Christian Solorzano [00:00]

Hello, you are listening to Underscore, a show by the Chicago Graphic Design Club. I am your host, Christian Solorzano, and today I am sharing my conversation with Derek, president of AIGA Chicago. Derek and I sat down in Oak Park, just outside of Chicago, on a Friday afternoon, and it turns out that we live just a few minutes from each other.

We talk about his path from a small town in Northern Michigan to leading one of this city's design organizations, and the moment that the previous president offered him the role, and his first thought was, that's really scary and I don't want to do this, and why he said yes anyways.

We get into what leadership actually looks like when you're the one checking tickets at your own events, and why he believes design deserves the same respect as any other form of labor, and what keeps him up at night about the sustainability of a creative career right now. We talk about the Paper Show, his book collection, metal music, and why he thinks designers should stop forming their opinion about the industry from social media.

As always, if you enjoy conversations like these, we appreciate your support when you leave us a rating on your preferred podcast platform. It helps us expand our reach and helps us continue to do what we do. So thank you so much for tuning in and enjoy the conversation. All right, are you ready?

Derek Desormeaux [01:22]

Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [01:23]

Okay, so welcome, Derek. Hi.

Derek Desormeaux [01:27]

Oh, hi. Thank you for having me.

Christian Solorzano [01:30]

I feel like this is a really cool moment because I'm getting a chance to chat with the president of AIGA Chicago.

Derek Desormeaux [01:37]

And same, I get to chat with the head of the Graphic Design Club. So thank you for having me.

Christian Solorzano [01:41]

It's like 2 mob bosses coming together.

Derek Desormeaux [01:43]

Yeah, I'd say pretty close, but I don't know. I feel like we're not as edgy, but yeah.

Christian Solorzano [01:49]

Well, we— I think we need to be a little bit edgier. So thank you so much. So we're recording this in Oak Park. It's a Friday. The weather is beautiful. We're right across Lake Theater. And I discovered that you don't live too far away from me, which is really cool.

Derek Desormeaux [02:06]

Yeah. I'm in Forest Park. Literally could have walked here.

Christian Solorzano [02:08]

Yeah. But you didn't.

Derek Desormeaux [02:09]

Yeah. No, we don't.

Christian Solorzano [02:11]

We do that.

Derek Desormeaux [02:11]

We drive around here.

Christian Solorzano [02:12]

I know. There's also a few places nearby that are walkable for me, but sometimes I just choose to drive. So I get it. Yeah. I always think about. Well, the walk there will be fine, but it's always the walk back that I, that I don't want to do.

Derek Desormeaux [02:25]

And I decided to wear something thicker. I did not want to come here sweaty.

Christian Solorzano [02:30]

So how's it going?

Derek Desormeaux [02:32]

It's going good. We're running AIGA pretty well. And I would say like we're gearing up for a lot of big events coming up here soon. And it's been awesome. Next week is our paper show and it's our biggest event of the year. We're going to have that at the Cultural Center. But besides that, AIGA has been really well. We have consistent people showing up who we love.

Christian Solorzano [02:55]

So how did you end up becoming president? And I know you're not from Chicago. So you came to Chicago, you're here for a few years, you start off as a volunteer for the AIGA Chicago. And then what happens?

Derek Desormeaux [03:08]

Yeah, so I volunteered, I'd say, for almost 4 years at that point. I've been running my own event for nearly 3. I started off as just an all-rounder volunteer. I would just help out with any event that we had. And then I started up my own event, which was one of our free ones that we still have ongoing that I still run, which is Coffee and Crits. It's a free monthly critique event.

And it's kind of, it's kind of what separates itself from other critique events is that it's not one-on-one. We do group critiques like how you would in a classroom. And I prefer it that way. The one-on-one critiques are great if you want to talk to like specific people about specific things.

And I've sought that out before, but sometimes I feel like a collaborative critique just gives you a wider range of feedback in a shorter amount of time. So instead of one person talking, it's like many different people from different skill sets at the same time offering feedback. And a lot of the people who I see come, they— I see them every other month now. We have people who continuously come back and work on their stuff. And it's something that like I just naturally enjoyed.

And I was at a job where it's like I just wanted to be ready in case I wanted to apply for a certain position. And it kept me honest on my portfolio. But I did that for like 3 years. And then the previous president wanted to step down and she offered me the title. And I was like, wow, that's really scary and I don't want to do this.

