Deborah Sussman

Deborah Sussman
Sussman in 2013
Born
Deborah Sussman

May 26, 1931
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedAugust 20, 2014(2014-08-20) (aged 83)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
EducationDoctorate of Humane Letters at Bard College (1998)

Institute of Design, Chicago (1950–1959)
Hochschule für Gestaltung, Ulm, Germany (1957–1958)
BFA, visual arts and acting Bard College, (1948–1950)

Black Mountain College (Summer 1948)
Known forEnvironmental graphic design
Notable work1984 Summer Olympics
AwardsAIGA medal (2004)
WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata

Deborah Sussman (May 26, 1931 – August 20, 2014) was an American designer and a pioneer in the field of environmental graphic design.[1][2] Her work incorporated graphic design into architectural and public spaces.

Early life and education

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Deborah Sussman was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 26, 1931.[3] Her father worked as a skilled commercial artist.

Sussman took classes at the Art Students League and attended summer school at Black Mountain College in 1952. She studied acting and painting at Bard College in New York. In 1951[4] she attended the Institute of Design in Chicago that was established in 1939 by Bauhaus painter and photographer László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946), where she earned a degree in graphic design, .[3][5] She went on to earn a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College in 1998.[6]: 17 

Career

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In 1953, Sussman began her career in the offices of Charles and Ray Eames, where she worked as an office designer. She worked for approximately 10 years with the Eameses, and during the course of that decade, she worked as art director for the office, designing print materials, museum exhibits, films, and showrooms for furniture.[3] Sussman designed instructions for the card construction game House of Cards[7] and traveled to Mexico to document folk culture for the Eameses' 1957 film Day of the Dead.[8][9] She won a Fulbright Scholarship that allowed her to study at the Ulm School of Design in Germany.[10]

In 1968, Sussman started her own practice. Four years later, in 1972, she met and married architect and urban planner Paul Prejza.[3] Sussman and Prejza formed the firm Sussman/Prejza & Co. in 1980 in Santa Monica, CA before moving to Culver City, CA in1986.[11] Their "urban branding" projects included city identities for Philadelphia and Santa Monica, as well as the look and architectural landscape of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.[12][5]

In 1983, Sussman helped found the AIGA chapter of Los Angeles with Saul Bass and others.[6]: 19 

In Stylepedia, authors Steven Heller and Louise Fili wrote that the graphical elements of that Olympics "epitomized a carnivalesque modernity" and placed the work in the Pacific branch of the New Wave design movement.[13] The firm also designed Hasbro's New York facility, and has worked with the City of Santa Monica, the Museum of the African Diaspora, Disney World, and McCaw Hall. The company was later renamed Sussman-Prejza. [citation needed]

Sussman was known for her bold and colorful work that includes an integration of typography in the environmental landscape.[12] She was awarded an AIGA medal in 2004.[10] In 2013 the WUHO Gallery hosted the first retrospective of Deborah Sussman's early work, spanning her days at Eames Studio up to the 1984 Olympics.[14]

Sussman was named a Fellow at the Society for Experimental Graphic Design in 1991, and she was later recognized with SEGD's Golden Arrow Award in 2006.[15] In 1995, she became the first woman to exhibit in New York’s School of Visual Arts’ “Master Series”.[16]

Her archives is now at (1931-1968) is now owned by the Getty Research Institute.

Work

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1984 Olympic Games

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Before Sussman became involved, the 1984 Olympic design consisted of a red, white, and blue "star-in-motion" logo that was considered inappropriate because of its nationalistic expression of the United States. Sussman and her designers, along with the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, decided a new logo should express the culture of Los Angeles and Southern California‍—‌particularly Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, and India. By combining the traditional elements of the U.S. flag with new colors and forms, they achieved what architect Jon Jerde referred to as "Festive Federalism." In total, there were 150 designs creating the visual language for the 1984 games.[6]: 17 [17] This work won Time magazine's award for "Best of the Decade."[18]

Other design contributions

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Death

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Sussman died of breast cancer at the age of 83 on August 19, 2014.[20][21]

References

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  1. ^ Heller, Steven (2011). I Heart Design: Remarkable Graphic Design Selected by Designers, Illustrators, and Critics. Beverly, Massachusetts: Rockport Publishers. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-61058-032-8. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  2. ^ Poulin, Richard (2012). Graphic Design and Architecture, A 20th Century History. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-59253-779-2. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d Walker, Alissa (2011). "Sussman, Deborah". The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 620–621. ISBN 978-0-19-533579-8. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  4. ^ Black Mountain College application, Western Reg. Archives, NC State Archives.
  5. ^ a b "R.I.P. Deborah Sussman, Who Made Graphic Design Larger Than Life". August 21, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d Gomez-Palacio, Bryony; Armin, Vit (2008). Women of Design. Cincinnati, Ohio: HOW Books. ISBN 978-1-60061-085-1.
  7. ^ "Artist Interviews: Deborah Sussman". Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  8. ^ Aynsley, Jeremy (2011). "Developing a Language of Vision: Graphic Design in California". California Design, 1930–1965: Living in a Modern Way. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art. p. 277. ISBN 978-0-262-01607-0. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  9. ^ Berger, Craig M. (2009). "The Wayfinding Designer". The Wayfinding Handbook: Information Design for Public Places. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-56898-769-9. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Deborah Sussman". AIGA. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  11. ^ Schell, Amy (2005). Inspirability: 40 Top Designers Speak Out About What Inspires (1st ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Pash. p. 158. ISBN 1-58180-555-1.
  12. ^ a b LLC Pantone; Leatrice Eiseman; Keith Recker (November 1, 2011). Pantone: The Twentieth Century in Color. Chronicle Books. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-4521-1313-5.
  13. ^ Heller, Steven; Fili, Louise (2006). "New Wave". Stylepedia: A Guide to Graphic Design Mannerisms, Quirks, and Conceits. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-8118-3346-2. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  14. ^ "Deborah Sussman Loves LA". WUHO. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  15. ^ Society for Experimental Design: Deborah Sussman: Design Experience
  16. ^ Listen Notes: Deborah Sussman
  17. ^ Poulin, Richard (2012). Graphic Design + Architecture, a 20th Century History. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers. pp. 198–199. ISBN 978-1-59253-779-2.
  18. ^ Poulin, Richard (2012). Graphic Design + Architecture: A 20th Century History. Beverly, Massachusetts: Rockport Publishers. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-59253-779-2.
  19. ^ a b "Deborah Sussman's Iconic Design | Unframed". September 17, 2014.
  20. ^ "Graphic designer Deborah Sussman has died aged 83". designboom.com. August 20, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  21. ^ Colker, David (August 22, 2014). "Deborah Sussman dies at 83; L.A. designer known for bold use of color". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
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