The National Design Award Winners Announced It's no surprise that Paula Scher's graphic design work since the 1970s, for cultural, corporate and educational institutions (like a Queens public high school, shown), has won her a 2013 National Design Award for communication design from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. But it is surprising that she waited 14 years for the honor. "I laughed out loud "cause I thought it was funny," Ms. Scher, of the design studio Pentagram, said about learning she had won. It all has to do with the makeup of the jury and their sense of your work, and whether someone else is really hot that year. There's no exact science to it. Listen to her TED talk, and you'll know that, even now at 64, she thrives on being bratty. "You have to misbehave to make breakthroughs," she said. Lately, Ms. Scher has become fascinated by cities and how they move forward without losing their character. Perhaps that's because she's a member of the New York City Public Design Commission, and deciding things like which materials to use for the Coney Island boardwalk. The New York Observer this year named her one of the 100 most influential New Yorkers, calling her work "an elevation of the mundane." She has more recognition, she said, than she ever expected, and is thrilled to accept this new award, but "only if it's a midcareer honor." Other winners this year include: the architect James Wines for lifetime achievement, the architect and critic Michael Sorkin in the "Design Mind" category, and TED, the nonprofit idea group, for corporate and institutional achievement. The design firm Aidlin Darling took the honors in interior design, Studio Gang Architects in architecture design, Behnaz Sarafpour in fashion design, and Local Projects in interaction design. Margie Ruddick won for landscape architecture and NewDealDesign for product design.