Christian Solorzano [00:00]

Hello, you are listening to Underscore, a show by the Chicago Graphic Design Club. I am your host, Christian Solorzano, and today's episode is the first episode of 2026, and I am delighted to share my conversation with Oscar Solis, a designer, researcher, and educator based out of Pilsen here in Chicago. And Oscar and I, we first met 10 years ago.

I applied to be an intern at his design studio at the time called Semiosis, and in this conversation you're going to see us reconnect and we're going to hear his journey from clinical neuroscience research at UChicago to pursuing a PhD in design at DePaul University, where he's developing new approaches to co-design and community-engaged research.

Oscar is going to be sharing with us how his Fascination with storytelling began at a young age, and how he's drawn to the banal and the everyday, and how co-founding a micro cinema in an old Pilsen barbershop was one of his most defining forms of design education.

We're going to talk about non-hierarchical pedagogy and what it means to create queer diagrammatic forms and why joy might indeed be As always, if you enjoy conversations like these, I really appreciate your support when you leave us a rating wherever you listen. It helps us expand our reach. So thank you so much and enjoy this conversation, and I look forward to more of these in 2026. Enjoy. So Oscar, the first time that you and I spoke was 3,600 and 99 days ago.

And that was when you created an internship post online and I applied, and that was 10 years ago. And I was with you for a little bit under a year, I think. And it wasn't until recently that we like ran into each other again, your real person. So I'm curious to hear about what the last 10 years have been like for you. What have you been up to?

Because I feel like I follow you on Instagram and I like every now and then I'll stalk you online, then you're doing everything everywhere. So, right, so let's talk to us about what have you been up to?

Oscar Solis [02:23]

Yeah, well, 10 years is a long time.

And I still feel like, I remember the first time we met at that Intelligentsia right by Dearborn. So at the time I was working with my then partner, design partner and romantic partner, Timothy Gall. He had just started a designer residency. He had a design residency at Lightbank. It was like a venture capital firm over at 600 West. And Timothy really kind of opened me up to this whole world of like digital product design and particularly like startups in the Midwest.

And I thought, this is something I could do. I'm really good at it. I was transitioning away from like clinical research science that I was doing at UChicago. And I really wanted to kind of apply that like rigorous methodology to like a design context, right? So equal parts analytical theory with like creativity. And design seemed like a really nice kind of middle road.

Christian Solorzano [03:23]

And growing up, have you always had an interest for making and making meaning and creating?

Oscar Solis [03:29]

Yeah, I remember I was like maybe 11 or 12 years old and my mom had given me like, she had, she took a class at a community college all on film and analog photography. And she gave me this camera at 11 and I just fell in love with it. I just, this idea that you can create really tight compositions that tell a story, right? Like the poetics of an image, it was just really intuitive to me at such a young age.

And I didn't know that could be like a job. Like that could actually be like a profession. You could be a creative. You can tell stories with images and Concepts. But I was really smart and I liked reading and I liked theory and concepts. So I went like the science route.

Christian Solorzano [04:12]

Yeah. And what kind of images were you interested into? Was it normal kid stuff? Like cartoons?

Oscar Solis [04:19]

Oh, no. I don't think I was ever a kid. I'm really thinking about it. I remember I was really drawn by like— so I'm born and raised in Pilsen. Yeah, I've lived here most of my life, or whenever I'm in Chicago, I try to stay here.

There's a lot of community that I'm connected to, but I was always drawn by just— I mean, now I guess we'd call it street photography, but like these really beautiful kind of natural engagements that people have with the city and themselves, right? Like people define themselves by the community they're attached to.

And I could see, family members and Multigenerational communities hanging out on the street or playing basketball or whatever it was. And I just, I could tell an entire story in my head based off of like a frame.

I could see a grandma cooking tortillas by hand with her, like her niece or nephew who's, modernizing. And you can see these 2 generations happening at the same time. And I just, I like to tell stories and I like to understand what their lives are and who am I in relationship to these lives.

Christian Solorzano [05:24]

Yeah. What were some of the first stories that you were interested in telling, or do you recall your first narrative that you created?

Oscar Solis [05:33]

Yeah. So like I said, I was never really exposed to visual arts, visual communication, none of that. It just wasn't really a possibility for me, but writing was. So I actually started my career as a writer, I would say. I used to write short stories all the time. I used to do Poetics a lot. I like to—I like this. Maybe you're familiar with it, but I feel like in Hispanic culture we do a lot of wordplay, kind of double entendres, rhyming, maybe like alliteration.

We'll use language as a tool for communication and humor. And I—I love that. I love that about my uncles. I love that about my family. I love the way they tell stories and the way they use language. So I started to use language as a tool for. Kind of play almost.

I would do a lot of poetry where it seems really simple and mundane and maybe just unimportant, but if you really sit with it, hopefully maybe you could actually learn something about yourself or why you think it's boring. I'm just drawn to the banal. I'm just drawn to everyday life because I think that's where life happens.

Christian Solorzano [06:42]

Yeah, I get really obsessed about Lyrics, right? And especially Spanish lyrics. I feel like Spanish is a more like romantic language. And the way that love is expressed through music that happens to be in Spanish to me matches, like it does not match English.

And I love that. So like similar to you, like sometimes I'll find myself like driving in the car and I'm just like repeating the same song over and over and over again. And it's like one phrase and there's so much to unpack in that one phrase.

Oscar Solis [07:18]

And I'm 100% the same way, but I feel like there's so much about the anticipation of that phrase that the artist creates with the repetition, with the bridge, with whatever kind of mnemonic devices or lyrical devices. And there's something about that kind of event or occurrence or this moment that I try to capture with all my other creative stuff. How do I create anticipation about something that's going to happen?

Christian Solorzano [07:45]

Yeah. So how do you, how do you define when you are creating something like that? How do, what does success look like to you? Or what are, what are some of your benchmarks of Oscar doing something that you would think is like, all right, this is done.

Oscar Solis [08:01]

Yeah. Right. Or do? I, well, I definitely don't know. I think I can still obsess about projects from 10 years ago. I think for me, what's— when I think about a successful project is, was I able to create something meaningful and maybe share some kind of truth or value or communicate some idea with people around me? I fundamentally believe that design is a team sport. Design needs to be done in relationship to your community.

And I think that if I can incorporate more voices into something that I make or something that I share, the more meaningful the outputs are. So if I'm able to do things with other collaborators or with community members or with former students, I think this is like the best case scenario. I mean, ideally, there are some aesthetic considerations you need to have. Does it look cool? I don't want to just put all this work into something that's like, oh, that's kind of, yeah.

