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Marcia Lausen is Director of the School of Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago and founder of the Chicago office of Studio/lab. At UIC, Marcia leads a renowned faculty of scholars and creative professionals variously engaged in contemporary research and practice. At Studio/lab, Marcia and her colleagues integrate four areas of communication design practice: identity, information, publication, and environment. The studio’s award-winning work has been exhibited at the AIGA National Design Center; Art Institute of Chicago; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Cooper Hewitt Design Museum; Index, Copenhagen; and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Following the 2000 presidential election, Marcia played a leading role in an election design reform initiative that resulted in federal guidelines for the design of ballots and election materials. The project was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts; the National Institute of Standards and Technology; the National Association of State Election Directors; Cook County, Illinois; and the State of Oregon. Her book, ​Design for Democracy​, was publishedin 2007 by the University of Chicago Press.

Marcia received a BFA in Graphic Design from Indiana University and an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale School of Art. She was named a 2004 Fast Company Master of Design and a 2010 Fellow of AIGA. In 2015 she received the AIGA Medal.