The AIGA Medal, awarded by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, will be presented to UCLA design media arts professor Rebeca Méndez in recognition of her exceptional achievements and contributions to the field of design and visual communication. The institute is the oldest and largest membership organization for design professionals, with 70 chapters and more than 25,000 members nationwide.

Past AIGA medalists include Charles and Ray Eames, Josef Albers, Richard Avedon, Massimo and Lella Vignelli, Alvin Lustig and April Greiman. The medal, the most distinguished given in the field of design, will be awarded to Méndez at the 2017 AIGA awards gala on Friday, April 21, in New York City.

Méndez is a designer and artist with an international reputation as a leading voice in the production of socially grounded, aesthetically rigorous design, innovative, media-inflected arts and monumental permanent public art. Her work revolves around issues of visual communication; the intertwinings of personal identity, public identity and corporate branding; and the development of image culture in networked, transnational political economies. Her successful development of both a design and art practice is extraordinary and distinguishes her among her peers in both fields.

In addition to this medal, Méndez has received the 2012 National Design Award in Communication Design from the White House and the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum to honor lasting achievement in American design, among many others.  

Rebeca Méndez is featured in "An Imaginative Offer," a short film that celebrates the essential role of the arts in society through the unique voices of the UCLA arts community.