Stefan Sagmeister inspiration is found in places from which other people hide. Where other designers are satisfied with creating an image that is pleasing at first glance, Sagmeister holds a mirror up to people, challenging them to look deeper, in a sustained gaze. "The main reason for all this fluff is that most designers don't believe in anything," asserts Sagmeister. "When your conscience is so flexible, how can you do strong design?"

Sagmeister defines how to get attention in a way that creates an idea. Using his own visual vocabulary, he expresses an extraordinary idea in ways that go beyond color and shape. He satisfies his own curiosity and piques the curiosity of those who encounter his work. Sagmeister's work provokes. It makes your heart beat just a little faster, with the uneasiness you feel when you encounter something that is unexpected. The familiar, comforting image of a family pet turns into a snarling wolf in the instant it takes to turn a page. The heat of a razor blade under the skin. The visual pun of designers running around like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off.

In realizing his dream to design for the music industry, Sagmeister's explored new ground and racked up four Grammy® nominations. H.P. Zinker's calm/diabolical Mountains of Madness features a madman courtesy of a green/red printing process and ruby-red CD jewelbox as filter. Other examples of Sagmeister's ingenuity include Jamie Block's Timing is Everything-with an actual Rothmans Reds cigarette tucked in the CD spine of promotional copies (fussy U.S. tobacco laws prohibited mass-distributing Mr. Block's smoke of choice) and Pat Metheny's pictogram-encrypted Imaginary Day (the disc on its spindles doubles as text decoder). Collaborations with David Byrne, the Rolling Stones, and Lou Reed keep leading him into fresh design explorations-for the latter, even video direction. The breadth of his work may be seen in the just-published monograph, Made You Look. A self-imposed year-long sabbatical, time he used to become a better designer, has just come to a close. Sagmeister's aim for the future is a simple one: "My goal for the rest of my life will be to touch somebody's heart with design."