Moving into 2022

Written by

Christian Solorzano

As we turn the page on another year, we want to take a moment to reflect on how thankful we are for our community during these past two years.

In May of 2020, right as the pandemic took a full grip of the world, we set forth with a vision to connect with each other through our passion for design. During our first meeting, we discussed Bruno Munari’s book Design as Art and sought to find similarities in the text that could be applied to our world today.

The enthusiasm for an intellectual community interested in dialogue about the theory, craft, and practice of graphic design, was the catalyst to continue creating more of these opportunities.

Fast forward to 2021, we kicked off the year with a wonderful talk from Ellen Lupton — where she shared insight on how designers can become better writers.

In 2021, we learned about writing, the design and typeface of the city of Chicago, capitalism, public memory, creativity, seeing, diversity and inclusion, manifestos, storytelling, Chicago’s printing history, design justice, the Bauhaus, and much more.

Today, 19 months since our inception, we couldn’t be more proud of the community that we’ve created and contributed to. We’re proud of the resilience of our city and community of graphic designers, artists, educators, enthusiasts, students, and more, not just in Chicago but also beyond.

As we move into 2022, we will amplify the way we support and nurture our communities — and exist as a collaborative platform that provides opportunities to grow, develop, and connect through our shared interest in design. We will continue to celebrate and elevate our practices through authentic conversations and activities.

Thanks to everybody that has played a role, participated, or contributed.

Sincerely,
Christian Solorzano • Founder

Special thanks to:
Alexandra Bishop, Angela Stucky, Ashley Lukasik, Brian Morris, Brooke Kravitz, Chantel Valentene, Dan McManus, Ellen Lupton, Gail Anderson, Irina Goldman, Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh, Jason Kunesh, Jeremy Hlinak, Jessica Helfand, John Hatherly, Lauren Meranda, Matthew Wizinsky, Melody Pohla, Nick Haas, Patric King, Patrick Smith, Sofya Karash, Saied Benitez, Steven White, and Surbhi Kalra.