{"id":38253,"date":"2025-03-23T17:10:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T21:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/?p=38253"},"modified":"2025-03-23T17:50:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T21:50:47","slug":"women-designers-in-momas-1953-good-design-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/visualization\/women-designers-in-momas-1953-good-design-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Women Designers in MoMA’s 1953 Good Design Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bar chart illustrating the gender distribution of designers in MoMA\u2019s 1953 Good Design Exhibition: 17 women (26%) and 49 men (75%).<\/em> Source: MoMA Exhibition & Digital Image \u00a9 The Museum of Modern Art\/Licensed by SCALA\/Art Resource, NY.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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INTRODUCTION<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The 1953 Good Design exhibition, curated by Edgar Kaufmann Jr., was part of MoMA\u2019s efforts to promote modernist design principles to a broader audience. It showcased everyday objects that combined functionality, affordability, and aesthetic appeal, reflecting the post-war consumer culture of the time.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Good Design\u2019<\/strong> in the context of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) during the mid-century era in New York, focusing on the exhibition of <\/em>‘purchasable household art pieces’<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As someone fascinated with mid-century design, I explored women designers\u2019 representation in this exhibition, starting with MoMA\u2019s open-source master checklist. Two key questions guided my research:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What product dominated the \u2018Good Design\u2019 Exhibition during the mid-century movement?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital Image \u00a9 The Museum of Modern Art. Licensed by SCALA \/ Art Resource, NY. Source: Art Resource.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>

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How were women designers represented, and what patterns in gender distribution can be seen?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olga Lee and her husband, Milo Baughman.Source: Esoteric Survey<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While the exhibition is widely studied, little attention has been given to the role of women designers. This project seeks to uncover their contributions and explore patterns in gender representation across product categories and price points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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REFERENCES<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Several notable projects inspired my visualization approach, “Women of the Nobel Prize”<\/strong> by Koen Van den Eeckhout<\/a> effectively uses timeline visualization to highlight gender disparities in prestigious awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen of the Nobel Prize\u201d infographic, including the 2023 laureates. Source: Koen Van den Eeckhout.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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“Georgia O’Keeffe’s Artistic Career”<\/strong> visualization by the O’Keeffe Museum<\/a>, which provides interactive filtering by artwork type and date ranges<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGeorgia O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s Artistic Career\u201d visualization by the Georgia O\u2019Keeffe Museum. Source: O\u2019Keeffe Museum Collections<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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THE PROCESS <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Data Collection<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I started with MoMA’s Exhibition History Archive (Open-Source Project), from the scanned PDF of the 1953 Good Design<\/strong> exhibition master checklist<\/a> to a .csv dataset using AI tools and additional manual verification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Good Design master checklist PDF from the MoMA Exhibition Archives.<\/em>
Source: MoMA.org<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Data Cleaning and Enrichment<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Using OpenRefine<\/strong><\/a>, I standardized the manufacturer, added gender information, and cleaned the categories. The most challenging part was researching gender information through MoMA archives and Wikidata. I also attempted to pinpoint retailer locations by finding latitude and longitude using Python expressions inside OpenRefine. However, I excluded this data variable as the data won\u2019t connect. I went back and forth between cleaning, enriching data, and testing visualization approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dataset comparison: On the left, the raw CSV file generated by Claude AI; on the right, the cleaned and enriched dataset processed using OpenRefine, Wikidata, and OpenStreetMap, showcasing the transformation of raw data into an analysis-ready format.<\/em>
Source: Author\u2019s work.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Visualization Development<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The initial dashboard analyzes the representation of women designers in the 1953 Good Design exhibition at MoMA. <\/em>
Source: The author’s work.
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My visualizations evolved iteratively to address the research questions. The Initial Design<\/strong><\/a> revealed that tableware and textiles dominated the exhibition, answering our first question: What product dominated the \u2018Good Design\u2019 Exhibition during the mid-century movement?<\/strong> Peer feedback prompted me to add a heat map, which uncovered affordability patterns and highlighted the concentration of women designers in lower-priced categories. This addressed our second question: How were women designers represented, and what patterns in gender distribution can be seen across product categories and price points?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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User feedback on the initial dashboard, highlighting areas for improvement and guiding the redesign process.<\/em>
Source: Author\u2019s work.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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THE UPDATED VISUALIZATION<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Enhanced Dashboard<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I redesigned it with a purple palette focused on user feedback questioning why tableware and textiles dominated and how women designers fit into this pattern. I added the price matrix revealing affordability as a key factor and created space to name individual female designers. This displays data to tell a story about women designers’ contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Updated dashboard analyzing the representation of women designers in the 1953 Good Design exhibition at MoMA. <\/em>
Source: Author\u2019s work.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Check it out on TABLEAU<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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1. Product Category Distribution (Treemap)<\/strong>: <\/h2>\n\n\n\n