Bob Zeni is no stranger to the design community. In the past, year after year, Zeni contributed his time to fostering the celebration of craft and excellence in design. He spent years running the now defunct, Archive design competitions hosted by the Society of Typographic Arts. He was also involved with Chicago’s AIGA Chapter in the early 2000s, helping kickstart the national Design for Democracy program.
As a leader in STA’s Archive design competitions, he bridged world-class judges with Chicago and created opportunities for the best graphic design pieces from across the country to be housed in the Chicago Design Archive. This was when Chicago had a thriving design community.
Zeni grew up in Decatur, Illinois — an industrial and agricultural town. In 1974 he graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in Journalism. He took a handful of design classes that introduced him to its relationship with journalism and how the two disciplines come together in producing newspapers. After graduating, Zeni moved to Chicago to work at the Chicago Sun-Times and Crain Communications.
In the 1980s, through a friend, he learned about the latest technology, the Apple Mac, which kickstarted Zeni to begin his own business in 1988, Bob Zeni & Associates. Now, he could work with clients and combine his two passions, design and journalism, from his house.
Today he continues to work with clients, designing quarterly magazines and newsletters while teaching at the School of the Art Institute. His involvement with the design community has diminished over the years. Today he dedicates his time to being Chicago’s Tomato Man. In addition, he is a writer for the publication Belt Magazine, he publishes short stories.
In episode eight of Underscore, our podcast, Bob Zeni speaks with the host, Christian Solorzano about his upbringing and work that spans decades across Chicago.
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