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A Call for Values
In collaboration with AHA Time, the Chicago Graphic Design Club invites you to submit a visual response to our call for entries centered on the values of our time.
This is an opportunity to shape culture and spark a conversation that challenges how we see ourselves and the world. Submissions will be a 24 x 36 poster, which will be featured on our website and at a later point, a gallery exhibition in 2026.
Reese Adara
Respect, Compassion, Tolerance, Openness
In the current day and age, it’s so important to reflect on ourselves, and how we treat others that inhabit the same space as us. Are we reflecting what they want to see? What we think they should see? Or are we sharing and accepting ourselves and those around us for who they are? We are a world full of prisms; gliding past each other and refracting mirages of our inner psyches. Take a moment to reflect on your projection, and learn to look past the apparition, and accept the true core.
Francis
Integrity
Integrity is the hardest value for creatives to possess in 2026, when human and artificial intelligence collide. Save your job and prompt your way into mediocrity—or stand up, risk it all, and fight for what you believe in. The choice is yours.
Brian M Woodard
Compassion
This poster series examine kindness, resilience, responsibility, and compassion as values that are learned before they are understood. Childhood becomes a site where ethics are modeled, absorbed, and rehearsed—often through observation rather than instruction. By placing young figures within structured visual systems, the work reflects on how care, endurance, and accountability are shaped early, and how they persist into adulthood as quiet, formative forces.
Cass Pokora
Respect, Generosity
This work speaks to the quiet power of ordinary shared spaces where generosity is learned and taught. Inspired by the everyday objects that shape these moments, its rough, handmade letterforms honor the imperfect, human nature of coming together. It suggests that sharing what we have creates abundance and reminds us that all people deserve to meet one another as equals.
Sean Fermoyle
Joy
Seeking joy in the everyday chaos of life is essential (and one of my values) because it grounds you in what truly matters. Life will always be messy—full of deadlines, detours, and demands—but joy reminds you to pause, breathe, and notice the small wonders hiding in plain sight. It transforms ordinary moments into sources of strength and helps you navigate uncertainty with resilience. By choosing joy, you don’t deny the chaos—you simply decide to carry light through it.
Max Epperson
Respect, Mindfulness
Centered around the German phrase “zur erinnerung,” which can translate into “in memory of,” I sought to create a poster that reflects mindfulness. Focused around a single tile pattern which borders the edge of the image, I translated this tile design into a 3D object, which can be carefully viewed from every angle in the center of the composition, rendering pattern in motion and motion in stasis. Both modular tile design and the German phrase on the poster were inspired by printed material I came across while digging through the archive of the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art, which for me represented my own efforts to reflect on art from the past and pay homage to what came before me.
Cristina Bottía
Resilience, Honesty, Self-awareness, Integrity
This piece is an exploration of an emotional journey, of the process of sadness turning into hope. Through the use of light and shadow symbolizing inner transformation. The surrounding phrases express belief in change, resilience, and emotional healing. A reminder that pain is temporary, and growth is possible. There is growth within hardships.
Kyle Eertmoed
Courage
I chose the value of courage because my last name, Eertmoed, translates to “honors courage” in Dutch (eert moed). To me, courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness to move forward in spite of it. Fear shows up often in my line of work, launching before it feels perfect, letting go of what’s familiar, saying something bold and true. I’ve learned that fear doesn’t always mean stop, it often just means “I haven’t done this before.” This piece is both personal and professional. A reminder to honor courage by feeling the fear and doing it anyway.
contra.diba
Self-awareness, Critical Thinking
A major part of growing is recognizing the difference between one’s wants and needs. The pursuit of what you want can be destructive and accepting the loss of it is actually what will help live a happier life.
Morgan Manasa
Kindness
To me, kindness is a reflection of the time you’re willing to give another person. The mix tape, while not common these days, is a prime symbol of this act. It was a little world, a curated experience that took hours to design for someone specific. To convey secrets, messages, inside jokes or memories. It’s a little time machine that reminds us that someone cared enough to share their time with us.
