Doug stands with his former WGBH colleagues.

Douglass (Doug) Scott, Senior Lecturer, was recently honored with the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)’s 2016 Boston Fellow Award. The award recognizes seasoned designers and other influential figures who have made a significant contribution to raising the standards of excellence in practice and conduct within the Boston design community and the AIGA Boston chapter. This recognition of Doug Scott is of national significance in the fields of graphic design, history, and education.

Doug, who was one of the founding members of the AIGA Boston chapter, has been involved with the AIGA, the design profession’s oldest and largest professional membership organization, for more than 40 years. From participating in meetings to serving on the national Board of Directors, Doug has been a dedicated, valuable, and enthusiastic member.

He was honored with the Boston Fellow Award for his devotion to the design profession and its role in society. Doug was, until January 2010, Creative Director at Boston’s WGBH Educational Foundation, a producer and broadcaster of public television and radio programs. Before that, Doug studied architecture at the University of Nebraska, where he discovered his passion for graphic design, and then went on to serve in the U.S. Army Reserve.

“There, due to a mix-up, I was transferred from being a tank mechanic to a draftsman and then, a cartographer,” explained Doug. “In that role, I made large organizational charts drawn with Rapidograph pens and Leroy lettering sets, so I got to sharpen my design skills.”

After the Army Reserve, Doug spent two years at Yale before joining WGBH. During his 36-year tenure, his major projects included Masterpiece Theatre, This Old House, Nova, Evening at Symphony, The Victory Garden, Evening at Pops, The Caption Center, and WGBH Radio. Doug designed anything from credits for TV programs to print advertisements that were placed in magazines and newspapers.

For Masterpiece Theatre, which presents adaptations of classic literature and the work of contemporary writers as acted out by notable actors and actresses, Doug designed teachers’ guides that were sent to thousands of high school English Literature teachers across the country. One highlight of this project he remembers is receiving letters from the teachers who received the kit describing what a positive difference it made in their classrooms.

“I find joy and satisfaction in creating things for other people’s benefit,” Doug explained. “This may include creating content that helps educate them or that leads them to something great.”

Doug, alongside the other recipient, Fritz Klaetke, received the AIGA Boston Fellow Award at a sold-out event in December, hosted at Northeastern University’s Fenway Center. Doug and Fritz’s colleagues and friends gathered for a Festschrift, a German term that is a celebratory publication given to a respected person to honor them through a collection of contributions.

“Douglass Scott is a true renaissance man. A renaissance man is a person who has many talents and who is known to have a broad base of knowledge,” said Elizabeth Resnick, Teaching Professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, as she introduced Doug to the stage. “He is an inventive and creative professional designer specializing in identity, collateral, book design and the design of exhibitions; he is a superb graphic design educator in both studio practice and in design history; he is a curator of graphic design exhibitions and an avid collector of graphic design ephemera; he is an author and writer; he is an exhibiting artist of collages and assemblages.”

In addition to Elizabeth, the program consisted of five speakers, including one of the Doug’s long-time colleagues, Chris Pullman. Chris spent 35 years at WGBH, and was responsible for hiring Doug shortly after he started his own lengthy and impressive tenure. From Doug’s perspective, Chris taught him almost everything he holds dear.

“While at WGBH, Doug was such an important part of the transition to new media, which required specialty,” explained Chris. “Not only that, but he has a great sense of humor and is very easy to work with. He is very orderly, proactive, and a skilled typographer and designer who has an impressive managerial ability.”

When Doug himself took the stage, he described why he does what he does – from being a designer to a typographer to an architect and a teacher. He has taught at Yale, the Boston Architectural Center, RISD, and now, Northeastern.

“I am energized by the students who want to know what I know – how to make good design, to be inspired, how to talk about their work,” explained Doug. “The reasons I do this: it is enjoyable, I learn more than you can imagine, and I want students to have the same opportunities that I have had.”

Currently, Doug spends most of his time teaching at Northeastern, but still also designs books. Throughout his career so far, Doug has designed over 300 books for a variety of publishers.