October 30, 2020 – Arlington, VA — Fifty-two museum publications have gained accolades in the 29th annual Museum Publications Design Competition, presented by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). This competition recognizes and encourages superior execution and ingenuity in the graphic design of museum publications and is the only national, juried competition of its kind.

This year’s winners were chosen from over 250 entries from the US and globally in 12 print media categories for their overall design excellence, creativity, and ability to express an institution’s personality, mission, or special features. Competing institutions are divided according to budget: museums with annual operating budgets under $1 million and those with budgets over $1 million.

Judges award the Frances Smyth-Ravenel Prize for Excellence in Publication Design to the best publication in the competition. “The George Eastman Museum is thrilled to receive the Frances Smyth-Ravenel Prize for Excellence in Publication Design for David Levinthal: War, Myth, Desire,” said Bruce Barnes, Ron and Donna Fielding Director of the museum. “The design of this four-volume box set was the result of the collaboration among designers George Corsillo and Susan McCaslin of Design Monsters, artist David Levinthal, and our publications team. We are deeply grateful to Donald Rosenfeld, whose support made this ambitious publication possible. The book accompanied our retrospective exhibition of Levinthal’s work, which followed the anonymous donation to the Eastman Museum of more than 5,000 photographs by the artist.”

This year, judges also recognized entries in any category that offer creative solutions or innovation regardless of institutional budget size. “Despite the 2020 global disruption, the breadth and quality of this year’s publication submissions were excellent,” said Bennett DeOlazo, juror for the Museum Publication Design Competition and principal of Studio B. “The common thread through all the work was the designers’ vision for quality and creativity to transform museum publications into tangible and compelling experiences. The judges were impressed to see aesthetic and printing choices that thoughtfully provoked and engaged viewers through their visual and tactile nature, without excessive flourish or flashiness.”

The panel of judges were: Nancy Hacskaylo Senior Graphic Designer, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery; Bennett DeOlazo, principal, Studio B; and Selena Robleto, principal, Red Velvet Creative.

The full list of winners are:

The Frances Smyth-Ravenel Prize for Excellence in Publication Design

George Eastman Museum; Rochester, NY
David Levinthal: War, Myth, Desire | Designed by: Design Monsters

Exhibition Catalogues

First Prize

Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens; San Marino, CA
Nineteen Nineteen | Designed by: Kimberly Varella, Content Object
Institutional budget more than $1 million

National Gallery of Victoria; Victoria, Australia
Darren Sylvester: Carve a Future, Devour Everything, Become Something | Designed by: Dirk Hiscock
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Tarble Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University; Charleston, IL
Rachel Monosov: We Are Almost There | Designed by: Kaen Henry, Grace O’Brien, and Jeonghyun Kim
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Bard Graduate Center; New York, NY
French Fashion, Women, and the First World War | Designed by: Irma Boom Office
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Second Prize

National Gallery of Victoria; Melbourne, Australia
Petrina Hicks: Bleached Gothic | Designed by: Thomas Deverall
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Chicago, IL
Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” | Designed by: Design & art direction, OK-RM; consultation, archive research & design development, PLAYLAB, INC.; archive design & layout, MCA Chicago design team
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Bard Graduate Center; New York, NY
Jan Tschichold and the New Typography: Graphic Design Between the World Wars | Designed by: Bard Graduate Center
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Honorable Mention

Getty Publications; Los Angeles
Käthe Kollwitz: Prints, Process, Politics | Designed by: Catherine Lorenz
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Storm King Art Center; New Windsor, NY
Mark Dion: Follies | Designed by: Jeffrey Jenkins
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Richmond, VA
Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment | Designed by: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Institutional budget more than $1 million

CSUF Grand Central Art Center; Santa Ana, CA
Cognate Collective: Regionalia | Designed by: Stephen Serrato / ELLA
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Binghamton University Art Museum; Binghamton, NY
Seymour Chwast: Works of War | Designed by: Blažo Kovačević
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture; Baltimore, MD
A Designed Life: Contemporary American Textiles, Wallpapers and Containers & Packages, 1951-1954 | Designed by: Margaret Re
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Posters

Honorable Mention

Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service; Washington DC
Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II | Designed by: Jeanne Krohn / Krohn Designs
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Annual Reports

First Prize

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art; Hartford, CT
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Annual Report 2019 | Designed by: WondriskaRusso
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Second Prize

Field Museum; Chicago, IL
2018 Annual Report to Donors | Designed by: Bark Design
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Honorable Mention

Florence Griswold Museum; Old Lyme, CT
Florence Griswold Museum 2019 Annual Report | Designed by: Lisa Reneson/Two Sisters Design
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Books

First Prize

Qatar Museums; Doha, Qatar
National Museum of Qatar | Designed by: Randa Takieddine
Institutional budget more than $1 million

University of Washington Press; Seattle, WA
Seattle Style | Designed by: Clara Berg
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Second Prize

Exploratorium; San Francisco, CA
The Art of Curiosity | Designed by: Weldon Owen
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Lucid Art Foundation; Inverness, CA
Gordon Onslow Ford – A Man on a Green Island | Designed by: Rob Hugel, Little Hill 2.0
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Honorable Mention

