Stefan Sagmeister is a designer who takes risks in work and in life to make a sincere statement—for himself and his clients. Some time ago he realized that by closing down his studio for a year for travel and reflection he would elevate his perceptions, and therefore, the quality of his work. So began his tradition of taking a sabbatical from the office every seven years.

A true maverick, he recently took his findings to a new level in creating The Happy Show, which is currently on a world tour. On Friday, Six Things:Sagmeister & Walsh opens at the Jewish Museum. The exhibition, which he created with his design partner Jessica Walsh, further explores ideas that permeate The Happy Show.

Six Things explore six ideas that form Sagmeister’s approach to work and life: If I Don’t Ask, I Won’t Get; Keeping a Diary Supports Personal Development; Be More Flexible; It’s Pretty Much Impossible to Please Everyone; Now Is Better; Feel Others Feel. In five short films and an interactive floor sculpture, Sagmeister and Walsh investigate ideas culled from Sagmeister's diary that he believes have increased his personal happiness.

About Keeping a Diary, Sagmeister writes, “I’ve been keeping a diary for many, many years. I find it helpful to reread certain passages to see what my thinking was, and most importantly, to discover things I feel need changing.” The video, shot in the Tang Dynasty Village, an abandoned amusement park in Singapore (above), capitalizes on Sagmeister’s signature typography. In this case, he has created 12-foot-high letters out of bamboo rods. The word, Keeping, is pulled through the leafy park by a worker. A Diary is mounted on a long narrow barge and punted along a wooded stream by another worker wearing a coolie hat. The serenity evoked by the setting and the music seems at odds with the apparently difficult job of moving the tall, transparent words along: Art imitates life? Life imitates art? The answer is up to the viewer.

For Now is Better, which is also included in The Happy Show, animated typography is composed of elements that make for a great cup of coffee. Hundreds of sugar cubes sweep up to form words in a blackletter gothic type style (above). Then they take shape in italics from dozens of small cream pitchers. Jello joins in the fun; a fish bowl and some other elements break in to a mad hatter’s kaffe klatsch, with liquids spilling and spreading across colorful backgrounds. About this notion, Sagmeister writes, “I’d much rather live now than at any other time in history. This is the first time that large parts of the world population can be in charge of their own destiny.”

The videos occupy one of the Jewish Museum’s 19^th-century wood paneled rooms, installed back to back on foot-and-a-half-thick freestanding walls. Along the baseboard, the findings of the 2010-2011 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index are reported in Typeset Gothic, done in gold leaf. It reads, “According to a recent nationwide survey, Jewish Americans report higher levels of happiness than all other major faith groups in the country….It does note that belief in a higher power, prayer, acts of charity, and neighborly love can promote a sense of belonging; alleviate stress; and lead to a positive outlook on life.”

Jessica Walsh, in front of one of the videos at the media preview yesterday. All photos: Peggy Roalf.

Six Things: Sagmeister & Walsh opens on Friday and continues through August 4 at the Jewish Museum. 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92^nd Street, NY. NY. OnThursday, May 2 at 6:30 pm, Stefan Sagmeister will talk about his recent projects including the exhibition. Information.

On Thursday, April 5, 6:30-7:30 pm, The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum is hosting a members’ curator tour of the exhibition. Information.

Editor's note: Stefan Sagmeister, as Sagmeister Inc., designed AP15. Information. Information.