IDSA Gianninoto Graduate Scholarship

The IDSA Gianninoto Graduate Scholarship is a $44,000 fund originally established with a $25,000 contribution by the late Francesco Gianninoto, a US package designer who began his career as a commercial artist in 1920 with no formal training and became an art director at BBD&O.

He established Gianninoto Associates in 1932, of which he was president until 1983. Mr. Gianninoto was a founder of the Package Design Council and a member of IDSA. He was an honorary professor at Western Connecticut State University where he taught communication through design.

Two of his most famous designs were the Marlboro cigarette package (mid-1950’s), and “Elsie Daisy” the Borden Cow. A member and fellow of an IDSA-predecessor design organization, Mr. Gianninoto’s Fellowship was honored by IDSA upon their merger in 1965. He retired in 1983 to Fairfield County, Connecticut.