Whatever. I want you to be able to look at it and enjoy it as an aesthetic object. But also understand the layers of engagement that happened to get to that point.

Christian Solorzano [09:12]

Yeah. So where are we today?

Oscar Solis [09:14]

Yeah, so this is the Chicago Art Department. It's one of the last few remaining Chicago artist-run collectives based in Pilsen. I'm a core studio resident. There's about 20 of us. I'm one of the 20. It's a 2-year residency program and you come and ideally you have some kind of project. There's a lot of curators here, programmers, and there's also like a lot of just like formal artists, sculptors, painters. I'm one of the few designers.

Christian Solorzano [09:44]

Okay. So what do you— for you, this space, what are the things that when you're here, what do you find yourself unpacking or exploring?

Oscar Solis [09:51]

Yeah. So when I applied to this residency, I knew I wanted to do free public workshops. And I wanted to do some kind of collective exhibition. And so I was able to do that this past summer with the exhibition Diagrams and Systems. It was originally Diagrams, Systems, and Collective Power, but it just got really long. So it's like, edit, you gotta edit everything down.

Christian Solorzano [10:18]

Yeah, for sure. That's cool. So I wanna spend some time talking about co-design, 'cause I know that you briefly touched on it right now, like the ability to co-create with others. As a way of giving others ownership over the outputs. And I feel like designers often, and I partially agree with this, like I think sometimes we get hired to solve a problem.

And we think that we are the problem solvers because that's what we're trained to do. But then you see so many harm done in the world where designers kind of come in as like a savior. And I think you call them parachute institutions, which is a— I mean, I love that. So talk to us about co-design and what that means for you and how that maybe unfolds at a space like this.

Oscar Solis [11:09]

Yeah. So when I first started reading about co-design from like Scandinavia in the 1970s, I mean, it started off as like almost like political activism. It was like, how do we advocate for working-class communities and co-design what their work looks like or the kinds of products that they develop? There was something so profoundly kind of like working-class Chicago immigrant community that just completely resonated with me. And this is like, this is my thing. This is how I understand the world.

And I know that especially growing up in this community, I've, elementary school, grammar school, I would have opportunities to engage or learn from institutions that would come to Pilsen and not really understand the context that they were engaging with or the communities they were working for. They just wanted— it was very didactic, top-down. I have the answers and my job is to teach you what those answers are so you can be properly educated. And I fundamentally disagreed with that.

Christian Solorzano [12:11]

It's like—

Oscar Solis [12:12]

At like 7, 8, I'm just yeah, I don't believe you. I don't know who you are, but you have no idea who I am or where I come from. And you're trying to give me something that I'm not subscribing to. But I didn't obviously have language for that.

Christian Solorzano [12:24]

Yeah, it's a form of colonization, I would say.

Oscar Solis [12:27]

100%. Yeah, no, they were. And I think I didn't realize it at the time, but there's this idea that if you want to be successful or educated or knowledgeable, you need to assimilate. You need to assimilate to whatever the norm is. And whatever the norm is not what I am. And it took a long time to figure out what that value system was and how to even have the language to push back against it. I don't have to do that to be a designer.

Christian Solorzano [12:53]

So when you were growing up and you were like, a young kid and you were having these thoughts about narrative storytelling, these big questions, did you feel a sense of kinship with other people your age or were you kind of like how did— was it lonely?

Oscar Solis [13:09]

Oh my God, it was so lonely. I think I was fortunate enough, at least in the schools that I went to, where I was so eccentric, but I was so smart and passionate that people are like, he's kind of weird, but we're going to tolerate him. And he's kind of funny too.

I was— very early on, I needed to be funny because if you're not funny, then you're going to be the target of ire of all these kids and students. So I used humor as like a defense mechanism and as a way of like relating. It's like, hey, if I could tell you something that's kind of funny for you, maybe we have more in common than you think. Yeah. And you're not gonna like be mean to someone that you don't like. Yeah. Or it makes you laugh.

Yeah. So yeah, I just, and I just got better at it, I guess. Well, I like to think I got better at it.

Christian Solorzano [14:01]

Yeah. With age. It brings to mind when I was younger, I was a goth kid. Yeah, I remember that. This was like when I was like in 7th, 6th grade, and there was a point where like I would like wear makeup and like I had a whole goth attire, and I was friends with like the gangbangers in the school, and they liked me because I was also funny.

And it was always really interesting because I'd like be hanging out with like all these guys and like they're Throwing up gang signs and all this stuff. And then there's me, wearing eyeliner, dressed in black.

Oscar Solis [14:40]

Yeah, no, I was like definitely into like punk. I was into like metal at one point. I was into— I like that intensity. Yeah, I like whatever that feeling was. It was something that resonated with me.

Christian Solorzano [14:54]

Yeah. Is there anything— is there any distinct memory that comes to mind that kind of like cracked open a new direction or path for you? Like discovering something, reading something, hearing something, experiencing something?

Oscar Solis [15:09]

Oh my gosh. I think, I didn't really have any formal design education until like grad school, really, like 2020. That was the first time I actually sat in a class with a design instructor. Before that, it was all self-education. But what I would consider to be one of my first design teachers or instructors were my friends Alex and Rudy. In 2013, 2014, we co-founded Film Front. It's like a small micro cinema in Pilsen.

And they wanted to bring me on. I was trying to transition out of the sciences and get into this, whatever this design thing is. I still wasn't really sure what it was. And my friends Alex and Rudy were trying to— they invited me to come and help build out this space. So it was an old barbershop and we were literally like cleaning the floors. There was like loose hair in the vents that we were cleaning out. That was like that old '80s, like tiling, roof tiling.

That we like took down. And as we're literally building, they're explaining to me that, you can convey aesthetics or morals or value systems through the actual interior of the space.

So then they were literally showing me pictures of like 1990s Berlin subversive culture and showing me the spaces of these venues and showing how we can literally use those aesthetic typologies into the space that we're designing for. So having a raw exposed ceiling is intentional, right? We're trying to show you the scaffolding. We're trying to show you we're being raw about it. We're inviting you in to build something with us.

And that was just not only remarkable, but it was also just, I've never been exposed to a way of thinking in that way before, where the things, the environment that you create says something about who you are as a person. And there are other people that agree with that perspective in the world. So I just kind of ran with it. I'm like, yes, whatever this is, I can be really good at it, I think. Maybe.

