Anatomy of Design

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ANATOMY OF DESIGN

In recent years the billboard—that bastion of bombastic commercial advertising and

nemesis of roadside beautification advocates who attack it as blight on the

landscape (urban and otherwise)—has become a valuable venue for art and design

(political and otherwise). From adbusting, where advertising billboards are defaced

or altered, to the guerilla, where signboards are rented for alternative messages,

this ubiquitous mass communication space serves many personal missions and

social causes. Stefan Sagmeister, who makes sport of co-opting conventional media

for unconventional goals, joined the ranks of billboardists when in 2005 he

designed one for his “Things I Learned in My Life So Far” series—a list of

aphorisms (similar to those of Barbara Kruger and Lawrence Weiner) in the form

of a manifesto. They include “Helping other people helps me,” “Money does not

make me happy,” “Assuming is stifling,” and “Complaining is silly; either act or

forget.” This last one—a veritable motto for our times—Sagmeister made into a

billboard in Lisbon, Portugal, and then photographically chronicled for posterity.

Like public artists before him, Sagmeister hopes the monumentality of

this outdoor venue will at least trigger a passerby’s second glance, if not a full-

fledged conversation. The imposing nature of space and the enigmatic yet

accessible quality of the text invites interaction. Of course, expressing such

intimate musings in this implicit town square draws from various traditions—

soapbox oratory, mural painting, leaflet hawking, and poster snipping—all rather

primitive means of getting noticed. Email and the Internet have altered the rules

of engagement, but this venue in real space continues to be appealing for

artists and designers and eye-opening for the audience.

Today, visual orators use the same methods as commercial promoters

and marketers, claiming any available (or private) surface to hang, paint, or

stencil messages. Some billboards and street signs are meant to be hamfisted

poundings on the mass consciousness; others, like Sagmeister’s, are one-offs

designed to make a subtle, surprising statement and then disappear. Here is

the nexus of art and propaganda. And in this case, Sagmeister chose a rarified

technique to underscore what might be called

propagandart. The entire surface

is made from newsprint sheets with stencils of intricately structured leaves

impressed on them, which he had lying on his rooftop for a week. “Since it

was exposed to the New York sun, everything turns yellow,” he explains, “but

the stencils stay white. When we put it up in Lisbon, it’s going to be exposed

with Lisbon sun, so eventually everything is going to fade away.” Literally, the

sun intervened to create closure.

This unique technique is Sagmeister’s invention, but in addition to the

more universal billboard concept he draws on other design precedents.

Silhouetting stencil shapes is a commonly used decorative method that evolved

into a means of posting subversive or dissenting words and slogans. Using

silhouetted objects in art dates back hundreds of years—and portrait silhouettes

were the snapshots of Colonial America—but they became a modern trope after

Man Ray experimented with Photograms in the 1920s. Designers found through

Photogram they could transform everyday objects—everything from Paul Rand’s

cigars to Sagmeister’s leaves—into extraordinary, often breathtaking abstractions.

Achieving a breathtaking result is the goal of every billboardist. With the

computer as the most prodigious distributor of mass and private messages,

breathtaking is the way to make a message resonate. In this billboard,

Sagmeister practices what he preaches—the act of creating and posting it

ensures that the message will not be forgotten.

Either Act or Forget

Designer: Stefan Sagmeister

2005 Either Act or Forget–Lisbon Billboard, billboard

ad: Stefan Sagmeister d: Matthias Ernstberger, Richard The c: Superbock

The billboard for the Experimenta in Lisbon is made out of newsprint paper, taking

advantage of the fact that newsprint yellows significantly in the sun.

Direct-light exposure

Art of the moment

Art as billboards