Sagmeister himself started out in the ultimate promotional and selling world, landing a job at the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Hong Kong. Born in Austria, he studied in Vienna until he was granted a scholarship at the Pratt Institute in New York. After graduating, he set off for a holiday in Asia, and ended up with a job at Leo Burnett. Two years later, he returned to New York, where he briefly teamed up with Tibor Kalman, before starting his own studio, Sagmeister Inc. He mainly worked for the music industry, designing CD covers for the Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, and David Byrne.

In 2000 he decided to close his studio for clients and conduct a full experimental year. When he reopened, his clients granted him so much freedom that he began illustrating their assignments with personal slogans drawn from a list entitled “Things I have learned in my life so far,” which Sagmeister depicts in staged photographs of typographic tableaux. Apart from his work and his student workshops, Sagmeister almost continuously travels the world giving lectures.