Christian Solorzano [17:11]

Yeah. And what's your relationship with education? Because you're an educator, and you're also a student, right? But then also hearing your perspective and a little bit about your upbringing, it seems very counterculture and almost like anti any kind of organized education system. And now you find yourself in that system both as a professor and as a student. So how does that— is there any tension there?

Oscar Solis [17:39]

Oh, completely. I mean, educational systems they're designed with hierarchies inherently, maybe out of necessity, or we haven't found another way of engaging. But there's someone at the top and there are people at the bottom. And unfortunately, adjuncts, we're at the bottom of the totem pole. Maybe we're not even approaching the totem pole quite yet.

It's very precarious. There's a lot of protests and activism that happens around adjuncts and protecting them and giving them security. So they can pursue education while developing their studio. There's not— if we acknowledge that there's not enough tenure-track positions available for educators, and this is outside of design, this is just higher education in general.

If we can acknowledge that there's not enough tenure-track or tenure positions available, then we need to create the space or the environment so that we can still, protect and offer support to people that are educating our students.

And especially me as someone, as a PhD student, I have the time and, in a lot of ways the privilege to kind of spend some time thinking about my own pedagogy. So one of the things I practice is non-hierarchical pedagogy. How can I take these principles of co-design, right? Like I'm kind of intentionally trying to flatten systems and how we relate to each other. Like decentering the designer as the know-all as opposed to a participant that's facilitating. I try to bring that into my classrooms.

How can you create an environment of participation where students' experience and value systems are as important, if not more so, than my own? And I want them to kind of intentionally share with what they know from their experience that they've had, regardless of how old they are. And I'm calling that non-hierarchical design pedagogy. It's really long.

But I hope to kind of expand on that. And that's actually what I did with all these workshops here. What does it mean to flatten teaching systems where the teacher isn't this didactic finger-pointing, I know better than you, and that's not Bauhaus, or that's not Swiss, and that doesn't align with these systems and conventions that have been given to you? Why can't we push back against it and question, why do I have to do it that way?

Christian Solorzano [19:56]

I like that.

Oscar Solis [19:57]

You really don't have to. You should have a reason for why you're doing things, for sure. Always have a reason. Always have some kind of cultural conceptual grounding in the things that you make. But the rules are suggestions. They're not— yeah.

Christian Solorzano [20:12]

Yeah. And what response do you get from other peers?

Oscar Solis [20:17]

I think there's usually 2 sides of this. It's like, that's really idealistic and not really feasible, right? If you think about design and feasibility, it's not really feasible. You're pushing up against student expectations. They expect a teacher to be a master of their craft, and they want to look up to you and emulate. Or with other educators or peers, they want to know that you have a certain level of proficiency and you can speak and engage in a level that is comfortable to them.

Christian Solorzano [20:49]

Oh, whoa.

Oscar Solis [20:50]

There's kind of like that camp that I, do something more pragmatic, perhaps. Yes. But then me, there's this other camp where it's like, we need to shake things up.

There's this whole concept, I don't know if you're familiar with it, it's called Undercommons. And the Undercommons essentially is a theory that there's a whole community, a class, kind of like this subversive class in higher education that meets outside of school. These are people that meet in the salons or they meet in the cafes or they meet in artist-run spaces. And you can create your own value system and your own network and your own way of learning independent of the institutions.

Even though, I mean, the institution is kind of my livelihood at the moment.

It's called the undercommons. And you can kind of use the undercommons as a way of subverting these institutional systems that have caused a lot of harm to a lot of communities, not just my own. Yeah. I mean, I'm a queer Mexican designer, right? There's a lot of intersections at that point. Yeah. But you can use the undercommons to your advantage and you can do things and relate to students or relate to yourself or peers in ways that, you really can't do in institutions.

Christian Solorzano [22:02]

Yeah. So as I was preparing for this conversation, I read on your website about queer Diagrammatic forms, and that's a mouthful, right? What does that mean?

Oscar Solis [22:15]

Maybe it doesn't mean anything. I really like this idea of queerness with like a lowercase q. Okay. I like this idea of like improper forms, right? Or like challenging what a proper verb is, or proper noun, or like maybe questioning the validity of a concept that can be defined. So much of queerness is about transience or validity or the inability to put or compartmentalize a concept or an identity or a way of practicing or being.

I love that. There's so much about that I love. And it's part of my identity, and I like to take parts of my identity and try to express it through design. Completely believe that information design, diagrammatic forms, diagrams in general, that's all like, it's a practice or a method of visual communication or graphic design.

And so for me, so much of queerness and/or queer diagrams is about questioning what a diagrammatic form is and maybe a form that changes meaning over time. To me, that's super compelling and I wanna continue to engage with that. Whenever we think of diagrams, a lot of people, they'll think of like this really pragmatic, rational, scientific illustration of some kind of like natural phenomena. And that's kind of like how I grew up understanding diagrams. So I love that.

Christian Solorzano [23:48]

So do you think it's like questioning truth?

Oscar Solis [23:55]

I think it's about like resisting the urge and temptation of—

Christian Solorzano [24:00]

Or questioning truth in quotes.

Oscar Solis [24:01]

Questioning truth, but also like questioning our desire to wanna know something absolutely. Whenever we put these artificial boundaries like a framework, you understand the way people engage through a framework. And maybe the framework or the diagram shows you how people engage. And yeah, that captures like a part of it. But humans are volatile creatures and we move and we change. And it's, there's not this definitive kind of all-encompassing diagram that you can make that really tells anything. Yeah.

And that's why I love like these artistic representations of diagrams, because they're not really trying to point towards truth, right? They're trying to point towards some kind of like inner experience or inner knowledge that is always changing. Yeah. There's something about that I want to like capture and use in other places.

Christian Solorzano [24:50]

So let's talk about identity for a little bit and this concept or just this idea of interchanging and/or fluidity. Can you just talk to us about how that unfolds for you or how that manifests in work that you do?

Oscar Solis [25:10]

Yeah, I think, for the longest time, I love being Mexican. I love being queer. I love all of these parts of myself, but I never wanted to be a designer that was, had those kind of hyphenations before being a designer. For me, I am a capital D designer. This is what I do. And these are other extensions of myself that show itself at different times and places. But I'm a designer.

I like that term. I'm comfortable with that term. Working towards adding to that field of knowledge. So whenever I think of fluidity, I'll think about like the distinction between like art and design, right? Like if we think of design as art, what does it mean to kind of capture or engage with this practice while still being grounded in this tradition of design?

Christian Solorzano [26:01]

Yeah.

