Susan S. Szenasy

Editor / Architecture; Interior Design; Product Design / United States / Metropolis

www.metropolismag.com/cda

In 1986 I was named chief editor of Metropolis, a magazine that held out a great deal of fascination for me because of its broad, multidisciplinary nature. I felt then, as I feel today, that our world is richer when designers work together, when they understand each other.

I am not a trained designer, though I took courses in textile design, drafting, and painting. Because of this, I have always considered myself an outsider to design—which I consider a good thing for a journalist seeking to understand her subject.

I have written several books on design, many articles, organized many conferences and panel discussions; when Parsons asked me to teach a course on Design History, I jumped at the chance. This was an opportunity to bring together my two loves, history (I hold an M.A. in Modern European History from Rutgers) and design. Then, when I was asked to develop a senior seminar on Design Ethics, I was truly challenged. How do you teach ethics? I decided that history could help me; understanding the professional activities of key design figures might be instructive for young designers looking to find their own way.

I was jolted into another phase of my work by 9/11. Shortly after the tragedy, I met with architect Beverly Willis and we formed a civic group, which we subsequently called R.Dot (Rebuild Downtown Our Town), for the purpose of providing solid research and information for those charged with the difficult task of rebuilding New York City. Design has given me an incredibly rich life.

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Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

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Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

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Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

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Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman

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Contributions by Roxane Gay
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Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

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Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

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This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

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