Stefan Sagmeister: The power of time off

譯者: Tiwan Kung 審譯者: Zhu Jie

I run a design studio in New York.

我在紐約開一家設計工作室

Every seven years, I close it for one year

每七年我都關閉一年

to pursue

讓我進行一些

some little experiments, things that

小實驗

are always difficult to accomplish

一些通常不容易

during the regular working year.

在正常的工作年度裡達成的事

In that year, we are not available

關閉的一年， 我們不接受

for any of our clients.

任何顧客

We are totally closed.

完全關門

And as you can imagine,

可想而知

it is a lovely and very energetic time.

那是一段美好又充滿能量的時光

I originally had opened the studio in New York

我起先在紐約開了這家工作室

to combine my two loves, music and design.

為的是結合我的兩項熱愛： 音樂和設計

And we created videos and packaging

我们製作影片和包裝

for many musicians that you know,

其中有很多是你們熟悉的音樂家

and for even more that you've never heard of.

更多是你們没有聽聞過的音樂家

As I realized, just like with many many things in my life

我發覺

that I actually love,

就像生活中很多我喜愛的事物

I adapt to it.

一旦習以為常

And I get, over time, bored by them.

便漸漸變得沉悶

And for sure, in our case,

我的工作室也不例外

our work started to look the same.

我們的作品開始變得雷同

You see here a glass eye in a die cut of a book.

看到了吧，書中藏着一顆玻璃眼睛

Quite the similar idea, then, a perfume packaged

同樣的設計，用於香水包装

in a book, in a die cut.

書中藏着一瓶香水

So I decided to close it down for one year.

因此我們决定關門一年

Also is the knowledge that

我還有另一個原因

right now we spend about

目前我們大概

in the first 25 years of our lives learning,

用生命的前二十五年學習

then there is another 40 years

之後的四十年

that's really reserved for working.

用於工作

And then tacked on at the end of it

放到最後的

are about 15 years for retirement.

是約十五年的退休生活

And I thought it might be helpful

我覺得更合理的，可能是

to basically cut off five of those retirement years

拿走五年的退休時間

and intersperse them in between those working years.

把它們穿插在工作的年歲裡

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

That's clearly enjoyable for myself.

我自己顯然因此很開心

But probably even more important is

但更重要的是

that the work that comes out of these years

是來自休假那幾年的成果

flows back into the company

可以回餽公司

and into society at large,

回餽社会

rather than just benefiting a grandchild or two.

而不僅是貢獻給一兩個孫子孫女

There is a fellow TEDster who spoke two years ago,

兩年前有一位TED的講者

Jonathan Haidt,

名叫Jonathan Haidt

who defined his work into three different levels.

他把工作定定義三個不同的層次

And they rang very true for me.

教我深深認同

I can see my work as a job. I do it for money.

我可以把工作視為一份工，為的是錢

I likely already look forward to the weekend on Thursdays.

星期四就開始盼望周末

And I probably will need a hobby as a leveling mechanism.

我可能會需要一種業餘愛好，平衡生活

In a career I'm definitely more engaged.

或者，我可以把工作看成我的事業，這樣我會做得更加用心

But at the same time, there will be periods when I think

但有時我又會想

is all that really hard work really worth my while?

花這麼多精力值得嗎？

While in the third one, in the calling,

第三個層次，是把工作視為一種召喚

very much likely I would do it also

很可能我無論如何都會去做

if I wouldn't be financially compensated for it.

即使没有金錢回報也没關係

I am not a religious person myself,

我不信教

but I did look for nature.

但我尊重自然

I had spent my first sabbatical in New York City.

我的第一個修假是在紐約市度過的

Looked for something different for the second one.

我希望第二次會有所不同

Europe and the U.S. didn't really feel enticing

歐洲和美國對我吸引力不大

because I knew them too well. So Asia it was.

我太熟悉它們了，所以我選擇亞洲

The most beautiful landscapes I had seen in Asia

我見到的亞洲最美麗的風景

were Sri Lanka and Bali.

在斯里蘭卡和巴厘島

Sri Lanka still had the civil war going on, so Bali it was.

斯里蘭卡仍有内戰進行，因此我選擇了巴厘島。

It's a wonderful, very craft-oriented society.

那是一個美好且十分重視手工藝的社会

I arrived there in September 2008,

我2008年9月到達那裡

and pretty much started to work right away.