Oscar Solis [26:02]

And at the other opposite end of that, I'll think about like technology, which kind of goes back into that rationalism. This pragmatic rationalism that things need to fit in a certain way and engage with certain principles and practices in order to be intelligible. So if I'm thinking about like design, I like to maybe challenge these like really rigorous kind of like user experience traditions or practices and say, why does it have to be this way all this time? It can be.

And there's certainly conventions you need to engage with, but I don't always agree with all those principles, like the Nielsen 10 principles of user. Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I don't know. There's some of that stuff. It's like, it's, I understand the tradition of human-computer interaction and there's importance to have a foundation, but I don't, I don't take anything as like doctrine. Whenever you start telling me about doctrine, I just, yeah, I immediately get repulsed by it.

Christian Solorzano [26:59]

I'm the same way. And I've been trying to change a little bit because I've, all of my life, I've been very anti-authority, right? And I'm like, is that working for me? And it has, but also there are areas where there's a lot of friction, right? And usually great things come out of that friction, right? And you just have to like trust that something good will happen.

Oscar Solis [27:24]

And I personally, I'm not afraid of failure. Let's say there is friction and you're pushing up against systems or a studio that has conventions, even if it's not appropriate. If I propose something new and maybe it doesn't work, that's okay. I tried it. It was a good attempt and maybe you learned something from it. But failure, you should fail. Yeah. Like if you're not failing, then you're probably stagnant and comfortable. Yeah. And you're not growing. I think everybody should always be growing.

Christian Solorzano [27:54]

So do you feel like you tend to Always be working at the edge of something? Or how, if your work was a body of water and this is like the very deep parts and then this is where you can just put your foot in, where do you find yourself most at?

Oscar Solis [28:16]

I think it's all about timing. If we're going to use the water analogy, Sometimes you really need to dive down and do the duck dive and avoid this massive wave because you're going to get crashed and maybe burn out because the forces behind it are too big. And maybe I'm thinking about institutions. Sometimes institutions are too big at that moment and it'll just overwhelm you.

But there are some times where if you push up against the wave, maybe you can ride it. Maybe you can surf for a little bit and just kind of see how far it'll take you. You actually have to be the resisting force against the wave. But it's all about timing. You have to know it has to be the right context. You have to have the right community to work with. You have to have space to think, challenge these things.

Yeah, but I mean, I'm not afraid to do the duck dive and be like, okay, now is not the time for me to push up against this thing that's too big for me to do alone.

Christian Solorzano [29:13]

And where do you draw the line? Like the energy or the willpower to go beyond just being a lowercase d designer.

Oscar Solis [29:26]

And there's nothing wrong with that.

Christian Solorzano [29:27]

There's nothing wrong with that. But I, but I, but I feel like, I find myself like today, for example, it's Saturday and here we are having this kind of conversation. It's like, think of all the other things we could be doing instead. But we're here because this matters to us and it matters to the people that are listening. So what's the, what's the purpose or like the grand meaning behind this perpetual push for some greater understanding or conclusion or something?

Why not just settle to like being a designer and working at an advertising agency? Selling Oreos.

Oscar Solis [30:10]

Yeah, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Of course, hey, make your money. Yeah, I was just having a few drinks with a friend who is lowercase d designer. I was trying to talk about— I haven't seen them in a while, so I was just trying to reconnect, and I was trying to talk about like design history and Saul Bass and some stuff, and they're just quizzical, like Why are we talking about design history right now?

And it's just I have to remind myself, not everybody really cares.

And that's okay if not everybody cares. But I think for me, I'm an educator and I get so much value and joy out of not just like explaining traditions, 'cause I feel like you do have to know the tradition to engage with it, but I'm also like trying to show how, you can do 2 things at the same time. There can be these parallel paths that you can take at the exact same time. That's the fluidity nature, right?

Christian Solorzano [31:09]

Yeah.

Oscar Solis [31:09]

Maybe sometimes you just need to get a job done, and maybe it's not important to kind of push against established norms and systems, and that's fine. Make your money. But if you have an opportunity to kind of explore your own aesthetic tradition and add or show how you do it so other people can build upon it, there's something really meaningful in that. And, like for me, I never had a queer— I didn't— one, I never had a Mexican design professor ever in my entire life.

And I think it's really important for me to be that person for other people, not just for Mexicans, but just, if you're a non-white designer in the world right now, it's hard. There's a lot of things that are pushing up against us, and we kind of have to like there has to be some kind of like, that's where the word vanguard comes from, right? Like people at the forefront and, they're not really remembered. They were the first, but they're not always the ones that are remembered.

And that's okay. If I can create a platform for other people to show better work, then that's— then my job is done.

Christian Solorzano [32:18]

So this is a big word, legacy. What kind of legacy would you like to leave behind? Or like, how would you like to be remembered?

Oscar Solis [32:33]

I think first and foremost, I want to be remembered as like a, down-to-earth, approachable, funny person. That happens to do design. I want my worldview as a queer Mexican to filter into the design world so people can feel agency to do that with their own experience. I'm not saying that queer Mexican design experience and these outcomes are what everybody should be doing.

The whole purpose of me positioning myself— I talk a lot about positionality, like who am I in relation to the concepts that I'm relating to?

Christian Solorzano [33:14]

Yeah.

Oscar Solis [33:15]

So if I'm showing my positionality as my entry point to design, I want to empower students to do the same with theirs. So if you're like a woman, if you're an adoptee, if you are whatever it is, whatever your, multi-hyphenation complex identity is, I want you to feel empowered to be able to use that identity to have some kind of creative output.

To me, that's kind of like where the crux is, right? Because when you flatten things, no one lived experience is better than another. So if you're a cis straight white man, comes from legacy Germany, Bauhaus, whatever, that's great, but it's not more important or more valuable than anybody else's. And that's pretty radical.

Super radical. Like if you're gonna elevate traditional, like indigenous experiences and forms of design, architecture, space building, environmental design, and kind of put them in the same grounding or footing as these older kind of Western traditions, that's kind of like a political act. So that's kind of like what I want my legacy to be, to empower other people to make those distinctions.

Christian Solorzano [34:25]

Yeah, your process and everything you're talking about seems— it's all a form of activism. Yeah, right. Which I love, and I think that there's something really empowering about Showing up in this way for other people, and for me, I think the best, the most impactful mentors that I've ever had were those that were similar to you, where they just kind of showed up, and they're the reason why I do a lot of the things that I do today. Yeah. Whether I'm aware of it or not.

Right. So I think the fact that you're just showing up. And subjecting yourself and like just being that person, I think is awesome.

