Sagmeister: The High Priest of Design

Early on, Sagmesiter used the most powerful tool we have. His mind. Throughout his life he has always kept a personal journal of thoughts and ideas. Keeping a journal is extremely helpful because as he said, our brains learn through repetition. If we see things only once, more likely than not we will forget it. I have started using a journal since I started art class as jr in high school. All my problems and thoughts are first worked out in the journal when i start my project, I have a great idea of how it will be executed.
Sagmeister also uses a lot of emotion to convey his ideas through image and text. It is hard to create great work if we as artists aren't interested in the subject matter. I feel this way right now because I am getting great feedback on my icons that concern something I care deeply for, music.
I thought it was interesting the way Sagmeister presents his work to clients. One. One. One. Instead of having tons of ideas with a couple good concepts, he likes to focus on one great idea and expand it to the fullest potential. This allows him to concentrate on one, and flush out unnecessary filler information. According to Sagmeister, this formally makes the decision easier for the client instead of overloading them with too many ideas.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to his lecture. It helped me relax about art in general, and remember to just have fun with it.