Stefan Sagmeister: Happiness by design

翻译人员: Wenting Cheng 校对人员: Tony Yet

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

大约15年前，我去香港拜访一位朋友。

And at the time I was very superstitious.

那个时候我很迷信。

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

所以，在飞机降落之前--那还是在香港的旧机场，

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

那是Kai Tak,它当时正好在市中心--

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

我当时想：如果我现在看见一些好的东西，那么我将会在香港的这2周过的十分快乐。

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

如果我看见一些不好的东西，那么我将会过的十分悲痛沮丧。

So the plane landed in between the buildings

之后飞机降落在一些楼的中间，

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

并停在了这个小广告牌的前面。

(Laughter)

笑声（WINNER：胜利者）

And I actually went to see some of the design companies

实际上，我当时是去参观一些香港的

in Hong Kong in my stay there.

设计公司。

And it turned out that --

但结果却是--

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

我本来只是想去看看他们在香港正在做什么设计项目。

But I actually walked away with a great job offer.

但是我却轻易的获得了一个很好的工作机会。

And I flew back to Austria, packed my bags,

之后我飞回奥地利并收拾我的行装。

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

一个星期后，我又踏上了飞往香港的旅程，

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

我仍然迷信的想：好的，如果那块“Winner"(胜利）的广告牌还竖在那里的话，

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

我将会在这里工作的很开心。

(Laughter)

笑声

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

但是如果它不在那里的话，我在香港的时间将会很不幸，很痛苦。

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

但结果是，不仅那块广告牌还竖在那里，

but they had put this one right next to it.

有人还将这块牌子放在了它的旁边。

(Laughter)

笑声（Double Happiness:双重快乐）

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

另一方面，它也让我明白了迷信不可信，

because I really had a terrible time in Hong Kong.

因为之后我在香港真的过很糟糕。

(Laughter)

笑声

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

但是，在生活中我确实有过一些真正的快乐时刻--

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

就像你们知道的，这个会议宣传册上所提到的，

as "moments that take your breath away."

那种带走你呼吸的美好时刻。

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

由于我是一个喜欢列表单的人，所以我将他们都列举出来了。

(Laughter)

笑声

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

现在，大家并不需要担心去阅读这些条款，

and I won't read them for you.

我也不会在这里将他们一一念出来。

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

我知道听别人的欢乐幸福故事是一件令人难以置信乏味的事情。

(Laughter)

笑声

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

但是，我要做的就是从设计的角度去看待他们

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

并且将一切与设计无关的条款都移除。

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

之后我非常惊奇地发现，实际上有多过一半的条款都与设计有些关系。

So there are, of course, two different possibilities.

所以，这有两种可能性。

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

一种是从消费者的角度看--

where I was happy while experiencing design.

--即当我体验设计时的快乐。

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

我可以举一个例子。我得到我的第一个随声听，

This is 1983.

那是在1983年。

My brother had this great Yamaha motorcycle

这是我兄弟当时的雅马哈摩托车，

that he was willing to borrow to me freely.

并且他很乐意随时将它借给我。

And The Police's "Synchronicity"

这是那时候“The Police”发行的名为“同步”的

cassette had just been released

专辑磁带。

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

在我的家乡Bregenz没有规定骑摩托车要带头盔的法律。

So you could drive up into the mountains

所以你可以骑到山上，

freely blasting The Police on the new Sony Walkman.

自由大声地用新索尼随身听播放Police的音乐。

(Laughter)

笑声

And I remember it as a true moment of happiness.

我记得那是我真正的快乐时刻。

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

当然，这种快乐与他们中的至少这两种东西的同时存在的的结合有关，

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

即两种有设计的产品。

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

并且你知道，当我们谈论设计的时候是有一个关于快乐的衡量标准比例的，

but the motorcycle incident would definitely be, you know,

但是对于摩托车这种小事将会

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

位于愉快与极乐之间。

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

现在，还有另外一部分，从设计师的角度看--

if you're happy while actually doing it.

当你做设计的时候，你是否快乐。

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

也许有一种方法可以看到设计师们在从事设计的时候到底有多高兴--

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

看他们专著封底的作者照片。

(Laughter)

笑声

So, according to this, the Australians and the Japanese

所以，据此，奥地利以及日本

as well as the Mexicans

还有墨西哥的设计师们

are very happy.

都非常快乐。

(Laughter)

笑声

While, somewhat, the Spaniards ...

然而，西班牙的设计师们有点，

and, I think, particularly, the Swiss

我看，尤其是瑞士的设计师们，

(Laughter),

笑声

don't seem to be doing all that well.

并不是那么快乐。

(Laughter)

笑声

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

去年十一月，有一个博物馆在东京开放，名为Mori博物馆，

in a skyscraper, up on the 56th floor.

它在一栋摩天楼的第56层。

And their inaugural exhibit was called "Happiness."