And then in my brain, I'm like, if that's really scary and you don't want to do it, you better do it. You're only going to get complacent if you don't.

And so I said yes. And it's been over a year now. My first year was a blur. I'm pretty sure, as you can imagine, with all the stuff that you guys do. And now we're going over on my second annual running of our biggest event of the year. And I feel like I got a lot of the reins down now.

Christian Solorzano [05:11]

Yeah. Yeah. And how'd you get into design? I know you mentioned earlier before we started recording that you originally did not want to go into graphic design.

Derek Desormeaux [05:19]

Yeah. So I originally wanted to work as a concept artist or a comic book artist. I was into illustration my entire life. Like many people my age, I grew up watching anime, cartoons, etc., and tons of video games. And so I went to community college and then I transferred to an art school and I was an illustration major. And then I took an interaction design class because I was taking some digital media classes and then a typography class. And I realized, oh, I really like design.

And I just looked at kind of how the fields for comic book artists and concept artists were evolving. And I'm like, this is something that I know I'll be doing no matter what job I have. And I might as well take advantage of this opportunity to learn something I don't know. And so I switched to being a graphic design major.

Christian Solorzano [06:14]

Okay. And do you recall your first memory of creating something for the first time as a kid? What were some of the things that you liked making when you were a child?

Derek Desormeaux [06:22]

Yeah. So I grew up playing card games and my friends and I would draw our own custom cards. And that was probably like the first real thing that we were all doing. Of course, like the cards didn't make sense. Everything had infinite attack points, etc. But we were just dumb kids. But like after that, it was just tons of fan art. Like I feel like every person my age during that time they were watching cartoons and wanted to draw their own Batman, Goku, etc.

And that's what got me into art.

Christian Solorzano [06:54]

So those are some of your influences. And did you have any sense of understanding as a child that this is something that you'd want to do as an adult?

Derek Desormeaux [07:03]

It wasn't really until middle school I thought of an art career. I was reading this one comic about making comics, ironically enough. And it was coming out in a magazine that I read that would publish comics every 2 months. And it kind of broke down the whole process of working in that particular magazine. The series is called Baku Man, and it showed me that art could be a job. I was from a really small town in Michigan, and most people did trade work as their jobs.

And so it was either like working as a mechanic, working in a factory. And so as a child, that was probably the first time I saw— Art being a full-time career was through a comic book. And so I just, took more art classes, and by senior year of high school, I was in an AP art class.

Christian Solorzano [07:49]

And do you, do you did you have any interests that would be maybe be considered to be not necessarily related to design that were also kind of influencing your practice? Was there anything else that was percolating in your environment that you—

Derek Desormeaux [08:06]

Yeah, I would have to say it's like tabletop RPGs. Okay, that was a big thing for me growing up. I had a lot of fun, like my friends and I would play like alternative formats of games, or we would play Dungeons and Dragons, and that was just like a creative outlet for me, which kind of made me want to get into being a concept artist or in game design in general.

When I decided to go for higher education because I enjoyed the kind of psychology of it. And that was why, when I first took my first graphic design classes, I realized it tapped into a bit of that element. There's a lot of elements that are in game design or designing for a game that overlap with graphic design. And that's what just made me want to dig deeper into it.

Christian Solorzano [08:50]

Okay. And you, at what point do you decide to move to Chicago?

Derek Desormeaux [08:54]

Yeah. So at that point, I've been working as a designer for about 2 and a half years in Michigan. So I was in Grand Rapids beforehand. I was working at an agency. I was doing a bit of motion design and production design for them. And I just looked around the area at the time and there wasn't very much upward mobility. And my partner at the time was really interested in moving to Chicago. And so we just made the leap and moved down here.

And I was lucky that my job was remote. And so the move was fairly easy. And yeah, I don't regret it. It's been amazing ever since we moved here.

Christian Solorzano [09:33]

And did you grow up coming to— did you grow up coming to Chicago regularly? Okay.

Derek Desormeaux [09:37]

I didn't leave the state until I was 18, to be honest with you.

Christian Solorzano [09:40]

So what's your first impression coming to a city like Chicago? What are some of the first observations that you made?

Derek Desormeaux [09:46]

Yeah, this is going to sound really nerdy. My first observation is, wow, this really does look like Batman: The Animated Series. That was, that was like my main impression of it growing up. Oh yeah, this city is based off of a lot of the Art Deco architecture and yeah. And I was like, oh yeah, that's what that was based off of. A lot less gargoyles than what's in the cartoon.

