Paula Scher (BFA '70) Honored as a Royal Designer of Industry
Graphic designer and prominent alumna Paula Scher (BFA ‘70) was recently honored with the UK’s most prestigious design award, the Royal Designer for Industry (RDI), established in 1936. The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) recognizes only 200 individuals at any one time who demonstrate “sustained design excellence” and create “work of aesthetic value and significant benefit to society.” Creators across disciplines such as graphic design, fashion, textiles, architecture, and industrial design have been recipients. Presently, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, and Margaret Calvert are all RDIs.
Scher is currently a principal at Pentagram, a global design studio. She develops brand identity assets for world-renowned institutions in the arts such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Sundance Institute, the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her work with Tiffany & Co.'s brand identity "has become a case study for the contemporary regeneration of American brands," according to Pentagram.
Scher has been accredited as “one of the most influential graphic designers in the world,” and her approach to graphic design has built her up as the “master conjurer of the instantly familiar,” says Pentagram. She has been named to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame, has received the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, and has served on the national board of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Scher has shown work in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Library of Congress, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris among several esteemed institutions.