For their contributions to design excellence and the development of the profession,  Steve Frykholm, John Maeda and Jennifer Morla are the 2010 recipients of the AIGA Medal.

Each will be presented with the award—the highest honor of the graphic design profession—at the AIGA Design Legends Gala in early 2011.

The AIGA Medal is awarded to individuals in recognition of their exceptional achievements, services or other contributions to the field of design and visual communication. Medals have been awarded since 1920 for contributions to the practice of design, teaching, writing or leadership of the profession in the United States. To learn more about this year’s Medalists and view a complete list of past recipients, visit www.aiga.org/medalists. Following in the footsteps of Paul Rand, Milton Glaser, Massimo and Leila Vignelli, and Paula Scher, they join a legacy of distinguished design practitioners who have been awarded the AIGA Medal for setting standards of excellence over a lifetime of work or making significant contributions to innovation within the practice of design.

“AIGA is proud to recognize the 2010 Medalists for their exceptional contributions to the field of design,” said Richard Grefé, executive director of AIGA. “Each has contributed to the way design can intrigue the spirit, engage curiosity, enhance business, explore creative use of visual technique, and communicate value that is respected by business, society and our popular culture.”

Steve Frykholm : has defined the voice and sensibility of the Herman Miller brand for the past 40 years, directing the graphic identity of the National Design Award-winning corporation. His iconic work, as a designer, art director and client, has been widely published and exhibited at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and the Danish Museum of Decorative Art. As the creative director and vice president of Herman Miller, Frykholm has demonstrated the ability of great design to influence business and has in turn influenced many corporations to follow suit. 

John Maeda

John Maeda : is an artist, designer, programmer, author and educator. For more than a decade, he has worked to integrate technology, education and the arts into a 21st-century synthesis of creativity and innovation. Maeda has demonstrated the power of approaching problems with a designer’s ability to challenge assumptions and anticipated outcomes; he is a leading advocate for creativity as a business. Formerly the associate director of research at MIT Media Lab, Maeda now serves as president of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

Jennifer Morla : is a consummate communications designer, endowed with a sensibility that uses craft, technique, medium and an intuitive understanding of how words and images can influence human understanding and delight. Morla, a former national board member of AIGA and former president of AIGA San Francisco, is also an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts, where she has been teaching senior-level design courses since 1992. She is the president and creative director of Morla Design and has served as the chief creative marketing officer for Design Within Reach.  

“Each Medalist this year is completely unique, yet all three are stellar examples of how to be a true leader and live a life in design,” noted Cheryl Heller of Heller Communications, chair of the AIGA member-based awards committee that recommended each honoree to the AIGA board of directors.

About AIGA

AIGA, the professional association for design, stimulates thinking about design, demonstrates the value of design and empowers the success of designers at each stage of their careers. AIGA’s mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force. Founded in 1914, AIGA remains the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design, and is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) educational institution. Today AIGA serves more than 20,000 members through 65 chapters and 200 student groups.

The medal of AIGA—the most distinguished in the field—is awarded to individuals in recognition of their exceptional achievements, services or other contributions to the field of design and visual communication. The contribution may be in the practice of design, teaching, writing or leadership of the profession. The awards may honor designers posthumously.

Medals have been awarded since 1920 to individuals who have set standards of excellence over a lifetime of work or have made individual contributions to innovation within the practice of design.

Individuals who are honored may work in any country, but the contribution for which they are honored should have had a significant impact on the practice of graphic design in the United States.