But the architecture tour was one of the first things that we did when we moved here. And I think the city's awesome. So I'm from a very small town in Michigan and I drove here ironically, but being in an area where it's not as walkable to an area that's more walkable just changes your life. You're a lot more positive to be around. I feel like you could just go to a coffee shop, go shopping everywhere. It's something I wouldn't trade away.

I joke with my friends like, you'll never get me back in Michigan again.

Christian Solorzano [10:31]

Yeah. So how often do you go back to Michigan?

Derek Desormeaux [10:33]

I would say probably 5 to 6 times a year. Mostly for family.

Christian Solorzano [10:39]

Okay. And when you go back there, do you still feel, do you feel a sense of pride being from Michigan or what's your relationship now to being a Chicagoan and also being—

Derek Desormeaux [10:50]

I'd have to say like the things that I love about Michigan, you definitely can't replicate them here in Chicago. In Michigan, you're always 20 minutes from a lake. Nature, if you love nature, it is the best place to be. Some of my best summer memories were camping, going out to the lake. My family owned a boat at one time and that was nice.

But yeah, here in Chicago, it's definitely, you're closer to everything that, personally for me, like when I moved here, I found out every band I ever loved is gonna stop here in Chicago and I don't have to drive anywhere to see them anymore.

But you do miss some of the quietness up there. I wasn't in the UP, but I was very northern Michigan, very small town. And yeah, nothing really happens up there. And that's a double-edged sword. You don't have to worry about anything happening, but then nothing's happening.

Christian Solorzano [11:40]

What kind of student were you when you were coming of age?

Derek Desormeaux [11:44]

Yeah, in high school and college, I would say complete opposites. High school, I was more focused on doing personal, like art or playing with my friends. And then in college, it was complete opposite. I feel like that's when I actually locked in. And it was mostly because the onus is on you. And that, and I was taking classes I actually wanted to. I took tons of art classes at my community college.

And then when I got to art school, which I went to in Grand Rapids, you're paying more for your classes. And, I don't come from— I would say I come from more of a humble background. So to me, being able to go to college was a privilege. And so I kind of just took everything more serious after that.

Christian Solorzano [12:24]

Yeah. And you come to Chicago and to me, it seems like one of the first things that you did was seek community and find a space to be a part of and get involved in and whatnot. So I want to spend some time today talking about community because you're a person that is in Chicago that plays a big role and bringing people together and shaping community. And from what I'm hearing, it seems like you are— you're a people person.

Is that a correct assumption that you're a people person? Okay.

Derek Desormeaux [12:54]

Yeah. I feel like you can't be in the creative industry and be shy.

You have to, whether you like it or not. Like I mentioned before to you that I used to want to be in like more of the traditional art field, like illustration or concept art. My first classes, one of our assignments was selling art at a wine walk. And that was when I like, I, it was a crazy assignment to do, but our teacher said like, yeah, if you want to be successful as a creative, you have to talk to people.

Christian Solorzano [13:20]

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's something that isn't emphasized enough in my opinion. Yeah. In education, which is, which in my opinion seems to be such a huge detriment to a creative's career is the inability of being able to like defend an idea or talk about it.

Derek Desormeaux [13:35]

Or at least just like make it accessible, like one of the things that, I try to do is speak in layman's terms. I do feel like, there is a double-edged sword to that where it's like you're kind of lowering the barrier to entry to the topic. But, and, sometimes you want that to be seen as an expert. But for me, I work with a lot of different people for my job.

And if I use specific, oh, we need more leading on this, or this color makes this, and a lot of the time it's just, kind of getting down to the grassroots of the conversation with them and be like, this is why I'm doing this and this is why. And usually they end up meeting a middle ground that we understand.

And it was kind of the same way when I was selling art at that wine walk, like no matter how good my drawing was, unless somebody could relate to it in something they understand, they were not going to buy the idea.

Christian Solorzano [14:25]

Yeah. So talk to us about your introduction into the Chicago design community. And what it was like and today, why, what's the value that you see in community?

Derek Desormeaux [14:39]

Yeah. So my first introduction, I went to what is considered one of like our entry-level events at AIGA Chicago is Ask and Give. And that event was designed where you show up, you can ask any question you want, or you can give anything that you found out recently to the public, kind of like an open mic. And it was very welcoming. Several people who I met at that first event, I still see and hang out with.