Oscar Solis [35:12]

Be weird.

Christian Solorzano [35:13]

Yeah, just be weird.

Oscar Solis [35:14]

Be weird. That's actually like one of your competitive advantages, right? Be as weird as humanly possible because that's going to be a mark-making that's uniquely yours. If I can look at stuff and be like, that's Chris, you're doing a good job. Right? I don't know if I'm quite there yet, but I would like to get to a point where Someone can just look at some risograph print that I made like, oh, clearly that's Oscar. It's messy and weird and vibrant colors or whatever it is.

That should be every designer's job for themselves.

Christian Solorzano [35:44]

I agree.

Oscar Solis [35:45]

That you try to approach.

Christian Solorzano [35:46]

There was a while ago, I was listening to someone talk about how to push back against AI. And the suggestion was to be, As unpredictable as possible. Because as long as you're predictable, you're able to be replicated and there could be an algorithm built around like your outputs. So it goes hand in hand with like just being weird, unpredictable, and kind of reckless, I think. I feel like we— and I noticed this with my students that there's a sense of fear to be reckless.

Like people seem very timid. To show up, right? And a lot of it probably has to— I mean, it has to do with society and upbringing and education and everything. Grades. Yeah. And I hate grades.

Oscar Solis [36:38]

I'm shocked that we still have grades in grad school.

Christian Solorzano [36:42]

Yeah. I'm just you either pass or you fail and that's it. There's no in between. I don't under—

Oscar Solis [36:46]

I'm in this PhD program and I don't really— like, grades have never really been a concern for me and people are trying to they're just stressing out over grades where it's like, you should be working on the concepts. Making sure you understand the methods. But to get back to this idea about AI, to me it's like really sad when designers, especially like digital product designers, they're designing for like algorithms or they're designing for AI readability. Like to me, that's so sad.

Because you're taking out the human experience from this experience that you could make really enjoyable for. And maybe it's, maybe like readability to these algorithms or these codes or these processes, kind of like ATS system, people designing websites or people designing their portfolio or their resume or their CV for ATS systems. It's like, it's an evil that we have to engage with now, but how many quality designers are getting rejected because they're not playing into that?

This robot that's not even looking or engaging with the material. Yeah. I feel like the web, like websites, the internet in general is getting hollowed out. Like the human experience is getting kind of put to the background and foregrounding these AI bots or spiders that are, tracking all this information. It's like, I don't know, it's kind of sad.

Christian Solorzano [38:11]

I do feel like the internet has become less fun.

Oscar Solis [38:14]

Over the years. Yeah. Why not? Why is everything like these weird, like Squarespace, like websites?

Christian Solorzano [38:20]

Like everything is just like a grid and that's it.

Oscar Solis [38:24]

We could do so much better. Like we literally have the skills and the tools to make it like really interesting and enjoyable and push aesthetic boundaries. Like we could do so much and I just, we don't want to. Or maybe we're scared. I feel like the kids these days, they're afraid of cringe. Which is fine. Yeah, but I'm a millennial and we love cringe.

Christian Solorzano [38:45]

I love that stuff. I love cringe too. And I, and I, and lately I've been telling people to just be as cringe as possible and just to own up to it.

Oscar Solis [38:54]

Yeah, because maybe there's like one thing in that cringe that's actually kind of exciting. Yeah, that no one else is trying. Yeah. And maybe that's actually, maybe there's something there that you should explore. Yeah, keep going on it.

Christian Solorzano [39:07]

Yeah, I like that.

Oscar Solis [39:09]

I don't know, maybe I think it's because of like that hypervigilance, right? Like people were always aware that they're being monitored through their phone, through their Instagram, social media, whatever it is. Like there's this idea of hypervigilance and always being seen, so they're more keen to edit themselves. Yeah. But when I was growing up, we didn't have that.

And if I shared something on social media, it was intentional. Yeah. So it's like I could be super fucking cringe and it doesn't really matter because it goes away in a week or so. I don't know. I want especially young designers to like, be weird, lean into that weird cringe stuff. Like if it's stupid or awkward or unintelligible, then find the one thing in that is enjoyable to you and just keep pushing it.

Christian Solorzano [39:56]

Yeah. I also feel like there needs to be more institutions that embrace that, because I feel like that cringe or that weirdness is great, but there needs to be a home for it. And to me, my— I want to— well, actually, let me ask you first, what is your definition of utopia?

Oscar Solis [40:23]

What is the idiom? The road to hell is paved with good intentions?

Christian Solorzano [40:28]

Yes.

Oscar Solis [40:30]

I don't know who said that, but it's always kind of like stuck with me because I know that my idea of like this socialist dream where institutions are really powerful and they help people and everything's kind of centralized and there's a sense of equity in how people are paid and— Yeah. I mean, I think I love political philosophy.

I just, I am always concerned when usually the people that use political philosophy are pushing for the extremes because there's this notion or this idea of ideological purism, and I don't think purity exists. So you're literally chasing a ghost that doesn't really exist.

You can apply that to not just political agents, but also representatives of these political agencies. There's like a purity test that doesn't exist, and then you're just frustrated and confounded and you're absent from the political system and representation. I think utopia is just— I think it has to be a reflection or a state of being for the self where you're totally actualized.

I don't think it can be this collective idea of utopia or like a society of a utopia. I think it has to be the individual self in relationship to those around them. And I think it's fleeting. I think it's like a moment. And when that moment happens, you can enjoy it and kind of strive for it to extend it for as long as you can. But it's never permanent. I don't think world's supposed to be permanent. Yeah. I haven't thought about utopia in a while.

Christian Solorzano [42:08]

Yeah. Purity doesn't exist. I like that. I wrote that down. Yeah, I'm gonna do something with that. You're gonna see it somewhere eventually. So today, what's inspiring you? I would, I would say, I assume, your students inspire you and community, like this space inspires you, but what are the, what are like the ingredients or the things that you feel Give your life a sense of momentum to keep to keep moving forward.

Oscar Solis [42:44]

I you know it's especially since we've you know we've reconnected. I'm thinking about even for myself just thinking about where I was ten years ago to where I am now. Like I'm doing everything and more than I thought was possible ten years ago. So in a lot of ways, I'm almost. I think I'm always curious in like how far I can push my own practice or my own understanding. How far can— how much can I possibly know on this thing?

Or can I actually contribute to the, domain of knowledge that people draw from? Or can I create an aesthetic tradition that people can engage with and make their own the way I do so many other people?

