Between the pages of How Many Women Are in the Room?, the volume that brings together the award-winning works from the Aiap Women in Design Award, emerge the voices of young designers and pioneers of graphic design, through editorial ideas, stories of activism, drawings, words, and symbolic objects. In this article, we’ve selected five particularly compelling works, accompanied by a few notes about their authors.
How Many Women Are in the Room? recounts the fifth edition of AWDA, Aiap Women in Design Award, the biennial prize that celebrates women designers in visual communication, promoted in collaboration with AIAP, Italian Association for Visual Communication Design.
The title of the volume echoes the question posed during the award ceremony, an invitation to reflect on who occupies roles, spaces, and languages in design, and how these remain, even today, not always accessible. It is a reflection that goes beyond the awards themselves, shedding light on the social and cultural dynamics that shape visual design and the professional recognition of women.
The book gathers ideas and reflections from around the world, spanning fields from graphic design to publishing to visual innovation. In this article, we present five designers and five projects, selected from both past and present, that stood out to us for their originality, impact, and ability to tell meaningful stories.
Suggested books
A BOOK (or rather, many)
The Illustrated Books of Aoi Huber Kōno
Bruno Munari once spoke of a special “sensor” hidden in Aoi’s hair, one that allows her to “see and understand the structures found in natural forms.”
Aoi Huber Kōno, born in Tokyo in 1936, is a Japanese designer and illustrator known for her playful, colorful graphic style. Raised in a creative environment thanks to her father, Takashi Kono, she studied in Tokyo and later in Stockholm, where she specialized in Western typography.
In 1962, she moved to Milan, collaborating with Max Huber, who would later become her husband, as well as with Bruno Munari and Achille Castiglioni. Since 1970, she has lived in Sagno, Switzerland, where she continues to work in her studio.
Her work ranges from graphic design to illustration, from painting to the design of textiles, ceramics, and, above all, children’s books, where the spontaneity of her lines renders complexity visible with grace and lightness.
Suggested books
A MOVIE
La città delle donne
Michela Papadia (1943–2015) and Gemma Fiorentini (1948) are two key figures in Italian graphic design, active since the 1970s and known for their professional collaboration.
Among their most notable works is the visual identity for the renowned French film production company Gaumont, which was selected for the Compasso d’Oro in 1981.
Papadia and Fiorentini also designed the poster and booklet for Federico Fellini’s film La città delle donne (The City of Women), featuring artwork by italian illustrator Andrea Pazienza, overseeing both design and layout.
A FESTIVAL
Il Festival del Ciclo Mestruale
Giulia Bardelli is a graphic designer and web developer, co-founder of the multidisciplinary studio But Maybe, based in Bologna.
Among her most notable projects is the Festival del Ciclo Mestruale (The Menstrual Cycle Festival), which aims to create an inclusive and safe public space to raise awareness about menstruation, addressing it as a topic of health and gender equality.
The festival’s communication plan and visual identity, developed by Bardelli, are clear, vibrant, and inclusive, with the goal of combating exclusion and providing a space for listening and support.
AN EXHIBITION
The Game. Il ruolo di Emergency
Paola Fortuna is an Italian designer and architect, founder of the studio +fortuna, which specializes in editorial design, visual identity, wayfinding, and exhibition design.
The exhibition The Game. Il ruolo di Emergency (The Game: The Role of Emergency) originated from the Communication Design 3 workshop, developed by Fortuna in collaboration with Luciano Perondi. Together, they envisioned a series of board games on migration caused by wars, in partnership with Emergency.
Visitors engaged with reclaimed materials evoking the spaces of migrants’ journeys, giving new life and meaning to the collected elements and narrating, with bitter irony, the challenges of crossing borders.
A CAMPAIGN
Le parole per dirlo
Le parole per dirlo (The Words to Say It) is a public awareness campaign promoting inclusive language as a form of communication that recognizes diversity, fosters respect, and encourages equal opportunities.
The campaign was created by the creative studio Officina 3am, active since 2010 in graphic and web design, with offices in Mestre, Venice, and Benevento, led by Anna Saccani and Anna Silvestri. The collaboration also included Anna Dalla Via, who currently lives and works in New York as a graphic designer and illustrator.
Launched in Rimini in March 2022, the campaign featured five posters opposing racist, homophobic, and sexist language. Language profoundly influences how we feel and our sense of belonging. The goal was to empower people to reflect on the power of words, which we can always choose and direct.
AWDA is a biennial award that celebrates women in visual communication design, giving visibility to innovative projects and female talent in the field. The call for submissions for the sixth edition of the award will open at the beginning of 2026. Here more infos.