And, being new to Chicago, working remote, you're kind of like isolating yourself just right out the gate. But yeah, and I also just learned since being in art school that I've only ever gotten better by being surrounded by people who are a bit ambitious and wanting to improve their skills. And so I just knew, in this career, you're kind of always on a treadmill. And if you don't have people around you to keep you motivated, you're just going to fall off.

And I just knew that me as a person, I only grow kind of like socially. It was the best thing for me. Otherwise, I'd be kind of like alone in my apartment just wondering what's going on.

Christian Solorzano [15:48]

And I'm going to ask you a question that is Maybe that if someone asked me the question, I would find it a little bit awkward. Okay, go for it. But how do you, as being a leader of an organization, how do you think people see you?

Derek Desormeaux [16:03]

Yeah, it's honestly very multilayered, especially since in this organization we do have a bit of like roles. Like there is the president, there are people on the board, etc. But the thing is about our chapter is everybody does everything. And so oftentimes, so we have specific events that go on throughout the year. Those are run by very specific people and committees. And when I show up to their events, I am helping them and I let them run their events however they want.

And they get to pick the speakers, the location, as long as it fits within the right budget. And so what often what happens at these events I'm doing a lot of the stuff just to aid that person and not people even know that I'm the president at the event. So I'll be checking in tickets. And it is very interesting when you notice that social dynamic of like, oh, the current chapter president was the one who was taking our tickets or who was bringing in the food.

And so it does create a bit of a dynamic once like they find out. And it kind of makes me sometimes a bit uncomfortable because it's like, for me, this is a volunteer role.

Christian Solorzano [17:11]

?

Derek Desormeaux [17:13]

I'm just trying to leave the chapter in a better spot than where I got it.

And mostly just have the people who are volunteering, who do care, be able to thrive. So it's like making sure they're enabled to have the best possible event possible. And I would say like this chapter thrives on those people and not just myself. And it's definitely a team effort. Like I wouldn't feel comfortable like having everything even on my shoulders because it's just like I have my blind spots as a leader and letting them take those reins. I feel like creates a better event.

It creates more organic interactions. Like the speakers are sourced from that person's interests or the location is picked from that person's network. And I just feel like it makes it feel more natural to the city? Because it's like even within the org, one person can't meet everybody's needs.

Christian Solorzano [18:10]

Yeah. So today, what would you say is the makeup of your organization?

Derek Desormeaux [18:15]

Yeah. As far as far as roles. Yeah, we definitely have the standard president, secretary, treasurer, but we also have what I like to call like our main board members who are kind of like in more of like a higher tiered status. And those board members run all of our different events. And then we have people under them who are in a secondary tier who help them out with some admin stuff.

And then we have our regular volunteers who help out at the event, welcome people in, make it, like I would say, more comfortable there. And that's kind of the structure, but it's also very nonlinear. A lot of people like myself, I started out as just a regular volunteer. But if you have an event idea, you're able to show off that you can execute it, we'll keep it open.

So like when my event started, I got a venue, I knew how it wanted to operate, and it just went off and it fit within the board's budget. And so now 3 years later, I'm still doing this event.

I kind of would rather keep it that way. If some events have to stay around forever because everyone loves them, that's awesome. But if some events naturally, I would say, fade over time, then we'll let them because we kind of just want to keep it adaptable to where the community is.

Christian Solorzano [19:39]

And with your organization, with AIGA, how much oversight do you get from the parent AIGA?

Derek Desormeaux [19:48]

Yeah. So I would say the individual chapters get a lot of agency. There still are things that we have to, I would say, promote because we are AIGA, like the membership. We still have to follow some like NAV National's brand guides, which is where it's like we have to delineate ourselves as AIGA Chicago, not just AIGA. We have to attend a lot of the meetings that we do every month. We are integrated into their communication systems.

So if national wants to do a conference or they have something that they have going on, it'll kind of automatically, or they'll ask us to implement that. And it's nice in some regards. National kind of sometimes has separate goals than the chapters, and that's kind of how it's been historically. The chapters actually started up because AIJA national wasn't able to fill all the holes that they needed to.

Christian Solorzano [20:42]

Got it. I always find it really fascinating how chapters function under one parent organization. And I'm assuming that every city probably has its own DNA and their own way of doing things, but I feel like there's probably still a consistent framework that needs to be.

