Photo: Gerhard Kassner

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.

Photo: Gerhard Kassner

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.

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

Susana is passionate that design can be the paradigm shift in business. To that end, her responsibility is to catalyze creativity and original thinking in SYPartners’ work, and to lead the organization's brand-experience projects that bring digital experiences, retail environments, and briefing centers (to name just a few) to life. She is an active voice in the design industry, and is currently a member of the board of directors of the AIGA. Susana’s work has been widely awarded and she has been recognized by STEP magazine as one of “ten Women to Watch” and by GD USA as one of the next “People to Watch.” Susana brings years of experience in creativity. Prior to joining SYPartners in 2003, she spent several years as a creative director in editorial (Wired), design agencies (VSA Partners) and advertising (BDDP Spain)

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Text: Lynsey Power, Graphic BirdWatching