Like 1980s, 1990s queer zines, have always been this beautiful repository of me of just radical self-expression, radical dissemination of publications and ideas. You have the means of production at your fingertips. Everything is cheap, and it's not meant to be this idealized, beautiful book. It's meant to be something that's interesting, cool, subversive, but also easily discernible so anybody can engage with it. And that spirit of the 1980s, 1990s, just so much there for me to draw from and engage with and radical self-expression.

Even now, I still feel like I censor myself a lot.

Christian Solorzano [44:09]

Why?

Oscar Solis [44:10]

Because I want a job. No, literally. I mean, I'm terrified of being unemployable. And, I need to like— I can follow the rules to a point. And I'm very transparent. Hey, I know I'm a subversive. Get it.

Christian Solorzano [44:26]

I think you need like an alias or something.

Oscar Solis [44:29]

I really— I'm trying to do that with like this new studio idea I'm thinking about. Maybe we just publish underneath the studio and nobody knows it's me. So I can say what I really want to say about different institutions, but also like, yeah.

Christian Solorzano [44:44]

And there could be like a debate with like Oscar and then the alias so that no one catches that it's you. Because you're talking against the thing. You're critiquing yourself.

Oscar Solis [44:53]

Yeah. How dare you get a wage from an institution? Yeah. So that stuff really— and obviously, like I said, community. But I consider my students to be part of my community. We're peers in a lot of ways. Maybe I have more experience, but it doesn't mean that my design is more important. Yeah. Hopefully we can reconnect and maybe grow and share ideas too. But I think just People in general doing really fun stuff makes me want to make fun stuff.

Makes me want to make really cool and interesting things.

Christian Solorzano [45:28]

Yeah. Yeah. And what makes you— what pisses you off?

Oscar Solis [45:40]

There's a lot of fear, especially today. There's so much fear, especially with the younger designers. They don't know what to expect, and rightfully so. But I think this fear is turning into passivity.

I mean, there's always been fear in society in some way, especially me. I think I've always kind of grown up in this community or context where things were never permanent or guaranteed. You can work as hard as you want and still not make it. And that's a lot of millennials these days. We were kind of promised the dream, and for a lot of us, maybe it didn't materialize.

But I think, we don't accept it. We can push back against it, and we organize, and we try to find ways of engaging with this fear. It's not a passive thing where it's like, no, we actually have to do something about what's happening to us. And I want to keep that tradition. I mean, I trace— again, it's a lot about lineage and tradition. Like I trace that back to like you know the beatniks and the hippie, like all of those movements.

So when I see the younger folks today kind of getting passive and almost resigning that this is the way things are, I just I get kind of scared because you're too young for that. Yeah. You're too young for that passivity. You need to like now is the time. You have the energy. You have the time. You just all of them are these kids are smart. Like I am. I'm so proud of so many of these students.

They know so much at such an early age that it took me years to figure it out. I just don't want them to get passive. If you don't like something, you can change it. You have the tools, you have the power, you can organize. Now it's maybe easier than ever to organize. You need to use those tools to push back against things. And that makes me pissed.

Christian Solorzano [47:32]

That pisses me off too. Just in general, in many senses.

Oscar Solis [47:37]

For like, for yourself, or like what exactly pisses you off?

Christian Solorzano [47:40]

I think I just see the world as a place of abundance, right? Where there's people that are willing to help, there's resources, there are spaces like this, right? And I'm just take advantage of it. I tell my students all the time, you guys are paying so much money to be here, Use the printer as much as you can, right? Like rent cameras, like take advantage of every single thing because once you're done being here, all that stuff goes away, right?

And it's going to be hard to do the things that you're missing out on right now, right? And that just like really bugs me a lot.

Oscar Solis [48:17]

Even like not— like I never would have gotten into risograph printing if I didn't go to grad school and use it at UIC for once. Be like, oh, this is really similar to screen printing. But screen printing, you need a lot of space and materials and it's kind of messy. Like risograph, it's not really messy. It's just this small compact thing that uses similar printing processes and layering. Like that makes way more sense for me because I move around a lot.

I'm pretty hopping around different studios. So I need something that's kind of like small and compact where I can work. And like I never would've known that if I didn't use it at school.

Christian Solorzano [48:53]

Yeah. Yeah. And I also think like Chicago has so many great spaces and also great people, right, that it just will open their doors for you if you just ask, right? And also when people don't take advantage of that, I'm like, come on, guys.

Oscar Solis [49:11]

No, I totally— and I think that's one of the beautiful things about Chicago that keeps me here. It's like there's such a sense of community, right? Like this is, New York, people buy stuff, which is nice. I mean, there's also a lot of money there, so they can buy stuff.

But in Chicago, maybe we don't have the same kind of like buyer's market, but we have the sense of community that's so profound. If you want to do weird stuff in a community, you can find it anywhere. And people will help create platforms for you. It's— I've never really seen that anywhere else. Philly kind of has that too. Just on a smaller scale.

Chicago really is like a place if you wanna do community-engaged work or you do participatory stuff, this is like the place to do it. And people are down to do weird stuff.

Christian Solorzano [50:01]

And what does self-care look like for you?

Oscar Solis [50:03]

Sleep.

Christian Solorzano [50:04]

Sleep. Okay.

Oscar Solis [50:06]

It's funny, there's, you hear about like PhD stuff and students being burnt out and I'm like, I didn't. I'm a veteran. Come on, dude. I've been doing this for so long. But no, yeah, no, I for sure burnt out.

I think it's like you, I say yes to everything that I don't say yes to myself. So I think learning how to say yes to yourself and prioritizing your needs before everything else is super important. And yeah, if you want to sleep and, watch Stranger Things at home and eat pizza, like do that. Like take care of yourself.

Christian Solorzano [50:44]

What are some unexpected guilty pleasures of yours? Guilty pleasure? Like something that no one would guess.

Oscar Solis [50:55]

No one would guess. I don't know if I have guilty pleasures. What is a guilty pleasure? Like Taylor Swift? Yeah, just something unexpected.

Christian Solorzano [51:06]

Something unexpected, something that would be, I don't believe in guilty pleasures. But like something that would be like unexpected to come from Oscar and Taylor Swift. It could be an example, right? Yeah, right.

Oscar Solis [51:24]

I don't know. I don't know if I have. I yeah, I was grown. I grew up like Catholic, and so much of Catholic culture is about like shame and guilt and. Hiding things you don't want people to see. But I've learned how to, again, like most things, like subvert it, right? You do jiu-jitsu and use that force and that fulcrum to do something else. So I intentionally try not to like view pleasure and associate it with guilt. Definitely abundance.