立即投入工作

There is wonderful inspiration coming from the area itself.

那地方本身就充滿靈氣

However the first thing that I needed was

然而，我首先需要的是

mosquito repellent typography

滅蚊劑

because they were definitely around heavily.

因為蚊子太多了

And then I needed some sort of way

其次我需要某種方法

to be able to get back to all the wild dogs

驅走那些野狗

that surround my house,

他们繞着我的房子

and attacked me during my morning walks.

當我早上散步時來襲擊我

So we created this series of 99 portraits on tee shirts.

我們因此做了99條狗的系列T恤

Every single dog on one tee shirt.

一隻狗一件T恤

As a little retaliation

作為一個小報復

with a just ever so slightly menacing message

我加了一條小小的、略帶威協的信息

(Laughter)

這麼多狗，這麼少食譜...（笑聲）

on the back of the shirt.

在T恤的背後

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Just before I left New York

在我離開紐約前

I decided I could actually renovate my studio.

我覺得可以装修一下我的工作室

And then just leave it all to them.

我把工作全交給別人

And I don't have to do anything.

不再自己操心

So I looked for furniture.

只管買家具

And it turned out that

結果是

all the furniture that I really liked,

我喜歡的

I couldn't afford.

都買不起

And all the stuff I could afford, I didn't like.

買得起的我又都不喜欢

So one of the things that we pursued in Bali

於是我在巴厘島要做的其中一件事

was pieces of furniture.

就是設計家具

This one, of course, still works with the wild dogs.

設計這個的時後，當然，我們仍跟野狗較量中

It's not quite finished yet.

還没全部完成

And I think by the time this lamp came about,

我記得完成这盞灯的時候

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I had finally made peace with those dogs.

我終於跟狗講和了

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Then there is a coffee table. I also did a coffee table.

我還設計了這張茶几

It's called Be Here Now.

命名為 “現在這裡”

It includes 330 compasses.

它裡面装了330個指南針

And we had custom espresso cups made

我們製做了特別的咖啡杯

that hide a magnet inside,

裡面藏着磁鐵

and make those compasses go crazy,

它使這些指南針拼命地動

always centering on them.

全朝向咖啡杯為中心

Then this is a fairly talkative, verbose kind of chair.

之後又設計這個相當健談愛講話的椅子

I also started meditating for the first time in my life in Bali.

在巴厘島，我開始平生第一次打坐

And at the same time, I'm extremely aware

不過，同時我又清楚的意識到

how boring it is to hear about other people's happinesses.

聽别人講他們高興的事有多無聊

So I will not really go too far into it.

所以我就不多說了

Many of you will know this TEDster,

你們很多人都認識這位TED的講者

Danny Gilbert, whose book, actually,

Danny Gilbert， 他寫了一本書

I got it through the TED book club.

我從TED讀書會買了這本書

I think it took me four years

一直等到四年後

to finally read it, while on sabbatical.

我終於在修長假時讀了這本書

And I was pleased to see

我很高興知道

that he actually wrote the book while he was on sabbatical.

作者也是在休長假時寫這本書的

And I'll show you a couple of people

我還要介紹給你們幾位

that did well by pursuing sabbaticals.

得益於修長假的人

This is Ferran Adria. Many people think

這位是Ferran Adria：公認的

he is right now the best chef in the world

當今世界上最好的厨師

with his restaurant north of Barcelona, El Bulli.

他的餐館位於Barcelona北部的elBull

His restaurant is open seven months every year.

他的餐館每年只開七個月

He closes it down for five months

另外五個月關門

to experiment with a full kitchen staff.

他用這段時間來做試驗，全體厨房員工也不放假

His latest numbers are fairly impressive.

他的最新數據相當可觀

He can seat, throughout the year,

他的餐館一年可以容納

he can seat 8,000 people.

8,000 人

And he has 2.2 million requests for reservations.

却收到220萬個預定

If I look at my cycle, seven years, one year sabbatical,

看看我的周期，開七年，休一年

it's 12.5 percent of my time.

是我百分之12.5的時間

And if I look at companies that are actually more successful than mine,

看看比我更成功的公司

3M since the 1930s

3M公司，自20世紀30年代起

is giving all their engineers

讓所有的工程師

15 percent to pursue whatever they want.

花百分之十五工作時間做他們自己想做的事

There is some good successes.