Derek Desormeaux [21:00]

There is some, but it's your different audiences and different cultures. And not every chapter should follow what another one's doing. I interact with AIJ Detroit. They come to a lot of our events. They're really nice people. But, as someone from Michigan, the economy, especially the creative economy in Detroit, is very different than Chicago. And they have just different designers there.

But still doesn't mean that AIGA Chicago isn't a strong design community. They're amazing. They do a month-long design event there. And I've been meaning to get back over there because I have family on that end of Michigan. But yeah, I just feel like there is uniformity, but I feel like every chapter has adapted, especially after COVID, to just being their own ship.

Christian Solorzano [21:49]

Yeah. One of the things that I, that I always think about is when it comes to Chicago design, I, the thing that sometimes keeps me up at night is how do we push our craft and how do we push our industry forward?

Derek Desormeaux [22:05]

Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [22:05]

Because I think when it comes to design, Chicago, in my opinion, today is never in the conversation with other big cities like in New York or like in LA, even though there's really amazing work that's coming out of the city. So for you personally, what do you feel is the biggest motivator for doing what you're doing, aside from bringing people together? But what kind of legacy do you imagine that you'd want to leave behind with the work that you're doing?

Derek Desormeaux [22:33]

Yeah, I would have to say it's really tied to the quality of work life for designers. For me, I feel like you can't thrive as a professional without a healthy community vocationally backing each other up. And that's what drew me initially to AIGA. They had a history of wanting to respect the craft and empower designers, which is why you can get the contract for free on the website.

But I feel like me personally, what I want to do is just make sure that each individual designer, at least when they're interacting with our chapter, has access to tools to make their work life better, which is basically design is a very hard profession to fight for essential or different labor rights for. It's very disseminated. It's very asynchronous as a profession. And if you did want to improve your working conditions, you're better off sometimes finding a new job than improving your current conditions.

And I just think that is not a sustainable model for any profession. And I just want design to be seen just like every other piece of labor. Like it's no more impactful than the guy picking up the trash. It's no more impactful than a fireman. It's a job and should be respected. And if you want to be a designer, you should have that respect.

And so as AIGA, we can't do, as a 401 nonprofit, we can't do the things that we want, that I personally would want, but we can bring people together for those things to happen. We can be that unifying source where it's, oh, AIGA has these free events going on every month. It's a great excuse for me to meet people who want to support my cause or get advice.

Christian Solorzano [24:20]

And the thing about that I like that you were saying is that design is no different than being a fireman or any sort of other profession. And I think in general, the arts tend to be the thing that people turn to most when there is ever some— whenever there's some sort of catastrophe in the world. And I think design shapes so much of culture. You can't escape it. It's everywhere.

Yeah, I do notice that even in situations that I find myself in when I'm in the room with stakeholders that are making big decisions, design sometimes gets framed as an accessory or as this add-on. So the fact that you're advocating for design as being recognized as something that is much more than what it deserves to be, I think is really important.

Derek Desormeaux [25:04]

It's tough. We live in such a quantifiable world, right? And you can't quantify people's emotions.

And what's crazy though is like, no matter how much market research you do, random trends pop off and you can't predict them. It is either the current culture or it's not. And you can't quantify those things. Sure, you can get sales numbers, but there's a reason why, at least when I was growing up, teenagers would save Monster cans in their room because it made them feel yeah. There is like a certain unspoken factor that happens when you make something that someone gets emotionally attached to.

And in those rooms when the decisions are being made, you can't put that on a spreadsheet. You can't accurately bill out what that experience means to someone. And because it can't be put into some type of accounting software somewhere, they deem it as less important and more of an afterthought. And that's what I've personally found in my career.

Neither though, all of those people making those decisions, they could tell you their favorite movie, they could tell you their favorite book, and they sometimes couldn't even tell you why. But all of those decisions were kind of made for them in a creative room where they weren't there.

Christian Solorzano [26:23]

What's the most rewarding aspect of the design process?

Derek Desormeaux [26:26]

Yeah, I think it's, for me, it's that struggle in between. I feel like if you don't enjoy ideating, design is probably not going to be your favorite profession. I like all of those millions of failures that it takes to get to something that you want. And I also like the endless ability of you're never done learning.

And I know sometimes that can feel overwhelming. I constantly meet designers who feel like they have to be a one-person agency. But for me, that's what drew me to art. There was just like an endless amount of things you could learn and study, and you have to learn about things to get better at them. I remember back when I was trying to teach myself to be an illustrator, I was studying Egyptian fashion because I wanted to draw Egyptian concept art.

