The Happy Show by Stephan Sagmeister was a wonderful surprise. I didn't know what to expect out of the show, as I had never heard or seen of his work. Upon entering and seeing the information booklet about the show I knew I was going to enjoy it. Sagmeister picked bright colors such as the intense yellow on the wall to draw attention to his work. It definitely contrasted with the handwritten and drawn information on the walls in his black handwriting. Sagmeister didn't have just one answer for what his idea of happiness, and he made a point to include the viewer into the workspace, through the gumballs, readings, videos and interactive bike piece. It was an experience to walk through this space, and it almost felt like exploring his mind and thought process.
With so many different thought processes going on in the show it would seem to be a bit much, but it wasn't. Everything flowed together pretty easily, and you could walk from wall to wall with an open mind. I especially enjoyed the typography developed within the art. You can tell a lot of time went into this project, because there are details and research within the work that makes his choices make sense. In particular he has facts about the happiness concerning relationships, marriage, wealth and aging. Putting his own two cents into these facts makes the data relatable and comical.
Within the book, I noticed similarities happening with Sagmeister's work and the section on mind mapping. His process seems to be on the same idea, because you can see it in the actual work. His handwritten ideas are within the art, and he has thought about which piece to put next to each other so that they flow as one would do when thinking normally. The entire idea of the show in fact, was probably a mind map at one point-as he thought about which happiness ideas to explore and how to go about them before putting anything concrete into the show.
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