Patrick Smith [00:05]

Hello, you're listening to Underscore, a podcast by the Chicago Graphic Design Club dedicated to bringing you conversations with Chicago's creative community. On this podcast, we'll explore the craft, theory, and practice of graphic design, plus discuss bold ideas that push the boundaries of what's possible and ways in which we can create a more thoughtful and inclusive creative community. To learn more about the Chicago Graphic Design Club, visit our website at www.chicagographicdesignclub.org. Club or find us on social media.

Special thanks to the Chicago band 80 Slang for our theme music.

Christian Solorzano [00:56]

I'm Patrick Smith, and I'll be hosting today's episode. Our guest is Christian Solorzano. Christian is a designer based in Chicago, and he graduated from DePaul University in 2016 with a BFA in graphic design. Christian is currently an experienced designer, founder of the Chicago Graphic Design Club, and a meditation instructor, among other creative interests. So today we're gonna be talking about the club, Chicago Graphic Design Club. And Christian, glad to have you here.

We're gonna be talking about kind of the background and history of Chicago Graphic Design Club. So let's start at the beginning. How did the— club get off the ground? How did it start?

Patrick Smith [01:32]

Yeah, so the beginning is— it's an interesting story because I had an idea to start a design club many years ago. I would say probably in 2013, 2014 is when the idea started to just occupy a lot of headspace in me. But the intention was always to have a club that was focused solely on design books. I think when I graduated from college, one of the things that I really missed the most was learning and just the academic setting.

So right when I started working professionally full-time after graduating, I just noticed that critical conversations about design Weren't something that I was having regularly. So I just had like this yearning for sort of like intellectual dialogue. And then right when the pandemic began in— yeah, in March of 2020, like many of us, I was just experiencing this intense sense of like fear and isolation and uncertainty.

So what I wanted to do was create a space where designers could get together to talk about— to talk about design, to talk about design books, and to figure out how knowledge and wisdom could be applicable to the problems that at the time we were facing. So I remember it was May 6th, 2020. And I put together a book discussion. And I promoted it on social media, and surprisingly, we had about 6 people come. And I was not expecting that.

And then since then, after that book discussion, then we had our next book discussion. It wasn't until we had about like 3 or 4 that we dropped Our original name was Chicago Graphic Design Book Club, and we dropped the book from our name and we just became the Chicago Graphic Design Club, and we started introducing different types of programming. So we started inviting guest speakers and we started facilitating like a few workshops here and there.

And yeah, now we're in— we're approaching our second year in 2022 here. And yeah, it's just so surprising just looking back at this just very small thing that we started and what it's become.

Christian Solorzano [04:19]

That's great. It sounds like it had a very organic beginning and it probably continues to that day. What's been like the most interesting surprise for you over the last year and a half, 2 years as you've been leading the club?

Patrick Smith [04:37]

So the biggest surprise there, there's been so many of them. I would say I'm very grateful for the speakers that we've had. I've had the pleasure of introducing and connecting and facilitating conversations with some people, some designers that I've looked up to since I was a design student. So being able to create a space to welcome them and to invite them to share knowledge with us has always been very special to me.

But I would say one of the biggest surprises has been just realizing that you don't really need to know how to do things in order to do them. I don't have any experience running organizations or putting together events or facilitating conversations or doing a lot of the stuff that we do now.

I have no expertise in any of those areas, but it's just been incredibly interesting to see how As long as you're passionate about something and you surround yourself with the right people, I mean, this sounds super cliché, but you could accomplish so much. And I think because we started right as things were, at the peak of virtual and like remote, it was very easy to do things from the comfort of my own home.

So I'm looking forward to just looking at how the club evolves once the world returns to some sort of pre-pandemic or like post-COVID situation.

Christian Solorzano [06:12]

Sure. So I think, I think one of the things you're— what I'm hearing you're saying is you don't have to ask for permission to go do something. You can kind of just go do it. And if you build it, they will come sometimes. That's what it sounds like, how the club has kind of evolved. It's been, putting ideas out there and getting conversations started and slowly but surely, organically the conversation is growing bigger and bigger.

Patrick Smith [06:35]

Exactly. I would say you said it perfectly. You don't need to ask for permission. And I think that's one of the, one of the strengths of this club is that because we are independent, if we want to do something, we run it by, our group and that's it. We don't need to go get approval from anyone. It's just, it's very liberating. So I think just the fact that we have autonomy over the things that we do, to me personally, that means a lot.

Christian Solorzano [07:11]

That's great. So the club started out as a book club. It's evolved a little bit into just beyond books. Can you talk a little bit about some of the other programming that you've done over the last year and a half, 2 years?

Patrick Smith [07:24]

Yeah, so let's see. So we've— I would say books are they're like the fabric, they're like in the fabric of just like our DNA. So we'll always be doing those, even if despite engagements, I think the people that come to those sort of events tend to just be very curious about engaging in that and those sort of conversations. So book discussions will most definitely always be a thing that we do.

