Indiana University graduate in Graphic Design, Marcia Lausen, has received the 2015 AIGA medal award. Since 1920, the American Institute of Graphic Arts medal is the most distinguished in the field. It is awarded to individuals in recognition of their exceptional achievements, services or other contributions to the field of design and visual communication; including graphic design, typography, and software development.
After graduating from Indiana University in 1981 with a BFA in Graphic Design, Lausen headed to Boston and worked for a few years as a designer to expand her portfolio as well as sharpen her skills in the fine art of diplomacy in a field heavy in perfecting cutting-edge customer relations. She soon applied to Yale and, as an MFA candidate attending from 1983-1985, found herself mentoring under accomplished graphic design faculty such as Paul Rand. Rand is best known for his corporate logo designs, but as a student, it was Rand’s essays on design and detail that heavily influenced Lausen. The idea, according to Rand, that “the rules are a means to the end, the conditions the player must understand thoroughly and work with in order to participate” has stuck with Lausen in teaching her students and in her personal art-making to this day.human condition. As a result, a range of political, psychological, poetic, and pragmatic manifestations of the contemporary migratory experience are explored.
Currently, Marcia Lausen is the Director of the School of Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-founder of the Chicago office at Studio/lab. Studio/lab integrates four areas of communication design practice: Identity, Information, Publication, and Environment. Lausen’s AIGA award reflects her standard of excellence over a lifetime of work and her significant success toward innovations within the practice of design.