About

awards_141119
Morla Design was formed in 1984 as a multidisciplinary design firm encompassing branding, web, packaging, print, retail and trade environments. Our integrated marketing approach produces solutions which translate smoothly across a variety of mediums, coupling design excellence with brand objectives.

Jennifer Morla is President and Creative Director of Morla Design, San Francisco. She founded Morla Design in 1984 as a multi-disciplinary design firm encompassing print, interactive, and environmental design. With over 300 awards of excellence, she has been recognized by virtually every organization in the field of visual communication. She is the recipient of design’s most honored awards, The Cooper Hewitt / Smithsonian National Design Award and the AIGA Medal. Her work and been published extensively, most notably in Meggs’ History of Graphic Design.

Ms. Morla’s work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Denver Art Museum, and the Library of Congress. SFMoMA has acquired over 50 pieces of her work for their permanent collection. Ms. Morla has been honored with solo design exhibitions at both SFMoMA and the DDD Gallery in Japan. She has been the feature article in Graphis, Communication Arts, IDEA (Japan), Linea Grafica (Italy), A Diseño (Mexico), and Novum (Germany).

Morla Design’s clients include Levi Strauss & Co., Apple, Stanford University, Herman Miller, Williams-Sonoma, Wells Fargo Bank, Design Within Reach, and conceptual art organizations SculptureCenter, Capp Street Project and New Langton Arts. Projects include covers for the New York Times magazine, the Quicktime brand launch for Apple, broadcast and animation design work for MTV, Swatch Watch designs, the definitive Levi’s book This is a Pair of Levi’s Jeans, as well as numerous identity campaigns and posters for art organizations and educational institutions.

Originally from Manhattan, she received a conceptual art education at the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford and her BFA in Graphic Design from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. In 1999, Morla was elected as a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI), based in Zurich. She lectures and judges internationally and has been on the jury of the Webby Awards since 2002. Ms. Morla is an AIGA Fellow, served on the National Board of AIGA, and has served on the Architecture and Design Accessions Board at SFMoMA. She is an adjunct professor, teaching Senior Level Design at California College of the Arts since 1992.

Recognition (partial list)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
  • Jennifer Morla,Selections from the Permanent Collection
  • 1999 | San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
    San Francisco, CA
  • Jennifer Morla
  • 1994 | DDD Design Gallery, Osaka, Japan
PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION/AWARDS
  • Cooper Hewitt National Design Award
  • 2017
  • AIGA MEDALIST AWARD
  • 2010
  • AIGA CORPORATE DESIGN LEADERSHIP AWARD
  • 2008
PUBLICATIONS
  • COMMUNICATION ARTS DESIGN ANNUAL:
    AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
  • 2013, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006…1984
  • GRAPHIS DESIGN ANNUAL
  • 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2012, 2011, 2010…1989
  • MEGGS’ HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN
  • 5th Edition, Philip Meggs & Alston Purvis, 2011
  • 15 MASTERS OF DESIGN: JENNIFER MORLA
  • How Magazine, 1996
MUSEUM ACCESSIONS/
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
  • MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
  • New York, NY | Architecture and Design
    2 acquisitions
  • SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
  • San Francisco, CA | Architecture + Design
    50 acquisitions
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS/
PROFESSIONAL JUDGING
  • COOPER HEWITT NATIONAL DESIGN AWARDS
  • 2011 | Judging, New York, NY
  • CANNES LIONS 56TH INTERNATIONAL
    ADVERTISING FESTIVAL
  • 2009 | Judging, Cannes, France
  • ADOBE DESIGN CONFERENCE
  • 2004 | Keynote Speaker, San Francisco, CA
  • EL DISEÑO, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
  • 2000 | Keynote Speaker, Mexico City, Mexico
  • WEBBY AWARDS
  • 2002-present | International Web Design Awards Judge
  • OSLO GRAFILL, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
  • 2001 | Speaker, Oslo, Norway