2012 NATIONAL DESIGN AWARD, COMMUNICATION DESIGN
National Design Award in Communication Design
The White House Millennium Council
Smithsonian Design Museum
New York
October 17, 2012
The White House Millennium Council
Smithsonian Design Museum
New York
October 17, 2012
The National Design Awards are the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum's flagship honor, established in 2000 as an official White House Millennium Council project meant to raise national awareness of how design shapes everyday life. The program spans categories that cover the field's full range — architecture, communication design, digital design, fashion, interiors, landscape architecture, product design, and more — and winners are chosen through an open nomination process, vetted by a multidisciplinary jury of leading practitioners, then honored each year at a Smithsonian gala in New York. Over its more than two decades, it's become the closest thing American design has to a national medal of honor, with the defining criterion being not just technical skill but "innovation and impact in improving our world."
In 2012, Rebeca Méndez received the National Design Award in Communication Design. Cooper Hewitt's jury citation read: "In a career spanning almost thirty years as a designer, creative director, artist, and educator, Rebeca Méndez has focused on critical reflection of visual communication practices around issues of organization, culture, and identity." The award recognized a body of work that had already moved fluidly across posters, publications, exhibition design, and moving image, consistently pairing formal rigor with social and ecological conscience.
In 2012, Rebeca Méndez received the National Design Award in Communication Design. Cooper Hewitt's jury citation read: "In a career spanning almost thirty years as a designer, creative director, artist, and educator, Rebeca Méndez has focused on critical reflection of visual communication practices around issues of organization, culture, and identity." The award recognized a body of work that had already moved fluidly across posters, publications, exhibition design, and moving image, consistently pairing formal rigor with social and ecological conscience.