有些很成功的例子

Scotch tape came out of this program,

思高牌膠帶就是這個公司政策下的產物

as well as Art Fry developed

還有Art Fry 研制的

sticky notes from during his personal time for 3M.

Post-It，也是他利用私人時間為3M發明的

Google, of course, very famously

Google 眾人皆知

gives 20 percent for their software engineers

給他們的軟體工程師百分之二十的時間

to pursue their own personal projects.

去做他們自己想做的項目

Anybody in here has actually ever conducted a sabbatical?

聽眾裡有没有人嘗試修過長假呢？

That's about five percent of everybody.

大概百分之五吧

So I'm not sure if you saw your neighbor putting their hand up.

坐你身邊的人舉手了嗎?

Talk to them about if it was successful or not.

請和他們聊聊， 看他們的休假是否成功

I've found that

我發現

finding out about what I'm going to like in the future,

探討我未來想做的事

my very best way is to talk to people

最佳的辦法是

who have actually done it

與做過的人談談

much better than myself envisioning it.

那比自己空想來的更有效

When I had the idea of doing one,

當我想到一個好主意時

the process was I made the decision and I put it into my daily planner book.

我便把决定寫在日記本裡

And then I told as many, many people as I possibly could about it

然後我告訴很多很多的人，越多越好

so that there was no way that I could chicken out later on.

好讓我日後不會輕易地知難而退

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

In the beginning, on the first sabbatical,

我的第一個休假初期

it was rather disastrous.

事情進展一點也不順利

I had thought that I should do this without any plan,

我以為不用計畫

that this vacuum of time somehow would

空閒本身

be wonderful and enticing

就很好

for idea generation. It was not.

能夠創新。但我錯了

I just, without a plan, I just reacted

没有計畫，我會被動去應付

to little requests, not work requests,

瑣碎小事，我不是指工作上的事情

those I all said no to, but other little requests.

那些我全拒絕了，我指的是其他瑣事

Sending mail to Japanese design magazines and things like that.

比如說給日本設計雜誌寫信

So I became my own intern.

就是說，我成了自己手下的實習生

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And I very quickly

很快

made a list of the things I was interested in,

我把自己感興趣的事情列了個清單

put them in a hierarchy, divided them into chunks of time

把它們分門別類，分給大塊的時間

and then made a plan, very much like in grade school.

然後做個計畫，就像在小學校做的一樣

What does it say here? Monday, 8 to 9: story writing;

計畫有什麼呢？ 星期一8至9點：寫小說

9 to 10: future thinking.

9至10點，預想未來

Was not very successful. And so on and so forth.

那不是很成功。等等，等等。

And that actually, specifically as a starting point

而實際上，作為第一次休假的開始

of the first sabbatical, worked really well for me.

這些安排很適合我

What came out of it?

結果呢

I really got close to design again.

我又重新愛上設計了

I had fun.

我自得其樂

Financially, seen over the long term, it was actually successful.

從長遠經濟角度看，我的第一個長假是成功的

Because of the improved quality, we could ask for higher prices.

由於質量提高，我們可以設更高的價格

And probably most importantly,

或許最重要的是

basically everything we've done

基本上

in the seven years following the first sabbatical

在下七年我們的設計

came out of thinking of that one single year.

意念均源自我們休假的那一年

And I'll show you a couple of projects

請你看看以下幾項作品

that came out of the seven years following that sabbatical.

都是那個長假之後七年設計的

One of the strands of thinking I was involved in was

第一種體會

that sameness is so incredibly overrated.

是我們不斷强調的一致性

This whole idea that everything needs to be exactly the same

其實這種凡事必須完全相同的想法

works for a very very few strand of companies,

僅僅極少數公司行得通

and not for everybody else.

並非每間公司都合適

We were asked to design an identity for Casa da Musica,

音樂之家（Casa de Musica) 曾請我們設計雜誌

the Rem Koolhaas-built music center

就是那個由 Rem Koolhaas 設計建造的音樂中心

in Porto, in Portugal.

在波爾圖，葡萄牙

And even though I desired to do an identity

僅管我想要把這個標誌

that doesn't use the architecture,

設計的與建築物造型没關係

I failed at that.

結果却没有成功

And mostly also because I realized

一個主要原因

out of a Rem Koolhaas presentation to the city of Porto, where

是因為Rem Koolhaas給波爾圖市做的一場簡報

he talked about a conglomeration of various layers of meaning.

