When I started it, the idea behind the studio was to design for the music industry and to stay small. The first became boring after six or seven years, and we branched out in many other directions in addition to music. We stayed true to the second one; after 20 years of being in business, we are still tiny.

… the idea was to keep overhead very low so that we would not be financially dependent on our clients and still be able to pick and choose an account based on the merit of the job, rather than how much it paid. I think that turned out to be a very important strategy that influenced the trajectory of the studio greatly.

Stefan Sagmeister.