Stefan Sagmeister says AI reinforces design uniformity
Austrian graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, who works in New York, will speak at the Herald Design Lounge in Seoul, South Korea, on October 2. At Dongdaemun Design Plaza, he will deliver the keynote address “Finally, Something Good” — the same title as his exhibition, which will open in Paris next month.
In an interview with the Korea Herald, the designer said the profession has focused on the practical side of work rather than beauty for too long. In his view, a competent professional can quickly create a legible poster or a comfortable chair, while combining functionality with beauty is much more difficult.
AI and uniformity
Sagmeister believes that artificial intelligence reinforces uniformity in design by default because a model trained on everything produces an averaged result. At the same time, he said AI can help move away from such similarity if it is used by a person with a distinct viewpoint of their own.
The designer predicts that, due to the development of these tools, the difference between authors who have an established perspective and those who do not will become more noticeable.
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Data in painting
Sagmeister’s latest works combine data visualization about humanity’s long-term progress with old oil paintings, sculptures and everyday objects, including sneakers and glasses. Some of the early canvases came from unsold works in the antique shop of his great-great-grandparents, which had been stored in the attic of the house where he grew up.
The designer cut large holes in the canvases and inserted data graphics. In his view, infographics invite people to believe a number and then forget about it, whereas a painting hanging in a home for years makes people return their attention to that data.
Assessing the exhibition’s impact
At the Paris exhibition, visitors will choose between doors marked “optimist” and “pessimist” at the beginning of the display, and at the end they will see another pair of such doors. Sagmeister plans to compare the number of choices to assess whether the exhibition changed visitors’ perceptions.
He described his work on the theme of long-term development as not so much optimism as a desire for accuracy, since, in his conviction, many people’s ideas about the state of the world do not correspond to the facts.
