New podcast: why the monkey messes with creatives.

There’s a terrific new episode (#4) of the Shut Your Monkey podcast going up today and I hope you’ll give it a listen. First, I talk about creativity and how the monkey loves to hate it, meddling with your creative process and throwing up blocks. Then I am joined by this week’s guest, the rock-star of graphic design, Stefan Sagmeister.

I’ve known Stefan for about fifteen years and every time we chat, I come away excited, impressed, and inspired.  He first became famous for a poster for which he carved all the type into his chest with a razor blade. That shocking experiment was typical of an artist who breaks boundaries left and right. His work for clients like Levis, the Guggenheim, Red Bull, Jay Z, the Olympics, the Rolling Stones, have won every design award and  two Grammies. He has published several gorgeous and mind-bending books (and his sketchbooks are included in my book, An Illustrated Life), and he is a legend to designers everywhere.

Every seven years, Stefan closes his studio for a year to recharge his batteries. Most recently, he used his sabbatical to explore the science of happiness which led to the most visited design exhibit ever. He has also just finished directing his first motion picture, The Happy Film.

On the podcast, we talk about the process of making it, the obstacles inherent in trying something so brand new, the important of honesty and self-exploration in making good work, the power of communication to improve lives, and so many topics that matter to us both. The conversation was quite a long one but I have decided to share it all in one episode because I think Stefan is one of the most important creative minds of our time and every minute spent with him is never wasted.

You can listen to the whole episode right here.

Better yet, subscribe on iTunes so all the future monkey-shutting-goodness goes right to your device as soon as it’s outta the oven.

As always, I am interested to know what you think of the show. Please leave me a comment below if you are so inclined.