Jennifer Morla

Jennifer Morla (born 1955, New York City) is an American graphic designer and professor based in San Francisco. She received the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Award in Communication Design in 2017.
Early life and education
Morla attended the University of Hartford in Connecticut studying conceptual art before receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design in 1978 from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, Massachusetts. She is also mother of 2 girls. Morla married Nilas de Matran, an architect.
She was influenced to undertake her career as an artist through visits to the MOMA growing up in Manhattan, seeing Charles and Ray Eames' IBM exhibit and films at the 1964 Worlds Fair, and her aunt's career as editor in the art department at Condé Nast.
Career
Design work
After graduation in 1979, Morla was hired at PBS station KQED in San Francisco. Her job consisted of her designing on-air, print graphics and designing animated openings.
In 1981, she was hired as the head of the art department of Levi Strauss & Co. Her job role consisted of designing the store environment, logos, packaging, and labels for the advertising purposes of the brand.
In 1984, she founded Morla Design. Clients include The New York Times, Levi Strauss & Co., Apple Computer, Herman Miller, Stanford University, and Luna Textiles. She has worked extensively with conceptual art venues designing identities, books and posters for The Mexican Museum, SculptureCenter, Capp Street Project, and New Langton Arts. In 1995, she created a poster celebrating the 20th anniversary of the San Francisco Mexican Museum entitled El Museo Mexicano. The piece featured vibrant colors, print and pattern as a way to pay tribute to the Mexican culture.
In 2000, Morla collaborated with Nordstrom creating a new face for the store's credit card to appeal to its consumers. The four holographic cards with vibrant colors and bold patterns reflected a reinvented version of the brand. In 2019, Morla worked with the brand K&M Confections creating the packaging for their milk chocolate to create three different styles of packaging for the types of flavored chocolate featuring the same typeface and foil lettering texture. Morla joined Design Within Reach in 2006 and developed campaigns emphasizing sustainability.
Morla is regularly invited to judge design competitions, for instance the Webby Awards. She is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).
Her design work is featured in museums such as the SFMoMA and referenced in books such as Meggs' History of Graphic Design, and was the object of a monography in 2019. It is archived at the San Francisco-based Letterform Archive.
Teaching
Since 1992 she has taught as an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts.
Awards and recognition
Cooper Hewitt, Communication Design, 2017
AIGA Medal, for her "ability to surprise and inform through her poignant communication designs for global brands and arts institutions, and for instilling that skill in others through her teaching," 2010
Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI)
Graphis Design Annual Platinum Award, 2015 and 2016
her work for Design Within Reach received the AIGA Corporate Leadership Award inn 2008
Exhibitions and collections
Permanent collections
MOMA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Denver Art Museum
Library of Congress
Museum of Craft and Design
Solo exhibitions
2012 The Workshop Residence, San Francisco, CA The Workshop Residence: Jennifer Morla Artist in Residence
2010 California College of the Arts, CCA, San Francisco, CA Jennifer Morla: AIGA Medalist
1999 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA Jennifer Morla, Selections from the Permanent Collection
1999 K Kimpton Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA Jennifer Morla, Encaustic Works on Canvas
1996 Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA Morla: Bay Area Portfolio
1994 DDD Design Gallery, Osaka, Japan Jennifer Morla
Group exhibitions
2016 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA Typeface to Interface: Graphic Design from the Collection
2003 Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY US Design 1975-2000
2002 Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO US Design 1975-2000
1998 Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Posters American Style
1985 Grand Palais, Paris, France US Posters
1995 Brandenburg Art Gallery, Berlin USA-Posters
Works in publications
The Designer’s Dictionary of Color, Sean Adams
Meggs' History of Graphic Design (5th Edition), Alston Purvis
The Poster: 1000 Posters from Toulouse-Lautrec to Sagmeister, Cees W. de Jong
Launching the Imagination, Mary Stewart
Glimmer: How Design Can Change Your Life, Warren Berger
i-D 2008
Women of Design: Influence and Inspiration, Armin Vit & Bryony Gomez
Teaching Graphic Design, Steven Heller
Graphic Design America 3, Jenny Sullivan
The New York Times Magazine
Graphis Magazine
Graphis Poster, Jennifer Morla foreword and introduction
Communication Arts Magazine
Women in Graphic Design, Gerda Breuer, Julia Meer
HOW 15 Masters of Design: Jennifer Morla
IDEA Magazine (Japan)
Linea Graphica (Italy)
A Diseño (Mexico)
Novum (Germany)
References
Graphis Poster Annual 2011, Morla Design awarded Graphis Poster Annual 2011 Gold
CCA Graphic Design's Jennifer Morla Awarded High Honors with AIGA Medal, CCA News, May 17, 2010
, Interview by Sean Adams, Step Inside Design, July/August 2006.
, Interviews & Profiles by Emily Potts, Step Inside Design, Nov/Dec 2005.
Jennifer Morla interview At the “Success Ideas and Tips from Master Graphic Designer, Jennifer Morla.” The Sherwood Group, 28 May 2014,
Sources
External links
morladesign.com
Jennifer Morla Designisms
Jennifer Morla interview
American graphic designers
American women graphic designers
Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumni
American women artists
AIGA medalists
National Design Award winners