Stefan Sagmeister: Now is Better

Softcover in slipcase | 17.65 x 2.54 x 24.64 cm | 264 pp

Phaidon | 2023 | 9781838666965 

Contained within a die-cut slipcase and accompanied by a lenticular print.

Now is Better is an intriguing and thoughtful visual meditation on our daily lives by Austrian graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister. This recent project encourages long-term thinking and reminds us that many things in the world are improving.

Initially conceived in 2020 as the world entered pandemic lockdown, Stefan Sagmeister created this book as a look at the state of the world today, illuminating, through collected data, how far we’ve come, and encouraging us to think about where we can go from here. Statistics are vividly brought to life, as numbers are transformed into graphs, inlaid into nineteenth-century paintings, embroidered canvases, lenticular prints, and hand-painted water glasses. 

The book includes a foreword from psychologist and leading authority on language and the mind, Steven Pinker; a featured essay by graphic designer and historian Steven Heller; and a conversation between Sagmeister and Hans Ulrich Obrist, curator and artistic director of Serpentine Galleries in London.