Jennifer Morla


Jennifer Morla is a graphic designer and professor.

Early life and education

Morla attended the University of Hartford in Connecticut studying conceptual art before receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design in 1978 from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, Massachusetts. She is also mother of 2 girls. Morla married Nilan de Mantra, an architect.
She was influenced to undertake her career as an artist through visits to the MOMA growing up in Manhattan, seeing Charles and Ray Eames' IBM exhibit and films at the 1964 Worlds Fair, and her aunt's career as editor in the art department at Condé Nast.

Career

Design work

After graduation in 1979, Morla was hired at PBS station KQED in San Francisco. Her job consisted of her designing on-air, print graphics and designing animated openings.
In 1981, she was hired as the head of the art department of Levi Strauss & Co. Her job role consisted of designing the store environment, logos, packaging, and labels for the advertising purposes of the brand.
In 1984, she founded Morla Design. Clients include The New York Times, Levi Strauss & Co., Apple Computer, Herman Miller, Stanford University, and Luna Textiles. She has worked extensively with conceptual art venues designing identities, books and posters for The Mexican Museum, SculptureCenter, Capp Street Project, and New Langton Arts. In 1995, she created a poster celebrating the 20th anniversary of the San Francisco Mexican Museum entitled El Museo Mexicano. The piece featured vibrant colors, print and pattern as a way to pay tribute to the Mexican culture.
In 2000, Morla collaborated with Nordstrom creating a new face for the store's credit card to appeal to its consumers. The four Holographic cards with vibrant colors and bold patterns reflected a reinvented version of the brand. In 2019, Morla worked with the brand K&M Confections creating the packaging for their milk chocolate to create three different styles of packaging for the types of flavored chocolate featuring the same typeface and foil lettering texture.
In 2005, Morla became the creative director of Design Within Reach before becoming chief creative and marketing officer from 2006 to 2008. In this role, she revamped the brand's identity by juxtaposing various pieces to redefine the concept of a catalog. Jennifer Morla worked with reach to create the “what is Green?” Catalog advocating ways to recycle. As the Chief Creative And Marketing officer, one of the projects she worked on was creating images that introduced ways in which one can recycle and her interpretation of what it means to go green. She also focuses on the designs of chairs. The overall message is to promote the sustainability of the brand and the educational purposes it is set to promote.
Morla was awarded Graphis Design Annual in 2015 and 2016. In 2016 Morla was a judge at the 2016 Print Design Annual. She judged the 17th Annual Webby Awards in 2013. Not only was she a judge at their event she also created the logo for their 75th Anniversary.

Teaching

Since 1992 she has taught as an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts. She teaches a senior lever design class. Along with being a professor for 20 plus years and being on the thesis committee. Morla has always found ways to keep herself busy in her field. She is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale.

Recognition

In 2008, her work contributed to DWR receiving the AIGA Corporate Leadership Award. She has been frequently recognized for her work in graphic design. Along with having her worked published in multiple museums in the US, her work is also published at the SFMoMA and DDD Gallery in Japan. She was a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. Along with having her work featured in museums and other exhibitions, she is also referenced in the Meggs History of Graphic Design. Her work will also now be featured in a letterform archive. This archive will focus on contemporary commercial artwork. It focuses on her designs such as prints, film, both digital and printed. Museum of Craft and Design included Morla's typography design.
In 2010, Morla was awarded the AIGA Medal for her "ability to surprise and inform through her poignant communication designs for global brands and arts institutions, and for instilling that skill in others through her teaching." In 2017, she was awarded the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum National Design Award.

Awards

Permanent collections