Her first “big job” was to design a book about a Coca Cola CEO who was dying of cancer. She designed the whole book and was preparing herself for some well-deserved praise from her boss. But praise was not what she got. Her boss took down every single sheet she had put up on the wall and put them in the bin, he stuck up five blank sheets of paper and told her she had missed the whole point completely. Her job was not to design a book, it was to create an experience. This was an epiphanic moment for Susanna and has influenced her whole design career since. She seems to revel in the fact that she made this discovery so early in her career.
Her second defining moment was what she calls her first “dream job”. IBM was turning 100 and she was given totally freedom to commemorate this fact. The outcome is a tri-fold experience at what Susana calls New York’s cultural hub – Lincoln Centre.
The exhibition of sorts is called THINK, part one is a digital wall which visualizes data, part two a film which is displayed across 40 screens and the third is a set of interactive stations which people can use to explore technology in their lives. Interestingly the IBM logo is only present on the welcome sign of the exhibition. She shows us the video which plays across the 40 screens but not before saying I wish I could take you there!There is one distinct message Susana would like us all to take away and that is that great design is a great experience.
Susana Rodríguez de Tembleque
Text: Lynsey Power, Graphic BirdWatching
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