他们的首次展览名为“快乐”。

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

那么我就带着非常渴望的心情去参观，因为，

well, also, with an eye on this conference.

当然此行的目的也着眼于此次会议。

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

有趣的是，他们将展览分为了四个不同的区域。

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

在“阿卡迪亚"展区（意为古希腊或世外桃源），他们展出了类似这样的作品，来自于日本江户时期--

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

--用一百种不同的造型书写快乐的方法。

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

他们还展示了Yoko Ono 的苹果--当然，之后

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

你知道，他成为了披头士的标签。

Under "Nirvana" they showed this Constable painting.

在"天堂"展区，他们展示了Constable的绘画。

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

关于抽象有一个小而有趣的理论。

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

这是一块蓝色的区域--它实际上是Yves Kline的绘画。

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

这个理论就是，如果你将一个图像抽象化，那么你可以，

open as much room for the un-representable --

为这种非代表性打开许多空间--

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

--因此，可以使观众更多的参与进来。

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

在“欲望”的展区，他们展示了这些Shunsho的绘画--

also from the Edo period -- ink on silk.

--同样来自于日本江户时代--油墨印在丝绸上。

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

最后，在“和谐”的展厅内，他们展示了这个十三世纪的来自于西藏的曼陀罗。

Now, what I took away from the exhibit was that

那么，我从这个展览中得到的是，

maybe with the exception of the mandala

除了曼陀罗这个特例以外，

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

展览中的大部分作品实际上都只是给人视觉上的快乐

and not about happiness.

而不是内心的快乐。

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

并且我觉得有点被欺骗的感觉，因为视觉化--

that's a really easy thing to do.

--那真的是很容易做到的事情。

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

并且你知道，我的设计工作室--我们一直致力于这方面的工作。

This is, you know, a book.

这是一本书。

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

一条快乐的狗--当你把外壳去掉，这是一条凶狠的狗。

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

这是快乐的David Byrne 和愤怒的David Byrne 。

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

或是一张有着笑脸的爵士乐海报，以及面部好斗的表情。

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

你知道，达到这些并没有什么大不了的。

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

在广告行业界，有一种说法，

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

或者在电影界，就是“快乐”拥有一个非常不好的声誉，以至于

if you actually want to do something with the subject

如果你真的想做与这个主题有关的一些事情

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

并且是原创的话，那你将不得不

do it from a cynical point of view.

从愤世嫉俗的观点角度切入。

This is, you know, the movie poster.

这是一个电影海报。

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

这是我们在几周前，为“说话的头”设计的包装，

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

当然快乐的概念在封面上得到了视觉化的体现，

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

更加困难的是，如何让设计激起人们的快乐，

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

我将展示三个真正激起我快乐的设计。

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

这是一个由一位年轻的纽约设计师领导的设计项目，他将自己称为“真实”。

Everybody who has ridden the New York subway system will be

每个曾经做过纽约地铁的人应该

familiar with these signs?

都对这些标识很熟悉吧？

True printed his own version of these signs.

“真实”设计并印刷出自己的标识版本。

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

每周三他都会和他的20个朋友在一个地铁站会面。

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

他们分成不同的小组，将他们的标识版本添加在不同的地铁线路上。

(Laughter)

笑声

So this is one.

这是一个。

(Laughter)

笑声

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

实际上并没有人会去看原来的这些标识系统。

So you're

所以

(Laughter)

笑声

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

当你十分无聊的在坐地铁的时候，你会盯着某些东西看，

And it takes you a while until it actually --

然后你花了一定时间直到你意识到--

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

这些标识和以前正常的标识表达的内容并不一样。

(Laughter)

笑声

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

我意思是，这至少让我快乐。

(Laughter)

笑声

Now, True is a real humanitarian.

“真实”是一个真的人道主义者。

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

他那时也不想朋友们被逮住，

so he supplied everybody with this fake volunteer card.

所以他给每位朋友制作了这个假造的志愿者卡片，

(Laughter)

笑声

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

并且给了他们每个人这封假造的，来自于MAT的信--

sort of like pretending that it's an art project

--使其看起来有点像是一个由

financed by The Metropolitan Transit Authority.

地铁部门资助的一个艺术项目。

(Laughter)

笑声

Another New York project.

另一个来自纽约的项目。

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

这位于P.S.1--一个基于一个正方形房间的雕塑，

by James Turrell, that has a retractable ceiling.

设计者为James Turrell，这个设计有着可伸缩自如的天花板，

Opens up at dusk and dawn every day.

在每天黄昏和黎明时分打开，

You don't see the horizon.

你看不到水平面，

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

你就站在那里面，看着这不可思议的，微妙的天空色彩变化。

And the room is truly something to be seen.

并且这个房间也实在有很多值得看的东西。

People's demeanor changes when they go in there.

