Book List of the Week: Deborah Sussman (1931-2014)
"Literature and poetry, especially by and about women, have been a lifelong passion. While not directed specifically at the 'design' profession, these books have informed and influenced my imagination, mind and soul."
By Stephanie Salomon August 25, 2014We salute graphic designer Deborah Sussman (1931–2014), who passed away last week, with a look at the books that inspired the colorful designer of the colorful and distinctive environmental graphics that became synonymous with Los Angeles and the California New Wave movement. The Brooklyn-born designer started out in the Eames office and went on to play a pioneering role for women in graphic design, famously creating the identity, with her firm, Sussman/Prezja, and The Jerde Partnership, for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Her book list first ran on Designers & Books in 2011 and includes lots of advice and pointed observations for readers:
On Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “In case you haven’t yet read this, do so!”
On Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Lost Time: “Like a pebble thrown into a lake, the famous story of eating a “madeleine” begins an epic masterpiece. In Proust's invention the lake becomes an ocean. The characters and their intrigues, their social status and power (whether inherited or manufactured), are described in very dense text. This work is worth the effort, and will exercise your brain.”
On Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar: “Provides insights into American womanhood in the early 1950s and the juncture between education and professionalism. It also reveals the author’s internal struggles and describes the significant contribution that Mademoiselle magazine made to empower women, along with the hilarious foibles of the time. (I, too, was a guest editor at Mademoiselle.)”
In addition, Sussman writes in the introduction to her book list, “All of the books by Bruno Munari are worth your time. ... small, graphic gems, which are very precise and full of multidimensional surprises.”
A writer of free verse and reader of poets like Emily Dickinson (“Read everything she wrote and read it over and over”), Deborah Sussman was also contemplating/in the compiling a book on her own work when we met her and her husband and design partner, Paul Prejza, in 2012. The prospect, she told us, was of “a multifaceted mirror is beckoning.”
For some of the many excellent articles on Deborah Sussman, see Alissa Walker’s interview, “The Colorful World of Deborah Sussman”; “She Loves LA” in Metropolis magazine; “Deborah Sussman: Creative Foundations” (ADC); and designboom’s interview.
Announcements
Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister
Now is Better
By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
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.
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022
Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Milton Glaser: POP
By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023
This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.
Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange
Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall
By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022
Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”
Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)
By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023
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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