他說到要把多層含意交織在一起

Which I understood after I

我起先没有明白

translated it from architecture speech

直到我把他的建築設計語言

in to regular English,

翻成一般英語去理解

basically as logo making.

基本上，建築設計就是標誌設計

And I understood that the building itself was a logo.

我才明白，那建築本身就是一個標誌

So then it became quite easy.

事情因此變得十分容易

We put a mask on it,

我們在建築上蒙了個罩子

looked at it deep down in the ground,

從遠遠的地面查看

checked it out from all sides,

從各個角度查看

west, north, south, east,

西，北，南，東

top and bottom.

從上到下

Colored them in a very particular way

用非常特殊的方式著色

by having a friend of mine write a piece of software,

讓我的一個朋友寫了一個軟體

the Casa da Musica Logo Generator.

叫音樂之家Logo製造器

That's connected to a scanner.

把它連接到掃描機

You put any image in there, like that Beethoven image.

把任何圖像放上，例如貝多芬

And the software, in a second,

軟體可以立即

will give you the Casa da Musica Beethoven logo.

給你音樂之家貝多芬Logo

Which, when you actually have to design a Beethoven poster,

當你想設計一個有貝多芬像的海報

comes in handy, because the visual information of the logo

那軟體很有用，因為Logo的視覺元素

and the actual poster is exactly the same.

和海報是完全一樣的

So it will always fit together, conceptually, of course.

所以在概念的層面而言，它們一定能互相配合

If Zappa's music is performed, it gets its own logo.

如果演出Zappa的音樂，它會有自己獨特的Logo

Or Philip Glass or Lou Reed or the Chemical Brothers,

或Philip Grass，或Lou Reed，或 Chemical Brothers

who all performed there, get their own

誰在那裡表演，誰就有自己的Logo

Casa da Musica logo.

這是音樂之家自己的 Logo

It works the same internally with the president or the musical director,

在音樂之家内部也是一樣，不論是音樂之家主席，或是音樂總監

whose Casa da Musica portraits wind up on their business cards.

他們的音樂之家畫像就印在他們的名片上

There is a full-blown orchestra

有一個完整的管弦樂隊

living inside the building.

駐扎在那所建築裡

It has a more transparent identity.

他們擁有自己清晰的Logo

The truck they go on tour with.

這是他們巡演用的卡車

Or there's a smaller contemporary orchestra,

它們還有一個較小的現代樂團

12 people that remixes its own title.

一個以"交織 "(remix) 為名的十二人樂團, 名字就交織在 Logo 中

And one of the handy things that came about

十分方便的是

was that you could take the logo type

你可以用這個Logo

and create advertising out of it.

創造廣告

Like this Donna Toney poster,

就像這幅 Donna Toney海報

or Chopin, or Mozart,

或蕭邦 (Chopin)，或莫扎特 (Mozart)

or La Monte Young.

或 La Monte Young

You can take the shape and make typography out of it.

您可以根據它的形狀設計字樣

You can grow it underneath the skin.

你還可以把它從外表長出來

You can have a poster for a family event in front of the house,

你可以設計一張海報，介紹在音樂之家外面舉行的家族活動

or a rave underneath the house

或在音樂之家下面舉行的狂野派對

or a weekly program,

或每周定期舉行的活動

as well as educational services.

又或是教育服務

Second insight. So far, until that point I had

第二種體會：在那次長假之前

been mostly involved

多數時候

or used the language of design

我都使用設計語言

for promotional purposes,

幫助促銷

which was fine with me.

那並没有什麼不好

On one hand I have nothing against selling.

一方面我不反對銷售

My parents are both salespeople.

我父母都是銷售員

But I did feel that

但我覺得

I spent so much time learning this language,

我花了這多時間學習這種語言

why do I only promote with it?

為什麼僅用來幫助促銷？

There must be something else.

應該還可以利用它做些其他事

And the whole series of work came out of it.

這些作品都出自這個想法

Some of you might have seen it.

有些你們可能已經見過

I showed some of it

我在以前的TED會上曾經展示過

at earlier TEDs before,

以前的TED會

under the title "Things I've Learned in My Life So Far."

標題是“至今我所學到的”

I'll just show two now.

我現在就介紹兩項

This is a whole wall of bananas

這是一整面牆的香蕉

at different ripenesses

不同的生熟程度

on the opening day in this gallery in New York.

在一家紐約的畫廊開張那天

It says, "Self-confidence produces fine results."