And I had to learn about the history of like how this fabric was made and how this was made. And design still sends me on those fun tangents and I pull those back into my work. And I just feel like that aspect of it is the most fun. Sure, there's a finished product, project, but for me, when I'm thinking back on a project, it's those 7 PM or like midnight times of me working on something. And I'm like, I'm not done yet and I'm having fun.

Christian Solorzano [27:45]

It's so great. It's such a, exhilarating parts, but also it could be torture. But it's worth it.

And I feel so honored to be able to say I work in a profession that allows me to be playing with new technology, to be thinking about color, to be doing research, to be talking. To me, it's such a gift that we have to be able to, for example, right now, to be sitting across each other Having a conversation about something that we both share in common despite our backgrounds being different or us, growing up differently or whatever. I just love that so much.

And kind of like what you were saying about your role as presidents, being— meaning that it's sort of you're going to do whatever needs to be done, whether it's checking people in or supporting people in however they need— however way they need to be supported. I do find that positions like the ones that you and I are both in—

It's such a cool responsibility. And I think about it as we're in service to the people that are here in Chicago. And it's so cool. I just love it so much.

Derek Desormeaux [28:59]

And to bounce off of what you just said, one of my most rewarding experiences in the short time that I've been a part of this chapter is that I have seen people's careers from when they were a student to now being a junior designer. And then to say, hey, if it wasn't for you continuously doing this, I don't know where I'd be. We have a volunteer on our board and he started coming to Coffee and Crits as a student during his second year.

And then after that first year, he joined our board and now he's working as a professional after graduating. And I couldn't be any prouder of him. And he's just one of many people that I've seen start off, like I've met them at an intern and now they're a junior designer. I just feel like that's something you can't trade in for anything. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [29:45]

And that's something that you also can't put on a spreadsheet. You can't write, we're going to have 10 people.

Derek Desormeaux [29:51]

It's unquantifiable.

Christian Solorzano [29:53]

Exactly. And to me, that's the best reward for all of this kind of stuff. And when we were talking before we started recording, we were talking about metrics when it comes to things like a podcast. And one of the reasons why I don't care about, listens and all that kind of stuff is because sometimes someone telling me, hey, I listened to your thing and I really like what that person was saying, is much more meaningful than like just random numbers like on a stupid graph.

Derek Desormeaux [30:20]

And they change it all the time. And so you might as well not drive yourself crazy focusing on it unless you are being paid to do so.

Christian Solorzano [30:26]

Yeah. So like the fact that, doing a podcast for X number of years has led me to, be sitting across from you talking to you. To me, that's like the greatest reward. And it means more than whatever dashboard can tell me. So.

Derek Desormeaux [30:41]

Yeah. You mean you're not going to find your meaning in life in Salesforce?

Christian Solorzano [30:44]

No.

Derek Desormeaux [30:45]

Dang.

Christian Solorzano [30:45]

Yeah. To be honest with you, to this day, I don't really understand what Salesforce does. I know that it does everything, but I don't know what that even means.

Derek Desormeaux [30:53]

From what I've heard from the people I've met in sales is that Salesforce is the greatest piece of friction fiction ever made. It is, it is it can be accurate, but it is definitely inflated from what I've heard. But I don't know. I, one of the reasons why I went into the arts was to not be in a spreadsheet. I do find myself more in them now professionally and volunteer-wise.

I just get cross-eyed and I would rather be lost in fonts, looking for the right fonts for hours than having to write a formula. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [31:26]

Yeah. When I started my current job, one of the first projects that I, that I had to do was to work on a Salesforce project. And I was asked to look at a dashboard and like reskin it and like make adjustments to it and, do that thing. And for like the first month or so, I thought that it was a prank because I was like, there is no way that this is a thing people use.

And I was like, maybe this is like they're testing me and they want to see if I will call them out on it. Maybe it's like some psychological test and they're waiting for me to say like, this makes no sense. But then, years passed and I'm like, no, this is a real thing that people use. And I still don't understand Salesforce.

Derek Desormeaux [32:13]

I know it was the same way when I found out how important doing presentation design was in your profession. I thought like, oh, we're not just doing all these amazing ads that I saw in my graphic design history class, or that's in SCA magazine. We have to do— okay, this is what I'm— which I actually start to enjoy doing those now. But it's just so funny how like when you enter these professions, you touch things you never thought you would.