We do lectures and we do talks, so we're always looking for professionals, designers, enthusiasts who are interested in sharing knowledge with us. So for example, like in the past we've had, for instance, like Ellen Lupton was one of our guests and she came in and she spoke with us about writing and the relationship between writing and being a designer. We've also had design studios come to us to share case studies with our group. And walk us through their process, which is really interesting.

And it's something that, as a designer that loves craft and just theory in general, it's just always interesting to see how other people approach problem solving through graphic design. And we've, we just recently started doing field trips, so we're looking to visit more spaces throughout Chicago. Where we could just be in a room with other designers and see how people work, look at their offices, learn from, design leaders, have them walk us through like a case study or like a project that they worked on.

That's always nice, especially after a pandemic. Just seeing people's faces makes a big difference. And then also just doing field trips, not just to design studios, but going to like workshops and getting hands-on experiences on different things. So we went to a photo lab not too long ago, and we had a facilitated tour where we were explained the process of like printing, like photography, and we got a chance to like touch different types of papers and ask questions and that sort of thing. So.

I mean, I think the programming that we want to do is definitely— we want it to be very much all-encompassing of different mediums. So we want to— we want things to be more like you go there and you listen. We also want things where you could ask questions, other things where you get your hands dirty and like actually interact with things.

And then also other sort of programming where it's just a matter of— it's just focused on making friends and building community and not necessarily having an agenda, but just having like an open space for things to manifest. And what those things are, I don't think, I don't think it's up to me to say. I think that's something that relies on our community.

Christian Solorzano [10:41]

No, that's great. I liked what you were talking about in the beginning too, about how Once you were done with school, the kind of the intellectual conversations suddenly stopped, and that this is a place where people go to and continue that conversation and network a little bit and learn a lot and continue the dialogue around learning and growing.

Because once you get a job, it seems like— and I don't know why this is, maybe you've got an opinion on it seems like a lot of those intellectual conversations kind of go out the window a little bit. Maybe you might talk tactically about a project and a problem and a solution around a specific project, but a lot of the broader stroke kind of intellectual conversations kind of go by the wayside.

I don't know, do you have any insight into that beyond just the, it's a corporate environment or, and we've only got so many hours in the day, so that kind of thing just goes, falls off to the bottom of the list?

Patrick Smith [11:43]

Yeah, for me it's just I think it's just a matter of like being curious and asking questions. I think that it does require some— like you're going to encounter some level of discomfort when you— I don't know, like I guess when you make a commitment to, constantly be pursuing knowledge or just critical, just like a critical approach. Like I think it's just something that I think you sort of like develop independently.

Like for instance, for me, I love asking questions and it's just, it's just part of who I am. And I think when I, when I was freshly out of college, I think my confidence wasn't really there. I think I relied more on other people's permission. I mean, sort of like this club, like it was, it got to a certain point where I was thinking to myself, I wish the design community would create these sort of things. I want to see these sorts of things.

I want, this design organization to like do a book club, or I want them to like do a field trip, or like I want them to do like do XYZ. And I think it gets to a point where you sort of have to create those opportunities for yourself. And I think in this case, I created them Outside of work, but I think there's opportunities to just create these sort of environments.

Maybe if you're, if you're working in design, maybe you introduce as part of like your process like a period where it's just all about asking questions, or maybe you find ways to like facilitate a game night that, talks about something you're interested in. So I think As long as you just have this drive and you're passionate and curious, yeah, just don't be afraid to find opportunities.

Don't— I don't think waiting for someone to hold your hand or to do something that you're seeking is always going to be an option. So I think it's just a matter of just going out there and trying to fill a gap. Or fill the gaps that you see that need to be filled.

Christian Solorzano [14:02]

That's great. Well, speaking of programming and filling gaps, what are the— what's the idea or what's the vision for programming coming up as we kind of get out of COVID and there's a summer right around the corner? Any new programming ideas coming up?

Patrick Smith [14:18]

Yeah, so I think we want to— so we want to have recurring programming. We just want our calendar to always have at least an X number of things going on. And ideally, we'd want them to be about spaces for inquiry and dialogue, also spaces for connection and just making friends and getting to know new people. There's a lot of people that have moved to Chicago over the past few years that have joined our club.

And I think we've been Nice resource for them to just get acquainted with the city and other designers. So we want to have that as part of our core curriculum or programming. And then we also want to do things that are interactive. So going beyond just talking about stuff, but actually using our skills and using the things that we have at our disposal, whether it's tools, materials, technologies, et cetera, to just create.

And just see what we could come up with. But I think again, as the founder of the design club, my job is more or less—I don't know—like steer the ship or to facilitate or guide. Our success is dependent on our community, just constantly just continuing to like have the door open for suggestions and opinions and like feedback. So. Someone could come up to us next month and tell us like, hey, we want to see this thing that I probably haven't considered yet.

And that might be a new thing that we do. So yeah, I can't speak with certainty about what the future looks like. All I could say is that community, authentic connection, and just engagements are the driving factors. And then obviously not forgetting graphic design, the medium through which we— We come together.

Christian Solorzano [16:21]

Well, speaking of graphic design as a medium, that definition can be very narrow or very broad. Can you maybe define who Graphic Design— the Chicago Graphic Design Club is for? Is it for just graphic designers or is it beyond the graphic designers?

