Professor Emerita, Design Studies, Parsons School of Design

Democracy

A Dystopian Novel for Our Times

What being tyrannized tastes like

May 15, 2025 • by Susan Yelavich

On one level, the premise of Prophet Song (Oneworld, 2023), the recent Booker-winning novel by the Irish writer Paul Lynch, is simple enough: It’s about the existential dilemmas a mother faces in an authoritarian state. But on every other level, Prophet Song exceeds the expectations of a dystopian tale. Instead ...

Art & Design

Thinking Design through Literature

Identity: The cultural politics of things and places

May 5, 2021 • by Susan Yelavich

_____ Where design projects possibilities, literature activates their potential and shows their effects. Brought together in Thinking Design through Literature, they form a new and wider tributary in the thought of things and places. That said, in this excerpt from the chapter on culture, readers will note that the word ‘design’ ...

Fashion

Killing It

TV’s Killing Eve as fashion epiphany

May 6, 2020 • by Susan Yelavich

Eve, whose sense of style borders on grunge, is the foil to Villanelle’s haute couture. The government agent’s closet is a study in neutrals, while her counterpart’s is as highly keyed as her sociopathic personality. Villanelle fears nothing, certainly not color. Her wardrobe is as eclectic as Eve’s is predictable. But ...

Feature

A Sign of Resistance; A Symbol of Hope

An Interview with Mateusz Halawa, Head of Social Sciences and Humanities at the School of Form in Poland

August 24, 2017 • by Susan Yelavich

As Polish citizens gathered to protest a bill that signals a national shift away from democracy, thousands of them brandished, clung to, wore, and waved one simple graphic designed by Luka Rayski: a poster saying “Konstytucja”, which means “constitution” in Polish. Colored to emphasize the “ty” (“you”) and “ja” (“me”), ...

Uncategorized

Tiny Instruments Hit a Profound Chord

Multicultual creativity in the city of Wrocław

December 24, 2013 • by Susan Yelavich

Last summer I was fortunate to be among the faculty of the Democracy & Diversity Institute in Wrocław, Poland, organized by Transregional Center for Democratic Studies (TCDS). Friendships were forged, ideas were tested, and disciplinary lines constructively crossed, all of which I’d been prepared for and had been looking forward ...