Museum of New Mexico Press; Santa Fe, NM
Perdido | Designed by: David Skolkin
Institutional budget more than $1 million

The Menil Collection; Houston, TX
Roni Horn: When I Breathe, I Draw | Designed by: Binocular
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Spencer Museum of Art; Lawrence, KS
Inquiries | Designed by: Jeffrey McKee; Editor Joey Orr; Photographer Ryan Waggoner
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Clausen Memorial Museum; Petersburg, AK
Tin Can Country: Southeast Alaska’s Historic Salmon Canneries | Designed by: Sarah Asper-Smith, ExhibitAK
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Newsletters and Calendar of Events

First Prize

Spencer Museum of Art; Lawrence, KS
View, Spring 2020 Issue | Designed by: Jeffrey McKee; Editor: Elizabeth Kanost; Photographer: Ryan Waggoner
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Bard Graduate Center; New York, NY
Public Programs Spring Calendar 2019 | Designed by: Bard Graduate Center
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Second Prize

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art; Hartford, CT
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Calendar | Designed by: WondriskaRusso
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Bard Graduate Center; New York, NY
Public Programs Fall Calendar 2019 | Designed by: Bard Graduate Center
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Magazines/Scholarly Journals

First Prize

Smithsonian Archives of American Art; Washington, DC
Archives of American Art Journal (Fall 2019 issue) | Designed by: Polygraph Creative
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Second Prize

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; San Francisco, CA
Fine Arts Magazine: Ed Hardy / Summer 2020 | Designed by: Em Dash
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Honorable Mention

The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College; Saratoga Springs, NY
Accelerate: Access and Inclusion at the Tang Teaching Museum issue 3 (2019) | Designed by: Linked by Air
Institutional budget more than $1 million

White House Historical Association; Washington DC
White House History Quarterly, Mid-Century Fashion and the First Ladies: From Ready-to-Wear to Haute Couture | Designed by: Pentagram
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Invitations to Events

First Prize

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; New York, NY
“2019 Garden Party Invitation” | Designed by: Ann Sunwoo
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Second Prize

Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery; Washington DC
Hokusai: Mad about Painting | Designed by: Nancy Hacskaylo
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Casa del Herrero; Santa Barbara, CA
2019 Feria Andalusia Event Invitation | Designed by: Karen Sketch
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Press Kits, Marketing and Public Relations Material

No awardee

Fundraising and Membership Material

First Prize

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art; Washington DC
African Art Awards 2019 program | Designed by: Lisa Buck Vann
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Casa del Herrero; Santa Barbara, CA
Spring Appeal 2019 | Designed by: Karen Sketch
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Educational Resources

First Prize

Smithsonian American Art Museum / National Portrait Gallery; Washington, DC
#BecauseOfHerStory | Designed by: Robert Killian
Institutional budget more than $1 million

SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film; Atlanta, GA
Derrick Adams: Patrick Kelly, The Journey curriculum guide | Designed by: Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD); Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Second Prize

United States Botanic Garden; Washington DC
Green House: Introductory Guide for Educators | Designed by: Carolyn Donarski/National Center for Appropriate Technology; graphic designer, Amy Smith
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Honorable Mention

SCAD Museum of Art; Savannah, GA
Mark Wallinger curriculum guide | Designed by: Savannah College of Art and Design; Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France
Institutional budget more than $1 million

SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film; Atlanta, GA
Form & Function: Shoe Art by Chris Francis curriculum guide | Designed by: Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD); Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Exhibition Collateral Materials

First Prize

Bard Graduate Center; New York, NY
French Fashion, Women, and the First World War Exhibition Guide | Designed by: Irma Boom Office
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Second Prize

Alva de Mars Megan Chapel Art Center; Manchester, NH
A MOMENT OF TIME Sculpture by Nick Hollibaugh | Designed by: Annee Giard; project manager Maggie Dimock
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Honorable Mention

Skirball Cultural Center; Los Angeles, CA
Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich Family Guide | Designed by: Shar Huston
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Institutional Materials

First Prize

Bard Graduate Center; New York, New York
Fashion and Justice Workshop | Designed by: Jerome Harris for Bard Graduate Center
Institutional budget less than $1 million

Honorable Mention

Florence Griswold Museum; Old Lyme, CT
New Visitor Guide to Florence Griswold Museum | Designed by: Lisa Reneson/Two Sisters Design
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Asheville Art Museum; Asheville, NC
Envisioning the Future | Designed by: Susan Rhew Design Inc.
Institutional budget more than $1 million

Innovations in Print

Exploratorium; San Francisco, CA
The Art of Curiosity | Designed by: Weldon Owen

Storm King Art Center; New Windsor, NY
Mark Dion: Follies | Designed by: Jeffrey Jenkins

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About the American Alliance of Museums

The American Alliance of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. Representing more than 35,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, institutions, and corporate partners serving the museum field, the Alliance stands for the broad scope of the museum community. For more information, visit www.aam-us.org.

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Press Contact:

Natanya Khashan
Director, Marketing & Communications
media@aam-us.org