Patrick Smith [16:38]

Yeah, that's a good question. So graphic design, it is a very broad term that can mean a lot of things. I always think about it as visual communication, and that could be— so for instance, my job is I'm an experience designer, so I do interfaces. I don't do posters or packaging or print design. I think graphic design, the way I look at it, is it's just all-encompassing of just a lot of different mediums.

We try to be very inclusive, and even in the programming that we put together is we try to have stuff that's about typography, other stuff that's about social justice and Its relationship to design. We've done— I mentioned we've done stuff on writing, we've done stuff on printing, photography. And then as far as who we identify as a graphic designer, it could be— I mean, we have members that are educators, enthusiasts, students, professionals. I think it's all-encompassing.

Graphic design could be a hobby of yours and you're more than welcome to come and talk design theory with us. You don't need— like, there's no, there's no criteria or no, status that you need to, have to be a part of our community. Yeah. And that's not the kind of organization that we want to be. We— I've mentioned this in the past and I don't, I don't see us as a cool kids club or a place that, only certain people with certain jobs have access to.

Yeah. So I think that's probably one of the reasons why graphic design is in the name, just because it's open to interpretation and we like it that way.

Christian Solorzano [18:29]

That's great. And then for the community itself or the individuals out there, what are you hoping they get out of the club if they, if they been to an event or been to multiple events, what's the takeaway?

Patrick Smith [18:42]

So I think that they leave inspired. They learn, something new. I think that they hopefully over time just develop confidence. We tend to be pretty encouraging of people participating. For instance, like when we do our talks, there's always like a period where we invite the audience to participate and like ask questions or in our Slack online community, we're always giving people prompts to start conversations through. So I think inspiration, knowledge, just like a place of— a place to belong, I think is really important.

I think belonging is crucial and I think in any industry, and obviously my only experience is the design industry, I think community and support are super important. To me, they're the number one most important thing is community and support. So having a question and having a group of people to go ask a question to me, that determines whether an organization is successful or not.

Is there a structure, like a system set up where people are like open to offering support and guidance to people that need it? And then also just removing the barrier of entry for people that, want to learn and ask questions.

Christian Solorzano [20:13]

No, it's great. I can speak from experience. The Slack channel is excellent. I've seen people get job opportunities or invitations for interviews in there. There's lots of resource sharing and real-time feedback on projects if people want to post their things. So it's a great avenue for people to connect. And so are there other ways that people can join the club beyond the Slack or get involved?

Patrick Smith [20:39]

So we're always, we're always welcoming of people, like our doors are always open. So if anyone ever wants to get involved, like on our website, you'll find all that information, whether you want to be Whether you want to give a talk, whether you want to give us a suggestion, whether you want to anonymously give us some feedback, whether you want to join our Slack community or volunteer, we have various roles, engagement opportunities to get involved.

I would say like our website is going to be the place to learn and explore all those opportunities. But we're always, we're always looking for ideas. And I think even if someone doesn't want to see an idea through, but they want to suggest a program, yeah, we always suggest that people like bring things up.

Christian Solorzano [21:28]

That's great. Can I ask you a non-club question before we check out of here?

Patrick Smith [21:33]

Yeah, of course. What is it?

Christian Solorzano [21:34]

Since we're in Chicago, wanted to get your take on what's your favorite thing to do in Chicago when you've got some downtime?

Patrick Smith [21:42]

So my favorite thing in Chicago when I have some downtime is I love, I love restaurants. Chicago has amazing food. And as a vegan, I really love checking out all— yeah, just all the new vegan restaurants that are like always popping up. I also love photography.

So whenever I get the chance, I love if I'm looking to, get inspired or step away from the computer, I will go for a drive in my car and just have my camera in my hand and just go places to shoot. And that's always therapeutic and just like a nice way to just pay tribute to this wonderful city.

Christian Solorzano [22:26]

That's great. Well, where can people get in contact with you if they want to reach out directly?

Patrick Smith [22:32]

So people could get in contact with me on Instagram. Or just pretty much just Google me, hit the first link and go to my website. It's just my first name dot com and you'll find all the details there. LinkedIn, social media, email, all that stuff.

Christian Solorzano [22:49]

There's only one Christian Solorzano up there.

Patrick Smith [22:53]

So yeah, there is another one that shows up on Google, but I think the person is not wearing a shirt and that is definitely not me.

Christian Solorzano [23:00]

Well, that's good to know. Well, that filter on. Well, is there anything else you want to add about the club before we, before we close this out?

Patrick Smith [23:10]

I guess if the only thing I have to say is if you have not yet become just like a member or if you're not yet involved, yeah, we hope to see you like at one of our events. Again, if you go to our website, like we always have things coming up. So I'm looking forward to just connecting with more people. So.

Christian Solorzano [23:27]

Okay. That's great. Well, thank you again, Christian, for a great conversation and an overview of the club. For everyone listening, thank you. We hope you enjoyed the episode and to learn more about the Chicago Graphic Design Club, go to chicagographicdesign.club.