Happiness by Design
SCADMosaic Juried Showcase Selected Work
Happiness by Design is a TED Talk given by Stefan Sagmeister, a graphic designer who’s been in the industry for many years. Throughout the TED Talk, Stefan mentions moments in his life that have made him happy, and which of these moments have been related to design.
The scope of the project included taking the entire transcript of the TED Talk and creating a print piece paired with visuals. The concept of “happiness by design” inspired the idea of a book that is designed to make the viewer happy, as Stefan describes throughout his TED Talk. There are visuals and lists that are created to support the typography of the transcript, visualizing what’s being said.
The book is bound as an accordion fold, allowing it to be small and unassuming on the outside, but once it is unfolded the length is around eight feet. Printed on grey paper, the book has a more sophisticated feel, with the color yellow applied throughout the spreads to represent happiness.
Throughout the book, there are QR codes that pair with an AR aspect of the book. The augmented reality components include being surrounded by smiley faces, three-dimensional typography, and the ability to add your own AR speech bubble to posters or artwork you see along the street, relating back to one of the projects Stefan mentions in his talk.
