​Susan Panetta is the Creative Director for simply put and our first project: WE COUNT! A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Susan designed for multiple publications before being named the first-ever Creative Director for the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts. It was under her leadership that Lincoln Center’s award-winning design department and iconic style were established. Even today the Center's brand reflects the visual and narrative structures she put in place.
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Susan left to establish the design department for Juno Online Services, an early tech innovator. While she enjoyed the challenges of new media, she quickly realized that the company's culture neither understood nor valued the importance of design and continuity in their customer interface.
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So, when that bubble burst, she formed Panetta Creative, a unique studio focussed on what had become her passion - the intersection of design, education and storytelling. Susan often invites her clients to collaborate beyond usual boundaries of researcher, writer and designer - to center an aesthetic narrative across an entire project. She has created unique visual stories with musicians such as Laurie Berkner and publications including the Long Island Parent Magazine. A researcher by nature, Panetta reviewed the limited font and readablity literature with the What To Expect Foundation and created the unique design and feel of their Baby Basics book and program - creating an evolving accessibility standard for lower-literacy materials that she now uses for simply put projects.
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Susan also established and runs the Pulitzer & Panetta Writing and Art Studio with New York Times best-selling author Lisa Pulitzer. Grounded in her educational philosophy, these dynamic workshops merge literary and visual expression, offering children and makers of all ages a chance to write, design and illustrate with confidence.
As the Creative Director of Simply Put she puts all of her many skills and talents to use - doing the research necessary to find and nurture illustrators and designers who may not have connections, backround or commercial experience - and offering them mentoring, creative direction, publication and career guidance within a safe creative space.
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