Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has announced the winners of the 2017 National Design Awards, recognizing design excellence and innovation in 11 categories ranging from landscape to fashion to architecture to product design. Jennifer Morla, who has been honored with over 300 awards in the field of visual communication, including the 2010 AIGA Medal, will receive the Communication Design trophy.
RECIPIENTS IN OTHER DISCIPLINES AND CATEGORIES ARE:
Design Trust for Public Space, Corporate & Institutional Achievement
MASS Design Group, Architecture Design
Slow and Steady Wins the Race, Fashion Design
Stamen Design founded by Eric Rodenbeck, Interaction Design
Deborah Berke Partners, Interior Design
Surfacedesign, Landscape Architecture
Joe Doucet, Product Design
Susan S. Szenasy, Director’s Award
Jennifer Morla established San Francisco-based Morla Design in 1984 as a multi-disciplinary studio and has worked on projects ranging from motion graphics and branding to retail environments and textiles. She has created design programs for Levi’s, Design Within Reach and the Mexican Museum, San Francisco. Morla lectures internationally and has taught at California College of the Arts for 23 years.
Now in their 18th year, the annual awards promote design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world. The award recipients will be honored at a gala dinner and ceremony October 19 at the Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden at Cooper Hewitt. “In an era of tumultuous change, design is asking deep questions about its purpose and contributions to a better society,” said director Caroline Baumann. “The achievements of this year’s class of National Design Award winners have informed that dialogue, and their accomplishments have elevated our understanding of what great American design is and what it can do to improve our world.”
Established in 2000 as a project of the White House Millennium Council, the awards program is accompanied each year by National Design Week (Oct. 14–22 this year). A variety of public education programs will be offered at the museum and across the country. National Design Awards programming is made possible by major support from Target, and additional funding is provided by Design Within Reach and Facebook. Founded in 1897, Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design.