Underscore

Our guest is ⁠⁠Chicago-based community organizer, educator, and designer ⁠ Amira Hegazy . In this episode, Amira speaks with host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ about “love and care” as guiding principles that shape and drive the design process and work we do as designers. She walks us through her research about Chicago neighborhoods and the typography that represents their identities. She shar...

Our guest is ⁠⁠Chicago-based graphic designer Sean Fermoyle ⁠⁠. In this episode, Sean speaks with host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ about logo redesigns, ways for designers to share their expertise with clients and stakeholders to get buy-in, how to manage ideas and find balance across professional and personal projects, and much more. Sean also shares the story of discovering graphic design in...

Our guest is ⁠ Rich Alapack ⁠, entrepreneur, artist, designer, public speaker, creative consultant, and the founder of we all live here . In this episode, Rich speaks with host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ about creativity and design being catalysts that spark inspiration and positive community impact. He shares stories of working with community leaders, libraries, schools, and businesses and tak...

Our guest is Brian Shutters , Director of Shuttershot Productions. In this episode, Shutters speaks with host ⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠⁠⁠ about his insight into the power of being a generalist. He shares how this approach not only leads him to what he refers to as 'side quests' but also enables him to experiment and create across diverse mediums and industries. Brian takes us behind the sc...

Our guest is Bud Rodecker , Design Director and Partner at the Chicago-based studio Span . In this episode, Bud shares with host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ his approach to finding inspiration in unexpected places and dives deep into his approach to the creative process and the importance that he places on research through the method of keeping ongoing archives of experiments and references. H...

Our guest is Tyler English⁠ , a letterpress designer and founder of Ulterior Press . In this digital age of screens, software, user experiences, and obsessions with pixel perfection — it is inspiring to hear from Tyler about his letterpress practices and the ways in which he meticulously works with typography, ink, and paper to create work that is rooted in the ways in which graphic design was onc...

Our guest is educator and graphic designer Sajad Amini . In this episode, Amini speaks with host ⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠⁠⁠ about ethics, the role and responsibility of the graphic designer, and the variety of ways in which language and semiotics come together to create realities that, more often than not, are unexpected. Amini shares examples that showcase graphic design as both being complicit...

Our guest is Will Miller , Senior Director of Design at the Chicago-based creative studio, Firebelly . In this episode, Miller speaks with host ⁠⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠⁠ about his design process, the importance of drawing inspiration from personal interests, ways to build trust with clients and stakeholders, craft, typography, designing in Chicago for over two decades, and so much more. We also he...

Our guest is designer and business owner Cheryl Bever . In this episode, Cheryl speaks with host ⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠ about her transition from fashion design to graphic design, her thoughts on the pressures of social media, confidence, running a business, working independently, and much more. She shares with us the importance and value that she places on community and belonging, and as a colla...

Our guest is designer and partner at the Chicago-based studio Span John Pobojewski . In this episode, John speaks with host Christian Solorzano about his background and education in music and the ways it influences his approach to his graphic design practice.  From 2003–2019 John was a designer and later partner at Thirst alongside Rick Valicenti — and he shares with us his experiences and lessons...

Our guests are design educators and practitioners Sharon Oiga and Guy Villa . In this episode, Oiga and Villa speak with host ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ about their collaborative dynamic , the story of how they met while studying at UIC in the 90s, the emphasis they place and looking for inspiration outside of design, and so much more. As educators, Oiga and Villa both give us a glimpse...

Our guest is educator, typographer, photographer, and interdisciplinary designer Nathan Matteson . In this episode, Matteson speaks with host ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ about his approach to graphic design that emphasizes the materiality of what we work with, his focus on typography as a tool of communication, his transition from painting into graphic design, and his skepticism of whether...

Our guests are Design Director Nermin Moufti and Strategic Director Kristin Lueke of the creative studio Field of Practice . In this episode, Nermin and Kristin speak with host ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Solorzano⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ about their studio's ethos, which views the creative process not as a destination but as an ongoing practice. Together, they share the ways in which they are challenging notions of busin...