I definitely overindulge in a lot of things.

Christian Solorzano [52:00]

Like what?

Oscar Solis [52:00]

Marijuana. For sure. I probably do that a little bit too much. But yeah, I try to like, I try to just take everything with a grain of salt, right? I try to like just enjoy everything that I can. Within reason. Yeah, for sure. Aristotle still, middle path.

Christian Solorzano [52:23]

Yeah. What are some material objects that you can't live without?

Oscar Solis [52:27]

My Ruzograph. It's literally like a thinking tool for me at this point. I like think through these like layers and images. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have it.

Christian Solorzano [52:36]

What about stuff that you carry on you, like in your backpack or—

Oscar Solis [52:39]

A notebook.

Christian Solorzano [52:41]

Notebook?

Oscar Solis [52:42]

Oh man, I, by this point, I actually counted recently because I just bought a new pack of some Moleskines. I have 24 full, like massive Moleskines.

Over the past 15 years that are just front to back, just me thinking. It's like, wow, I'm actually trying to like learn something. And I'm like, I can see my thought process. Yeah, invest in a notebook. I know everybody likes to be digital and iPads and digital notebooks or whatever, that's fine. But there's something beautiful about like the mark that you make and showing yourself because it's for you.

I mean, some people make it public, but Showing yourself what you're trying to learn and the way you engage with ideas and thoughts as a designer, that it's irreplaceable.

Christian Solorzano [53:29]

Yeah. Now on this podcast, we're anti-digital notebooks.

Oscar Solis [53:33]

Yeah. I mean, there's nothing wrong. Like again, it's like that middle road, right? It's like what is the how can you do both?

Christian Solorzano [53:41]

Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. And I think it's always nice to like for example, I still have notebooks from. I still have notebooks that I would write notes on when I was working with you like 10 years ago, right? And it's nice to revisit those periods in your life because it's just see what you're doing and what you were thinking and how your handwriting has evolved and not evolved.

Oscar Solis [54:04]

Totally. Yeah. I mean, even me 10 years ago thinking about semiotics and how I can capture this aesthetic or this tradition of semiotics. Within a digital studio, that's super fucking cool. Yeah, I mean, it's super heady and it was wrong for so many reasons, but it's admirable. I took a swing and I don't mind that I took a swing? Yeah, because that's kind of like who I am. Yeah, I'm kind of like this little wonky bookish person. Yeah, I'm not gonna shy away from that.

That's why people reach out to me because they want that. Yeah, for certain projects. Yeah, for not all, maybe not all projects. But for certain projects, maybe that's exactly who they need.

Christian Solorzano [54:44]

And what's a question that you wish someone would ask you that you've never been asked?

Oscar Solis [54:50]

Never been asked? I was just talking about this the other day with my family and we were talking about cooking and I really enjoy food. I enjoy cooking to a certain degree. But yeah, I think whenever you have something that you're so passionate about, like for me it's food. Food is one of my life passions. I think there's this weird— people get really kind of uncomfortable and they don't want to seem like experts, so they don't ask you.

Where it's like, no, I just want to talk about this chile macha. I want to talk about seasoning and spices and tacos and traditions from Mexico and how we can make it here. I'm not trying to be elitist or pompous or anything. I genuinely just like this thing. And it's kind of sad where I feel like people don't want to engage Questions with me because they don't want to show their lack of expertise or whatever it is. But again, that's— yeah, I don't know. Education's weird.

It's a weird thing. Education is, so many people are told the benefits of education and thinking and for yourself, self-worth, whatever it is. But I feel like people get intimidated by it and people don't ask me questions because of it. And it's kind of— it bothers me a little bit because I don't even think about it. For me, it's just something that I'm doing, and I rarely talk about it unless I'm asked.

Yeah. So if you have a question for someone, ask. Yeah. If I'm talking about food, it's because I want to fucking talk about food. I want to talk about— let's just— there's no right or wrong answer to it. Everybody has a relationship to food. And the way I think everybody has a relationship to design, right? Even if you don't have education or tradition or whatever it is, you can see something and know if you like it or not. Yeah. And that's valid. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [57:03]

Yeah. The worst is always when you, when you say, does anyone have any questions? And they're like, nope.

Oscar Solis [57:09]

I know. I'm just let's talk about it. I have questions. I have questions for you, but for me, I mean.

Christian Solorzano [57:16]

And then later on they'll ask you a question. You're like, why didn't you ask this?

Oscar Solis [57:20]

Right. This was perfect. Yeah, I know. Again, I think it goes back to that cringe thing. People don't want to seem like they don't know. Yeah. Or like maybe they don't have the authority to ask or question or push. Yeah, you need to give yourself that agency.

Christian Solorzano [57:33]

And there's so much power in not knowing, right? Like that abundance mindset of like, there's just like an openness there that to me, I feel like a not knowing open mind is more welcoming to new ideas as opposed to a mind that's like fixed on like, this is the absolute purity.

Oscar Solis [57:56]

I would stay away from fixed mindsets. Yeah. If you're talking to someone that thinks they know everything about anything, yeah, I would run the other way. Yep. Because they're probably missing out on a whole slew of traditions. I agree. I, at least for me, I run away from those people. Yeah. Can't do it. Yep. Sure, they're smart, talented. That's fine.

Christian Solorzano [58:16]

Maybe not. Yeah, maybe not.

Oscar Solis [58:19]

Probably not.

Christian Solorzano [58:21]

So what's your today? What's your call to action? Like as we as we move into 2026, are you a person that makes big grand declarations of this year will be XYZ, or how are you moving into 2026?

Oscar Solis [58:44]

I think moving into 2026, I want to be intentional about making more friends, extending my door, welcoming more people in. I do want to do more public workshops. So I'm still thinking through some stuff for that year, what that looks like. But yeah, I think we need to, especially now, we need to organize. And organizing doesn't necessarily have to mean political activism in this conventional sense of marching through streets. There's so many ways of politically organizing around people and comrades that think like you.

This is just my way of doing it. Yeah, I need to do more organizing. I need to— I think people are feeling a little lonely, a little distant, maybe disconnected. Fearful. I feel some of those things as well, but I am, I'm not going to be beholden to that. I think I really want to push back against that and maybe offer an alternative, hey, what does joy look like even now? And maybe joy is a political act.

Christian Solorzano [60:01]

Right. Yeah. I always feel like the most successful rubric of measurements is when the facilitator or the teacher doesn't have to do any talking, where they're just there and they orchestrate this space and then they just go sit in the corner and everything else kind of does its thing.

