agmeister’s work demands that the viewer or user is an active participant with the time and curiosity to investigate the wealth of ideas with which the designer has given his subject - and in particular the music - a visual identity. Using not only dramatic visual effects - from dazzling opulence to total darkness - he also works with tactile, mechanical qualities by making very deliberate use of the three-dimensional potential of books and CD covers as a means of creating small but complex “machines for communication” (Ellen Shapiro).