上面說 “自信產生優秀結果”

This is after a week.

一周後

After two weeks,

兩周後

three weeks, four weeks, five weeks.

三，四，五周後

And you see the self confidence almost comes back,

你可以見到自信心幾乎都回来了

but not quite.

只是幾乎，不是全部

These are some pictures visitors sent to me.

這是一些客人送給我的照片

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And then the city of Amsterdam

阿姆斯特丹

gave us a plaza and asked us to do something.

給了我們一個廣場，並要我們做些事情

We used the stone plates as a grid

我們用石板作為網格

for our little piece.

作為我們一件小作品的背景

We got 250,000 coins from the central bank,

我們從中央銀行提了25萬個硬幣

at different darknesses.

顏色有不同的深度

So we got brand new ones, shiny ones,

有的嶄新發亮

medium ones, and very old, dark ones.

半舊的， 和非常舊的，發黑的

And with the help of 100 volunteers, over a week,

用了一周多的時間，得到了100多志願者的帮忙

created this fairly floral typography

創造了這個花卉模樣的字樣

that spelled, "Obsessions make my life worse

文字是，“沉迷使生活更糟"

and my work better."

却使作品更好”

And the idea of course was to

我們的構思

make the type so precious

是把圖樣做得很精美

that as an audience

要令觀賞者

you would be in between,

覺得難以决定

"Should I really take as much money as I can?

我是要把這些錢盡量拿走

Or should I leave the piece intact as it is right now?"

還是保持圖像完好無缺

While we built all this up

在拼砌這個圖像的過程

during that week, with the 100 volunteers,

與數百名志願者在一起的那個星期

a good number of the neighbors surrounding the plaza

有很多居住在周圍的居民

got very close to it and quite loved it.

都走近它看，也很喜歡它

So when it was finally done,

當它終於完工時

and in the first night

第一夜

a guy came with big plastic bags

一個人拿了一個大塑膠袋

and scooped up as many coins as he could possibly carry,

把錢幣大堆大堆的装進袋子裡，直到他提不動為止

one of the neighbors called the police.

一位鄰居報了警

And the Amsterdam police

阿姆斯特丹警方

in all their wisdom,

急中生智

came, saw,

趕到現場， 看到一切

and they wanted to protect the artwork.

他們想保護這件藝術作品

And they swept it all up and put it into custody

就把錢幣都掃了起來

at police headquarters.

放到警察局好好保存

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I think you see, you see them sweeping. You see them sweeping right here.

看見他們掃了吧

That's the police, getting rid of it all.

那是警察，把作品全掃光了

So after eight hours

8小時之後

that's pretty much all that was left

所剩的就只有那麼多

of the whole thing.

幾乎全部掃光

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

We are also working on the start of a bigger project in Bali.

我們還在巴厘島開始了一個更大的項目

It's a movie about happiness.

是一個講關於快樂的電影

And here we asked some nearby pigs

在這裡，我們請了附近的一些猪

to do the titles for us.

為我們做標題

They weren't quite slick enough.

却嫌它們不够仔細

So we asked the goose to do it again,

我們試用了鵝

and hoped she would do somehow,

希望她會做出

a more elegant or pretty job.

優雅美觀的作品

And I think she overdid it.

它却似乎太講究了

Just a bit too ornamental.

有點過分装飾

And my studio is very close to the monkey forest.

而我的工作室是在猴子森林邊

And the monkeys in that monkey forest

這猴子森林的猴子

looked, actually, fairly happy.

看起來相當高興

So we asked those guys to do it again.

我們又請了這些家伙幫忙

They did a fine job, but had

他們做得很出色， 但是

a couple of readability problems.

有可讀性問題

So of course whatever you don't really do yourself

當然，如果你不自己親自做

doesn't really get done properly.

就別指望完全滿意

That film we'll be working on for the next two years.

我們今後兩年將製作這部電影

So it's going to be a while.

還需要一陣子

And of course you might think that

你可能會想

doing a film on happiness

製作關於快樂的電影

might not really be worthwhile.

可能會不值得

Then you can of course always

你當然總是可以

go and see this guy.

去看看這個家伙

Video: (Laughter)

（笑瑜伽）

And I'm happy I'm alive.

我很高興我活着

I'm happy I'm alive. I'm happy I'm alive.

我很高興我活着 我很高興我活着

Stefan Sagmeister: Thank you.

謝謝你們

(Applause)

（鼓掌）