Oscar Solis [60:27]

Oh, but I'm watching. Yeah, of course. You're paying attention, you're watching. I'm like zeroed in.

Christian Solorzano [60:33]

But you're just you're just you don't need to be as involved? Totally.

Oscar Solis [60:40]

There's at least with like the way I teach certain classes, I'll put a lot of emphasis on critique and like how to critique and how to give constructive criticism to students. If you're using language that's just meant to be hurtful or denigrative, I don't allow it. I don't engage with that. What do you— and I feel like so much of that legacy design culture comes from that. Like architecture, for sure. Old established studios, even ad agencies.

There's something about denigrating someone's creative work that becomes a reflection of themselves.

So if you can change that dynamic and be like, hey, if you're not saying something that's actually going to improve their work, then maybe you need to rethink what you're going to say. Yeah. Because I just won't allow it. And when people kind of get shooken up, it's like, oh, then it's not just about subjective preference. Then it's about like, how can you critique hierarchy or like typographic hierarchy? Or how can you critique image use? And then it becomes like really formal.

Then you can be like, okay, how can I take from this critique session and develop my own practice. Yep. It's so much more effective than like tearing people down. Yeah. Like if you're tearing people down, then there's something wrong with you. Yeah. Because there's an alternative and you can choose that alternative. Yeah. So if you're doing it still, then you're choosing to do that. When you know who you are, you know exactly who you are. Leave it at that. Right.

Christian Solorzano [62:17]

So as we wrap up, what are you listening to lately? And what are you reading? And what are you filling your world with when you're not— like, what are you consuming? What media are you consuming? What content are you consuming?

Oscar Solis [62:30]

I mean, unfortunately, just, I guess, just where I am in like my education stuff, I'm just reading white papers.

At this point, like almost exclusively reading, which is cool. I mean, there's a lot of like co-design stuff. There's a lot of new, there's some like AI ethics stuff that I've been reading a lot. I'm working on a project about AI ethics that I've been reading into, which is cool. So unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to like read for pleasure. That's just kind of like the nature of where I am right now. And music, oh my gosh.

I don't know if it's like a comfort thing or what it is, but I've like reverted back to like 1980s like punk music almost like exclusively. I just, it sounds comfortable to me. I, it's like familiar. It's like a warm blanket. Like I just want angry, aggressive music to get through this, whatever it is that I'm working on.

Christian Solorzano [63:26]

Cool. Awesome. Well, is there anything that we can look forward to seeing from you in 2026?

Oscar Solis [63:34]

Yeah, so I've been really thankful and privileged that Carlos, one of the program managers here at CAD, they've extended the show Diagram Systems through February, which is really cool. So I'll be having a closing reception soon and hope you'll get to meet all the other artists that I've curated. I'm bringing in some students.

Christian Solorzano [63:56]

And when is that? What's the date for that? The closing, or do?

Oscar Solis [63:59]

No, I last few weeks of February. Okay. I have to I have to confirm with everybody. But yeah, it'll be the closing reception, and it'll be an artist talk.

Christian Solorzano [64:08]

Okay. Well, send us the details when you get them, and we'll share with.

Oscar Solis [64:11]

Thank you so much, Chad. No, it'll be great. There's so many talented artists, and it's an opportunity for everyone to kind of talk about their process, but also meet each other. Jay, I'm really.

Christian Solorzano [64:21]

And is there any medium that you feel is still unexplored by you? Is there like an ambition to do sound or to do performance or to do—

Oscar Solis [64:33]

I, so, okay, this is a little teaser. I've been thinking for at least 4 years now, I want to do a performance. So there was, there's a reference, there's this guy, what was his name that German director, movie director guy.

Christian Solorzano [64:50]

Dang.

Oscar Solis [64:54]

Well, famous German film director. He does a performance where he's eating a shoe, a leather shoe. He boils it, cooks it, and it becomes like the surrealist act of eating as this performance. And he's doing a fundraiser so he can film his movie or whatever it is. And I thought, that's the most brilliant fucking thing. And I wish I would've thought of it. So I want to— I've been thinking about doing a performance of me eating a book.

So I'll like literally— I'm still figuring out how to print text, like edible text on like, I don't know, gross sandwich meat or something like bologna or salami.

Christian Solorzano [65:29]

Okay, so it wouldn't be on paper?

Oscar Solis [65:30]

No, ideally something that I'm eating. I mean, leather boots are kind of gross, but I do want to eat, like maybe read the book while I'm eating it. There's something really compelling about that, like devouring words or concepts. And watching people as you eat this, it's almost like grotesque and surreal. And yeah, so I'm trying to figure out ways that's like kind of gross but interesting.

Christian Solorzano [65:52]

And yeah, I wonder if you could print them on like those wafers.

Oscar Solis [65:55]

Right. Oh, like a religious thing?

Christian Solorzano [65:59]

Yeah. And like people come and you serve them some text from a book or— Yeah, but that's my idea.

Oscar Solis [66:11]

Yeah, I'm sorry, copyrighted actually. So we'll see. Awesome.

Christian Solorzano [66:21]

Well, you're very easy to get a hold of, so for people that are listening, how can they— what's the best way for people to get in touch with you?

Oscar Solis [66:28]

You can find me on Instagram at Oscar 2.0.

Christian Solorzano [66:33]

Is there a 1.0?

Oscar Solis [66:35]

Somewhere? There was a 1.0. There was just Oscar. And then when Semiosa disbanded and I broke up with my partner, I was like, I need a whole new reset. That person is gone. I need a new Oscar. What is this individual person? This— how do I act on my own? Okay. That's Oscar 2.0. Cool. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [66:54]

I dig it. Yeah. Awesome. So thank you so much again. Yeah. And it's been cool to just connect with you again. And I'm really inspired by all that you're doing. Yeah, thanks. Same. And I look forward to 2026 being the year that you and I can do things together and collaborate. Yeah, Cat is always welcome to get into some trouble.

Oscar Solis [67:15]

Yeah, good trouble. Bad trouble too. Bad trouble. All kinds of trouble.

Christian Solorzano [67:20]

Maybe not so much bad trouble, but you get what I'm saying, right? Cool. All right, awesome. Well, thank you so much.

Oscar Solis [67:26]

All right, thanks for this. Cool.

Christian Solorzano [67:28]

We did it. All right. What a great conversation that was. As always, thank you so much for tuning in. If you want to learn more about us, visit www.chicagographicdesign.club. Thank you and talk to you soon. Goodbye.