the different chapters in the magazine?

aldizkariko atal ezberdinak zatitzeko?.

And the whole thing just fell together.

Eta guztiak bat egin zuen.

So I just picked one of the things that I thought I learned --

Beraz, ustez ikasi nuen gauzatako bat hartu---

in this case, "Everything I do always comes back to me" --

---kasu hontan, Egiten dudan guztia beti bueltan itzultzen zait---

and we made these spreads right out of this.

---eta orrialdeak horrekin egin genituen.

So it was: "Everything

Horrela zion: Egiten dudan

I do

guztia

always

beti

comes

bueltan

back

itzultzen

to me."

zait.

A couple of weeks ago, a

Duela aste pare bat,

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

French company asked us to design five billboards for them.

Frantziako enpresa batek bost iragarki-panel diseinatzeko eskatu zigun.

Again, we could supply the content for it.

Berriro ere, edukia hornitzeko aukera genuen.

So I just picked another one.

Beraz, beste bat hartu nuen.

And this was two weeks ago.

Hau duela bi aste izan zen.

We flew to Arizona -- the designer who works with me, and myself --

Arizonara joan ginen---nirekin lan egiten duen diseinatzailea eta ni ---

and photographed this one.

--- eta hau fotografiatu genuen.

So it's: "Trying

Eta dio: "Itxura ona

to look

izaten

good

saiatzeak

limits

nire bizitza

my life."

mugatzen du."

And then we did one more of these.

Eta horrelako gehiago egin genituen.

This is, again, for a magazine, dividing pages.

Hau ere aldizkari batetarako da, atalak banatzeko orrialdeak

This is: "Having" --

Hauda "Erraietatik"---

this is the same thing;

hau berdina da---

it's just, you know, photographed from the side.

--soilik, badakizue, albo batetik argazkituta.

This is from the front.

Hau aurrekaldea da.

Then it's: "guts."

Ondoren da "ateratzen"

Again, it's the same thing -- "guts" is just the same room, reworked.

Berriro, berdina da --"ateratzen" gela berdina da, berriro antolatuta.

Then it's: "always

Ondoren "zaidanak"

works out."

"beti"

Then it's "for," with the light on.

"funtzionatzen" ondoren, argiak piztuta

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

And it's "me."

eta "dit"

Thank you so much.

Mila esker.

(Applause)

(Txaloak)