Jessica Helfand too.

And Laurie DeMartino.

Back to the issue at hand, I think that graphic design does recognize women's efforts. But like any other profession men are more revered and that will be almost impossible to change. Sad but true. Think of architecture, how many brand name women architects can you think of? I'm no architecture scholar, but I know enough that I can not think of a single woman architect. Product design? A few more maybe. Interactive design? Maybe Ms. Lynda Weinman. So overall, I do believe that graphic design gives a lot of credit to women. Could they (we) do a better job? Probably, but I gues they should start by paying women the same as men.

It's funny, because in Mexico graphic design is viewed as a "girlie" profession. In my class, only two men graduated (one of them me) compared to 24 women.

But who are the ones who get recognized? Men.

>graphic design is a fairly progressive profession as far as gender equality (if not racial) is concerned.

This is something that I've been wondering about for the longest time, how come there are no african american graphic designers? I mean... I'm absolutely sure there are, but we sure as hell ain't hearing about them. I remember when I was at Portfolio Center, there were maybe 5-7african americans in the graphic design program. Not sure why this is.

Lana Rigsby, one of the best design firms working today.

Louise Fili, always a class act.

Jennifer Morla

Alison Meunch-Williams, the M of Design MW, always beautiful.

And Vicki Wong, of meomi and beelteblue is a new favorite of mine.

Then, of course, there is the very important work of

Beatrice Warde author of the primary-text

The Crystal Goblet (1955).

One of the most important art directors in all of publishing, Carol Devine Carson from Knopf, as well as Barbara deWilde.

Thanks for the comments and all the great links. Don't get me wrong, I do believe design to be one of the more equitable professions. My classes at school were about 7 to 3 women to men, and in the studios I've worked at about 6 to 4 men to women. It just seems to me that there is quite a dramatic difference between the reality of the field and its representations (in trade magazines, journals, AIGA medals, etc.).

Don't forget:

(current)

Karin Fong (Imaginary Forces)

Sylvia Harris

Sheila Levrant de Bretteville

Emily Oberman & Bonnie Siegler (Number Seventeen)

Marlene McCarty (Bureau)

Susan Sellers & Georgie Stout (2x4)

Lorraine Wild

(classic)

Muriel Cooper

Elaine Lustig Cohen

Cipe Pineles

>Jennifer Morla

I had completely forgotten about her. One of my all time favorites.

>Louise Fili, always a class act.

Always.

>Lorraine Wild

Yes!

Also, fellow mexican, Rebeca Mendez

I'd say the 'maybe men have bigger egos' theory has a bit of truth to it. ;o)

Some Dutch names:

Irma Boom

Linda van Deursen (of Mevis & Van Deursen)

Marieke Stolk (of Experimental Jetset)

Mieke Gerritzen

Oh yeah, and Annelys de Vet:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~annevet

At a lecture at Portfolio Center, Paula Scher spoke fondly of being the only woman partner at Pentagram. I can't exactly remember what she said about it, but it was pretty funny.

(Yup Armin, that's a great, fulfilling comment.)

Armin, I don't know if Paula's comments were exactly fond, but I think she said something like it felt very boys-club like and that she was certainly aware of being the only woman. Paula tends to be, uh, acerbic. I can't remember exactly what she said because I am old and cannot remember much that happens early in the morning.

Funny how I had just written to you boys over at Speakup asking why you don't have any interviews with women designers on the site...

A couple more for the list, since we seem to be compiling:

Susan Kare

Liz McQuiston

The Ladies at Future Farmers

Armin, your comment, But like any other profession men are more revered and that will be almost impossible to change. Sad but true.

is pretty shallow. Professions, as well as every other aspect of culture, change every day, across the world, toward equal and progressive societies.

Accepting inequality in design as a defeated statement of fact isn't very informed. It's hard to come up with a huge list of women in design just as it's hard to come up with a huge list of women in any profession, and it's for the same reasons: most women choose, at some point, to divide their time between their careers and their families in a more proportionate ratio. Men don't have to make that choice... they've always been able to have both.

Lastly, women have not been in the profession for the duration--that is, we can think of myriad men, but many of them pre-date the time when women were even in the workplace.

I don't have a problem being called shallow, I have been called worst things.

> most women choose, at some point, to divide their time between their careers and their families in a more proportionate ratio. Men don't have to make that choice... they've always been able to have both.

However to say that my statement is defeatist and misinformed is, well, misinformed. You state the one of the very reasons why this happens and is one of the reasons I had in my head when I wrote what I wrote. This is

> Lastly, women have not been in the profession for the duration--that is, we can think of myriad men, but many of them pre-date the time when women were even in the workplace.

Graphic design, as we know it and practice it today, is quite a young profession. Many women entered the workplace during (and after) WWII and Vietnam when men were out warin' so — if we were to take the 60s, 70s or even 80s (Rand, Bass, Glaser, etc.) as starting points — there have been women designers in the workplace since then so the women-not-in-the-workplace argument doesn't hold strongly.

> A couple more for the list, since we seem to be compiling: Susan Kare

And just as a I'm-not-as-shallow-or-man-centric-as-you-think-I-am: I have written two articles about Susan Kare. One for HOW Magazine last year and a very recent, very long article for a Spanish magazine due out this year.

there is an excellent educator and practitioner in utah,

Linda Sullivan

maybe not world famous, but influential in the work of many practicing designers.

certainly equal to the women mentioned

I'm an interior designer, not a graphic designer, but our industry has a similar inequity in recognition. 85% of interior designers are women, yet 85% of published work is by men. Does this mean men are better designers? Not necessarily. Are they better at self-promotion? Absolutely.

Not to put a fine point on it, but what woman (or man) is equal to Susan Kare in the graphic design field? She's an icon because she IS icons. At one time 3 computer systems - Macintosh, Windows, and OS/2, all owed their whole icon structure to her. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you could have cloned her, all desktop publishing and graphics apps like Photoshop would probably have been done by a Susan Kare clone.

Marion, I couldn't agree more. Susan Kare is one of the strongest designers. Nothing flashy, convoluted or showboaty about her work. It just gets the job done. And done well.

I wrote a small article, accompanied by an interview, for HOW magazine early last year. And I recently completed a large article for a Spanish magazine about her. I found my 2000 word-limit too limiting to sing all the praises necessary.