Date of Birth: August 6, 1962
Place of Birth: Bregenz, Austria
Alma Mater: University of Applied Arts Vienna. Also Pratt Institute, New York City
Stefan Sagmeister is an Austrian graphic designer and typographer based in New York City. In 1993, Sagmeister founded his company, Sagmeister Inc. to create designs for the music industry. He has designed album covers for several artists including Lou Reed, OK Go, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith. From 2011 until 2019 he partnered with art director and illustrator Jessica Walsh under the name Sagmeister & Walsh Inc
After graduation from high-school, Sagmeister enrolled himself in an engineering college. However, he later changed his mind and opted for a graphic design course instead. He began his design career at the age of 15 at “Alphorn”, a local left-wing youth magazine named after the traditional musical instrument. He applied for a graphic design course at the Hochschule fuer Angewandte Kunst (University of Applied Arts), Vienna. Although he was refused admission at first due to the quality of his “amateur” drawings, his application was accepted on a second attempt, graduating in 1986. He won a Fulbright scholarship to study at the Pratt Institute in New York a year later, where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree.
Once his studies came to an end, Sangmeister briefly returned to Austria before moving to Hong Kong in 1991. There he worked at the local branch of Leo Burnett Company, Inc. He returned to New York a year later to briefly work at M&Co studio, which sponsored his green card application. However, after the studio closed their NY office and moved to Rome, Sagmeister set out to establish his own. Having keen interest in music, he decided to work on music graphics but only endorsing the music he prefers.
“To be a good designer, you would need to have deep and far-reaching interests outside of the profession.”
– Stefan Sagmeister
He founded Sagmeister Inc in 1993 and has since designed branding, graphics, and packaging for clients as diverse as the Rolling Stones, HBO, the Guggenheim Museum and Time Warner. He is also the author of the design monograph “Made You Look,” which was published by Booth-Clibborn editions. In addition to his design work, Sagmeister teaches in the graduate design department of the School of Visual Arts in New York and has been appointed as the Frank Stanton Chair at the Cooper Union School of Art, New York.
Package design for “Bridges To Babylon” by The Rolling Stones. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Bridges To Babylon” by The Rolling Stones. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Bridges To Babylon” by The Rolling Stones. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Bridges To Babylon” by The Rolling Stones. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Bridges To Babylon” by The Rolling Stones. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Everything that Happens Will Happen Today” by David Byrne and Brian Eno. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Everything that Happens Will Happen Today” by David Byrne and Brian Eno. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Everything that Happens Will Happen Today” by David Byrne and Brian Eno. Image by sagmeister.com 
Package design for “Everything that Happens Will Happen Today” by David Byrne and Brian Eno. Image by sagmeister.com 
Poster design for “Set the Twilight Reeling” by Lou Reed. Image by sagmeister.com
After receiving nominations in 1996, 1997 and 1998, Sagmeister received a Grammy Award in 2004 in the Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package category for his art direction on the Once in a Lifetime box set by Talking Heads. He also won the National Design Award for Communications from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum that same year. In 2009 he received a second Grammy Award for Best Recording Package thanks to his design of Everything That Happens Will Happen Today David Byrne and Brian Eno. Sagmeister was also nominated for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package for the same album.
In 2013 Sagmeister was awarded the Golden Medal of Honor of the Republic of Austria and he was voted Austrian of the Year by the Austrian newspaper Die Presse In 2018.