Visual design culture with Nick Adam

September 5, 2022

Written by Christian Solorzano

Underscore

In Chicago’s world of design, Nick Adam is a household name. Over the past two decades, Adam has been shaping and contributing to Chicago’s visual culture through collaborations with institutions, studios, and leaders. He describes himself as strategic and values-driven. He focuses on and explores identities and stories while producing work that leads to rich conversation and experiences by merging craft, theory, and optimism.

Adam’s most notable work, which millions of people experience every day, is Chicago’s bicycle sharing system, Divvy, which he worked on behalf of the design studio Firebelly and in collaboration with Ideo.

Nkemdiche cover designed at Span on Nick Adam’s team with author Obiora Nwazota and illustrator Lucie Van der Elst.

His relationship with design began at a young age in Chicago’s underground rave and punk rock culture. His first encounters with graphic design were the flyers that served as tickets to live shows and parties. In his interview with our podcast, Underscore, he recalls seeing Daft Punk at Chicago’s Route 66 venue, where admission was 10 dollars and a can of soup. This early introduction to design’s relationship to culture and the human experience inspired him to design his own flyers for his friend’s bands which eventually led to pursuing a career in design that has now spanned over two decades.

Today, he continues to be enamored by witnessing design become activated and in people’s hands. He views graphic design not only as a way of creating artifacts but also as a method for connecting humanity and amplifying our experiences.

In 2018, he graduated with an MFA in Graphic Design from RISD. Currently, he is a Design Principal at the design studio Span. Before that, he was an Associate Principal at Rick Valicenti’s studio, Thirst, and before that, Strategic Director at Firebelly.

His work has been exhibited at the Design Museum of Chicago, Letterform Archive, Newberry Library, the Milton Glaser Design Center, and Archives, amongst other places.

In episode ten of our podcast, Underscore, Nick Adam speaks with host Christian Solorzano and Jaime Cisneros and, discusses his upbringing, early design influences, approach to design, the Chicago design community, and more.