当人们进去那里时，人们的行为也会发生改变。

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

当然，我在那里呆了一个小时后并没有

after spending an hour in there.

以同样的方式观察天空。

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

当然，除了我现在展示的这三张投影图片之外，还有许多其他的天空光影的效果。

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

我可以确定的说，几年前在麦哈顿观察Vik Muniz设计的“云”项目

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

确实同样让我感到高兴。

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

我要展示的最后一个项目，是由一位年轻的纽约设计师所做，

He's from Korea originally.

他其实是韩国人。

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

他主动印了55，000个卡通造型的语言留言板--

empty speech bubbles stickers, large ones and small ones.

--空的卡通留言贴，有大型号的和小型号的。

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

他在纽约到处游走，并将他们粘在海报上。

(Laughter)

笑声

And other people go and fill them in.

其他人走过并填写这些空的留言贴。

(Laughter)

笑声

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

这张写着：请让我安静的死去吧。

(Laughter)

笑声

I think that was --

我想这个是--

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

让我最吃惊的是，这些文字都很漂亮

This is on a musician poster, that says:

这是在一个音乐海报上面的留言，写着：

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

我担心我的CD将不会卖到超过200，000张，

and that, as a result, my recoupable advance

那么结果将是，我将不会再有自己的

from my label will be taken from me,

唱片。

after which, my contract will be cancelled,

在这之后，我的合约将会被取消，

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

之后我将会回到Bleecker街（在夜店酒吧）翻唱别人的歌。

(Laughter)

笑声

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

我想这个项目可以达到使人快乐的原因是每个人都获得了一些东西。

Jee gets to have his project;

Jee做了这个项目；

the public gets a sweeter environment;

公众获得了一个更亲切的环境；

and different public gets a place to express itself;

以及不同的人获得了一个可以表达他们自己的地方；

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

并且登广告的人最终获得了一些人去关注他们的广告。

(Laughter)

笑声

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

当然，在我的思想中有个问题存在了一段时间：

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

你知道，我可以在设计中做更多我想做的事，

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

做更少我不想做的事吗？

Which brought me back to my list making --

这个问题又将我带回了我的这张列表--

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

--去看看到底我喜欢我工作的那些方面。

You know, one is: just working without pressure.

其中之一就是：可以没有压力的去工作。

Then: working concentrated, without being frazzled.

以及：没有疲惫的专心集中的工作。

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

或者，如同Nancy之前说的，就像自己沉浸在其中。

Try not to get stuck doing the same thing --

试着不要总是固定的做相同的事--

or try not get stuck behind the computer all day.

--或者试着不要总是成天躲在电脑后面。

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

这就是，我们说的，走出工作室做设计。

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

还有就是，当然，试着设计一些东西，

where the content is actually important for me.

他们的内容是非常重要的。

And being able to enjoy the end results.

并且可以去享受工作的成果。

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

除此之外，我在我的记事本上还找到了另一个列表，

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

--到目前为止在我生命中所学习到的所有东西。

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

并且就在那时，一个奥地利的杂志社联系我并问我

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

是否愿意设计六张杂志广告--设计六张

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

可以将杂志内不同章节分开的杂志广告？

And the whole thing just fell together.

这个正好与我的想法走到一起了。

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

所以我在其中挑选了一条我认为我已经学到了的东西--

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

那就是，我常常想起我做的每件事情--

and we made these spreads right out of this.

--并且我们的这个设计就源于此。

So it was: "Everything

所以这就是：所有

I do

我做的

always

常常

comes

回

back

到

to me."

我这里。

A couple of weeks ago, a

几周前，

(Laughter)

笑声

French company asked us to design five billboards for them.

一个法国公司邀请我们为他们设计五块广告牌。

Again, we could supply the content for it.

又一次的，我们的设计运用了这里的内容。

So I just picked another one.

所以我挑选了其中的另外一条。

And this was two weeks ago.

这是两周前。

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

我们飞去亚利桑那（美国一个州）--我自己以及和我一起工作的设计师们

and photographed this one.

--并且我们为这个项目摄影。

So it's: "Trying

这就是：

to look

装出来的

good

好看

limits

反而局限了

my life."

我的人生

And then we did one more of these.

之后我们又做了一个。

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

这个也是为某杂志设计的分离页面的广告。

This is: "Having" --

这是：有--（Having）

this is the same thing;

这是同样的物体--

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

--只是从侧面的角度拍摄。

This is from the front.

这是前视图。

Then it's: "guts."

然后这是：勇气（guts）

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

这是同一个物体--“勇气”，将它修改了后放在同样的房间里。

Then it's: "always

这是：经常（always）

works out."

解决（works out）

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

然后是for，这是打了灯看到的效果

(Laughter)

笑声

And it's "me."

这是“我”（me）。

Thank you so much.

非常感谢大家。

(Applause)

掌声