CHICAGO, IL– Last week during the 2015 SEGD Conference Experience Chicago, winners of the 2015 SEGD Excellence Awards were announced, and celebrated among almost 600 members of the environmental and experiential graphic design community. Since 1987, SEGD’s Excellence Awards have honored the individuals, companies, and institutions whose work has significantly advanced the environmental and/or experiential graphic design fields. The 2015 honorees and awards are as follows:
2015 SEGD Fellow: Don Meeker, Meeker & Associates The Fellow award recognizes an individual for promoting the highest values in environmental and/or experiential graphic design, and significantly contributing to the direction and growth of the field. SEGD Fellows are the laureates of environmental and/or experiential graphic design, whose body of work epitomizes the highest standards of practice in the field. Past winners include Doug Morris, Chris Calori and David Vanden-Eynden, Wayne Hunt, Massimo Vignelli, Deborah Sussman and Robert Probst. Don is a long-time SEGD member, and former board member who headed the NEA symbols grant and contributed significantly to research in the field of EGD. He has dedicated much of his career to legibility of symbols and fonts, paving the way for safer, clearer and more coherent highway and national parks signing and symbol systems.
2015 SEGD Distinguished Member: Teresa Cox, APCO The Distinguished Member award recognizes an individual for demonstrating outstanding volunteer efforts while significantly contributing to the direction, growth and excellence of SEGD programs. Recipients of the Distinguished Member award have been instrumental in cultivating university program, advancing accessible and green design, and promoting cultural agendas through design. Past winners include Cybelle Jones, David Middleton, Wayne Hunt, the SEGD Green Committee and Ken Ethridge. Teresa is a leader in the field, and a strong supporter of SEGD. She worked on the 2012 SEGD SAD White Paper, and continues to work with the ANSI board on accessible signage regulation. In her work, she creates a seamless intersection between design and fabrication.
2015 SEGD Gold Arrow award: Moira Gemmill, Royal Trust Collection The Golden Arrow award recognizes an individual for having made large and long-term contributions to the strength of SEGD as a leader. This special award for extraordinary service to SEGD and the field was instituted in 2001, and has been given rarely since. Past winners are Deborah Sussman, Ralph Appelbaum, Leslie Gallery Dilworth, and Ed Matthews. Moira served the design community in many ways in her career. She was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Trustee of the Robert McCann Trust and served on the board of SEGD. Moira has been awarded this special honor posthumously.
2015 SEGD Arrow award: iZone Imaging The Arrow award recognizes exemplary service or dedication to advancing technologies and manufacturing in environmental graphic design, and striving to provide the highest quality in products and services to the field. Recipients of the SEGD Arrow award have advanced new manufacturing processes, led the development of innovative new products, and championed sustainable practices and materials. Past winners include Neiman & Company, CREO Industrial Arts, 3M, Matthews Paint and Nova Polymers. A longtime supporter of SEGD, iZone Imaging is a leader in providing durable exterior and interior custom high-pressure laminate signs and graphics to the field. Through consistent processes, procedures, technical advancement and focus on exceptional customer service, iZone is a trusted partner for the community, and the only custom high pressure laminate supplier in North America with a fully integrated manufacturing facility. With a focus on the design profession, iZone conducts workshops and presentations to educate, inform and assist designers in becoming familiar with specifying and using products in a wide variety of applications.
2015 SEGD Insight award: University of Chicago Medicine The Insight award recognizes consistently commissioning environmental graphic design programs that significantly enhance or promote opportunities for the field and environmental graphic design education, and demonstrating a long-standing commitment to recognize the field. Recipients of the Insight Award are the visionary design clients behind years of outstanding museum exhibits, innovative hospital wayfinding systems, and rewarding partnerships between architects, developers, and designers. Past winners include Portsmouth City Council, TATE, Apple, Inc, Amtrak, Herman Miller, Inc and the National Parks Service. The University of Chicago Medicine includes the Center for Care and Discovery, Comer Children’s Hospital, Bernard A. Mitchell Hospital and the Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine. UoCM identified inconsistencies in signage across their campus, which spans seven million square feet. UoCM partnered with a number of leading SEGD member 3 organizations over the past few years to improve their systems. Future plans include the use of technology to apply common language between internal departments and to enable mobile navigation.
For more on the awards and past winners: https://segd.org/segd-awards
About SEGD Founded in 1973, SEGD (the Society for Experiential Graphic Design) is the global community of professionals who create experiences that connect people to place. Through educational programs, research, and publications, SEGD’s mission is to provide learning opportunities and resources for professionals involved in XGD, promote the importance of the discipline in establishing place, and continue to refine standards of practice for the field.