2010s

Steve Frykholm, 2010

John Maeda, 2010

Jennifer Morla, 2010

2000s

Pablo Ferro, 2009

Carin Goldberg, 2009

Doyald Young, 2009

Gail Anderson, 2008

Clement Mok, 2008

LeRoy Winbush, 2008

Ed Fella, 2007

Ellen Lupton, 2007

Bruce Mau, 2007

Georg Olden, 2007

Michael Bierut, 2006

Rick Valicenti, 2006

Lorraine Wild, 2006

Bart Crosby, 2005

Meredith Davis, 2005

Steff Geissbuhler, 2005

Joseph Binder, 2004

Charles Coiner, 2004

Richard, Jean and Patrick Coyne, 2004

James Cross, 2004

Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, 2004

Jay Doblin, 2004

Joe Duffy, 2004

Martin Fox, 2004 Caroline Warner Hightower, 2004

Kit Hinrichs, 2004

Walter Landor, 2004

Philip Meggs, 2004

James Miho, 2004

Silas Rhodes, 2004

Jack Stauffacher, 2004

Alex Steinweiss, 2004

Deborah Sussman, 2004

Edward Tufte, 2004

Fred Woodward, 2004

Richard Saul Wurman, 2004

B. Martin Pedersen, 2003

Woody Pirtle, 2003

Robert Brownjohn, 2002

Chris Pullman, 2002

Samuel Antupit, 2001

Paula Scher, 2001

P. Scott Makela and Laurie Haycock Makela, 2000

Fred Seibert, 2000

Michael Vanderbyl, 2000

1990s

Tibor Kalman, 1999

Steven Heller, 1999

Katherine McCoy, 1999

Louis Danziger, 1998

April Greiman, 1998

Lucian Bernhard, 1997

Zuzana Licko and Rudy VanderLans, 1997

Cipe Pineles, 1996

George Lois, 1996

Matthew Carter, 1995

Stan Richards, 1995

Ladislav Sutnar, 1995

Muriel Cooper, 1994

John Massey, 1994

Alvin Lustig, 1993

Tomoko Miho, 1993

Rudolph de Harak, 1992

George Nelson, 1992

Lester Beall, 1992

Colin Forbes, 1991

E. McKnight Kauffer, 1991

Alvin Eisenman, 1990

Frank Zachary, 1990

1980s

Paul Davis, 1989

Bea Feitler, 1989

William Golden, 1988

George Tscherny, 1988

Alexey Brodovitch, 1987

Gene Federico, 1987

Walter Herdeg, 1986

Seymour Chwast, 1985

Leo Lionni, 1984

Herbert Matter, 1983

Massimo and Lella Vignelli, 1982

Saul Bass, 1981

Herb Lubalin, 1980

1970s

Ivan Chermayeff and Thomas Geismar, 1979

Lou Dorfsman, 1978

Charles and Ray Eames, 1977

Henry Wolf, 1976

Jerome Snyder, 1976

Bradbury Thompson, 1975

Robert Rauschenberg, 1974

Richard Avedon, 1973

Allen Hurlburt, 1973

Philip Johnson, 1973

Milton Glaser, 1972

Will Burtin, 1971

Herbert Bayer, 1970

1960s

Dr. Robert R. Leslie, 1969

Dr. Giovanni Mardersteig, 1968

Romana Javitz, 1967

Paul Rand, 1966

Leonard Baskin, 1965

Josef Albers, 1964

Saul Steinberg, 1963

William Sandberg, 1962

Paul A. Bennett, 1961

Walter Paepcke, 1960

1950s

May Massee, 1959

Ben Shahn, 1958

Dr. M. F. Agha, 1957

Ray Nash, 1956

P. J. Conkwright, 1955

Will Bradley, 1954

Jan Tschichold, 1954

George Macy, 1953

Joseph Blumenthal, 1952

Harry L. Gage, 1951

Earnest Elmo Calkins, 1950

Alfred A. Knopf, 1950

1940s

Lawrence C. Wroth, 1948

Elmer Adler, 1947

Stanley Morison, 1946

Frederic G. Melcher, 1945

Edward Epstean, 1944

Edwin and Robert Grabhorn, 1942

Carl Purington Rollins, 1941

Thomas M. Cleland, 1940

1930s

William A. Kittredge, 1939

Rudolph Ruzicka, 1935

J. Thompson Willing, 1935

Henry Lewis Bullen, 1934

Porter Garnett, 1932

Dard Hunter, 1931

Henry Watson Kent, 1930

1920s

William A. Dwiggins, 1929

Timothy Cole, 1927

Frederic W. Goudy, 1927

Burton Emmett, 1926

Bruce Rogers, 1925

John C. Agar, 1924

Stephen H. Horgan, 1924

Daniel Berkeley Updike, 1922

Norman T. A. Munder, 1920