DJ Stout Is Top Dog in Texas

The American Institute of Graphic Arts Austin Chapter has announced that it has awarded DJ Stout with its prestigious Fellow Award, the highest honor provided by the chapter. Michael Bierut will present the award to Stout at an awards gala on June 26.

“AIGA is proud to recognize DJ Stout as the 2010 AIGA Austin Fellow award recipient for his exceptional contributions to the field of design,” said Jennifer Idol, president of AIGA Austin. “DJ was the unanimous choice for this year’s award.”

“With his inexhaustible displays of passion, imagination and plain old hard work, DJ reminds me over and over again why I got in this field in the first place,” said Bierut. “He makes design fun, and frequently funny, yet no one is more serious about the importance of quality, intelligence and attention to detail. Pentagram has a lot of design talent, but our secret weapon speaks—and works—with a Texas accent.”

Stout has strong ties to the Texas design community. He is a fifth generation Texan born in the small West Texas town of Alpine, and he received his degree in design communication from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where he was honored as a distinguished alumnus. Between 1987 and 1999 he was art director of Texas Monthly magazine, where he helped to guide the magazine to three National Magazine Awards. Stout joined Pentagram’s Austin office as a partner in 2000. In 1998 American Photo magazine named him one of its “100 Most Important People in Photography,” and in 2004 I.D. magazine selected Stout for “The I.D. Fifty,” its annual listing of design innovators. In 2010 the Society of Illustrators honored DJ Stout with the national Richard Gangel Art Director Award.

The AIGA Fellow Award program is a means of recognizing designers who have made a significant contribution to raising the standards of excellence in practice and conduct within their local or regional design community as well as in their local AIGA chapter. The AIGA Austin Chapter only nominates a Fellow every two years, and Stout is the second designer to receive the chapter’s Fellow award since its inception. Austin-based designer Mike Hicks received the first award in 2007.

This year’s Fellow Award Gala is a black-tie event that will take place at 7pm, June 26, 2010 at the Belmont’s Imperial Room in downtown Austin. Registration and ticket info here.