Ruth Ansel was the art director of Harper’s Bazaar in the 1960s, the New York Times Magazine in the 1970s, Vanity Fair in the 1980s, and then founded her own design studio in the ’90s. She has always been in the right place at the right time and has done a kick-ass job while she was there. She’s one of the most influential, successful, and innovative graphic designers around. Primarily self taught and a trailblazer of feminism in the business, she should be way more famous than she is.

Her work means a great deal to me because just as I was becoming aware of what graphic design was, I loved studying The Times Magazine and marveling at how Ruth created such unique and iconic covers every week, many of which I remember. They helped me define what good graphic design was (and is to this day).

And not to brag, but she is also my cousin.

RA: It hasn’t very much. It is more about appearances than reality. More women are in the workplace but they’re not getting comparable recognition or salaries with their male peers. Women are still working in a man’s world. It is especially difficult for an independent outsider type of woman, whether she is a graphic designer, an architect, or an interior designer, to really achieve a top position, even if she is an exceptional talent. Think of Eileen Gray, and how she spent most of her life having her work ignored, while her famous collaborator, Le Corbusier was celebrated worldwide. She did not become famous until shortly before she died in 1976. I admit I had never heard of her until then as well. There are certainly more talented women out there, more than men I believe, but I still think the glass ceiling exists and they get discouraged.

BS: With the number of women in the workforce today, it is amazing that this hasn’t changed yet.

RA: I think that women today are facing this “perfect storm” of conflicting expectations. Those expectations come mostly from society and the dangerously dumbed-down media. They have to achieve in the workplace, they have to look fabulous—which means being thin with plenty of plastic surgery—they should want to marry and become a perfect mother. And they are obliged to pull all this off simultaneously. What craziness is that? So I think many women who recognize after 10 years or more that their wonderful job is not so fulfilling, are opting out. But they are marrying later, having babies later, and divorcing earlier. If they’re lucky they’ll find their biological clock hasn’t run out on them like their man has. Many are not so lucky. Often they feel stranded with diminished opportunities.