Our guest is a multi-disciplinary writer, educator, consultant, futurist, and lecturer, Heather Snyder Quinn ⁠. Her work focuses on the future of design, emerging technology, ethics, fiction, interdisciplinary practices, and theory and has been recognized by Nasa, the World Economic Forum, MIT Press, Yale Law School, and the Washington Post. Heather is often found playing in unexpected places, phy...

Our guest is Patrick Smith , designer and founder of C2 Creative Studio. For over two decades, Smith has been working as a designer and calling Chicago his home. Today, in addition to working with clients and running his own studio, he is a contributing committee member of the Chicago Graphic Design Club, where he helps drive our mission and programming. In this episode, Smith speaks with host ⁠ ⁠...

Our guest is ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠iicky⁠ , a Chicago-based artist who works with the concept of impermanence and non-traditional materials. His ethos centered around embracing decay, aging, and his father’s advice of “use what you have” and “there are no mistakes.”  Born in Trinidad but raised in the Virgin Islands, today he resides in Chicago. He was one of the featured in the Chicago Graphic Design Club’s art e...

On this episode of Underscore, host ⁠⁠⁠ Christian Solorzano is joined by committee member John Hatherly⁠⁠⁠⁠ to reflect on the last three years of the Chicago Graphic Design Club. They share their favorite moments and vision for the club's future and respond to community comments. Music by the band  ⁠⁠⁠Eighties Slang⁠⁠⁠ .

Our guest is Nicolette Stosur-Bassett , a business strategist and communications professional working primarily in the social impact space. In 2018, she founded Do It Better Design , a Chicago-based branding and communication studio. She graduated with a BA in Social Enterprise and an MA in Social Innovation and Sustainability from Goddard College.  In 2022, she spoke with the Chicago Graphic Desi...

Our guest is Joseph Michael Essex , someone who has played a pivotal role in the history of Chicago graphic design for the last five decades. Joseph has spent his career asking questions and finding meaning and reason throughout the process. In the 1970s, he started his career as an art director for the station that produced Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and the National Geographic Specials. Today, he...

Our guest is Grace Hamilton, host of the podcast Design Is Not Neutral , a thesis project created during a design master’s program at the University of Notre Dame. Hamilton focuses on challenging perceptions of design, conversations on the meaning of socially conscious work, design education, and history.  In this episode, Hamilton speaks with host Christian Solorzano about her early introduction...

Our guest is designer and community leader David Sieren . In 2002 he graduated from RISD with a BFA in graphic design. Over the past two decades, he’s been an educator at DePaul University, Spudnik Press, the Chicago Portfolio School, has been Co-President of AIGA Chicago, and Co-Founder of the creative collaborative, The Post Family . Today, he’s a Managing Director and Partner at One Design Comp...

Our guest is entrepreneur, muralist, and designer  Jay Byrnes . In 2010, he founded Fourth is King , a Chicago-based streetwear brand. In 2003, he founded his studio Adapt Studio, where he collaborated with companies such as Avondale Type, Chicago Athetlic Hotel, the Museum of Science and Industry, Google, and Nature Valley. Most recently, he’s the Director of Brand at MNML , described as a p...

Our guest is designer, artist, and community organizer Lashun Tines . Chicago-born, Lashun has been working in design for nearly two decades. Since then, he’s worked at VSA Partners, Leo Burnett, Razorfish, and currently, he’s a Design Director at Wieden + Kennedy. Between 2014–2018, he was the Diversity Lead for AIGA Chicago. His notable work as founder of the project the Art of Blackness has pav...

Our guests are Dan McManus and Sofya Karash, partners in both life and business. Together, they run the design studio, the Narrative . Both as educators and designers, they are committed to contributing to and advancing culture through graphic design. Their expertise lies in storytelling and multidisciplinary visual communication languages — relying heavily on research and collaborations, they vis...

Our guest is Crissy Chahyadi . She is currently in the graduate program at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art), earning a Master’s in Graphic Design. Her connection to Chicago is through the work that she’s done for the Field Museum and Adler Planetarium. Originally from Indonesia, she came to the United States to study design at Dordt University in Iowa. In this episode, Crissy speaks with h...