Stefan Sagmeister drew a full house during What Design Can Do 2015 in De Balie in Amsterdam, where he talked to creative director Graham Sturt of design agency VBAT. The breakout session was part of the agency’s Meet Market series of live events it organizes in order to get in touch with the freshest design talent from around the world. Good news for all those who weren’t able to attend: the entire interview can now be viewed on VBAT’s Meet Market webpage.
Sagmeister is asked about his thoughts on urban issues, his own life and work and his thoughts on several other things including his opinion on the new generation. He says (around 0:53’):
‘The younger generation is less politically interested and not always in a bad way. A young Dutch designer said to me: “The days of being against things are over”. I think that was meant as a critique of my generation, of this love for critical thinking. I was surprised that Cameron Sinclair said first to question everything. That is one thing where I totally disagree with Cameron. I think that questioning everything, that fear of being naive, is completely overvalued. I think that naiveté would be an incredibly healthy bait to be, that my generation is far too cynical, far too questioning.’
[…]
‘I don’t see that they [the younger people] are any less engaged than we were. Actually, almost the opposite. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Perry Chen, founder of Kickstarter, who is 29. I’ve never met anyone of that age that smart and that wise. A person who created a serious impactful business and refuses to sell it even though he could make millions of dollars.’