Few careers in editorial design can match Ruth Ansel’s volume of iconic visuals and page-turning pace. Graphic designer Teo Connor writes in praise of her hero.
When I was asked to write about a person who has inspired my work and my development as a designer, I found myself a little stuck. I have been inspired by so many people – from artists and designers like Alighiero Boetti, Chris Ofili, Viviane Sassen, Sister Mary Corita and Morag Myerscough, to the many friends and peers around me doing amazing work. So it was hard to pin-point one design hero. I fell into graphic design accidentally after a last-minute course change from a degree in psychology. When starting the course I knew very little about the history of design or its leading figures. During the course we studied the likes of Saul Bass, Alan Fletcher and Peter Saville, who certainly had an influence on my work at the time. However, I was always struck by how few women we learnt about. So it was even more poignant for me when I saw the work of Ruth Ansel. It was while working as a junior designer, armed with the task of image-searching through piles of magazines (pre-Google), that I came across an interview with her in Index Magazine. At that time I wanted to get into magazine work and here was Ruth, talking about her time as art director at Harper’s Bazaar during the 60s, and collaborating with the likes Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz and Diana Vreeland. It sounded so exciting. I never did end up as a magazine designer but nevertheless, Ruth’s aesthetic and approach to design did stay with me.
It was through the release of the wonderful Hall of Femmes series of books by Swedish designers Angela Tillman Sperandio and Samira Bouabana in 2010 that Ruth came back to my attention. This fantastic project taught me more about her journey, challenges and approach, and led me to explore her work more thoroughly.
Last year I was extremely lucky to get the opportunity to work with Ruth on the Tim Walker: Story Teller exhibition at Somerset House, and to visit her beautiful Manhattan apartment. The apartment was a treasure trove of books, photography and art – I was literally speechless for some time, which is unusual for me. I felt her design of the Story Teller book was elegantly brought to life by its typography and I was inspired by her attention to detail and hands-on approach to the exhibition, pinning oversized graphics up in her corridor so she could consider the correct size for the show.
I think that her use of colour and type are particularly inspired, and there always seems to me to be an element of fun or wit to her pieces that gives them a special energy, a wry sparkle coming from the page. I also like the fact that she has been involved in many firsts, being the first woman to hold the role of art director for Harper’s Bazaar (1960s), The New York Times Magazine (1970s) and Vanity Fair (1980s), and putting the first man, Steve McQueen, on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. She is also an avid collaborator, something I greatly admire and see as crucial in my work.
I’m still learning and developing as a designer but what Ruth has given me in my own practice is the feeling that if you do things how you want, work with great people and enjoy what you do you will ultimately produce good work. I take heed of her advice to continually take notice of the world and the industry around me to keep my work current and forward looking, and help maintain that the work I produce lives on as good design.
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