Christian Solorzano [32:40]

Yeah. And to me, that's both the beauty of design and also, sometimes you're touching things and you're like, I never want to touch this ever again.

Derek Desormeaux [32:52]

Yes, definitely.

Christian Solorzano [32:53]

Yeah. To me, the thing that I despise most, it's spreadsheets and like data and numbers and Word documents that are badly formatted.

Derek Desormeaux [33:03]

Yep. Yeah. I feel like having to design in Word is every designer's worst nightmare, but sadly, that's why it's a job.

Christian Solorzano [33:12]

But then to your point earlier, sometimes when you when you're able to make a Word document look good, you're like, all right, that feels pretty awesome.

Derek Desormeaux [33:19]

The limitations, like it's that frustration. Like I remember having to create my first type of like template for a presentation, and I had very limited access with Microsoft PowerPoint at that time. And now I'm like, I'm a wizard in it now. Like I can just knock it out because I got requested it so much.

Christian Solorzano [33:37]

So today you work, you work for Workday. And Workday is a very techie place. I've used Workday. A lot of people probably have used Workday.

Derek Desormeaux [33:50]

All the students, they always tell me their very opinionated thoughts on Workday every time we host an event, and I'm right there with them.

Christian Solorzano [33:58]

So how does someone that enjoyed playing cards with his friends and enjoyed drawing characters and how does that person find themselves at a place like Workday where you're probably working with, you're probably put in situations that maybe you would have not imagined being in?

Derek Desormeaux [34:19]

Yeah. And I think what led me to it is, so before this role, I was at a company called StockX and they were technically a tech company and it was mostly for high-end fashion and selling sneakers. And at that point, I was kind of seeking more of a challenge. And when I was offered the Workday role, you go from kind of solving just a design problem to a system problem at that point. And you are dealing with highly technical problems. So I work with consultants.

I work with tons of different forms of on our team that need enablement. And so you end up going from kind of just, you're the person who's there to make something look good, to you have to talk to a bajillion different stakeholders and you have to figure out a system and then not only make it look good, but make it functional and long-lasting. And I realized that's one skill set I wanted to get under my belt before I moved up in my design career.

Because no matter where you are in leadership, you have to be able to be a systems thinker. You have to be able to diagnose problems or at least be able to find out the skeleton of what you want to make before you solve it.

Christian Solorzano [35:41]

So you said the word enablement, which is a word that I think I hear a lot lately, which is— so explain to us when you, when you mention enablement, what do you mean by that? Because yeah. Yeah.

Derek Desormeaux [35:56]

So most recently I had to build an internal platform for our product to use and it had to live on after I made it. And it's very similar to how when designers hand off a website to a client, I had to teach them how to edit things, how to work within the template I designed them.

I had to teach them how and why things were built a certain way and how to kind of protect the legacy because this internal platform that I built, they tried to build ones like before in the past.

And they kind of went out in the dust. And a lot of the problems stemmed from lack of maintenance, being outdated, and honestly, the design making them not proud enough to want to take care of it. It felt like a forgotten PTA website, the past ones they've used when I was doing like a content collections, because I wanted to look at all the ones they made beforehand.

And so like a lot of it was me doing a workshop with all the shareholders who one were on the kickoff of the project, but also who were going to maintain it after and building out an internal user guide and designing that out kind of more along the lines of like documentation. And it was very interesting and it tested a lot of the skills I wanted to grow in.

Because like even now, like with AIJ Chicago, like we'll bring on volunteers and other than just throwing them like the style guide for a certain event that we run, I have to teach them how to use tools that we use, like how to use a social media publishing software, how to email people correctly, where are templates, and it's like that leadership admin that I've gotten a lot more under my belt while I've been there.

Christian Solorzano [37:44]

Okay. And to me, that's such a valuable skill to have as a designer. Yeah. And even though I'm sure there's days in your, in your professional life that you just can't stand, there is a big reward aspect, which is that you're learning things that maybe you wouldn't have learned in a traditional, design agency.

Derek Desormeaux [38:07]

And it's definitely a job where it's like, you have to love talking to people. And, I did customer service for years. I worked all through college in customer service. And that trained me to be a designer sometimes better than some of my classes. You're thrown into unpredictable scenarios and you have to be polite and manage it. And I use that every day. I know social skills have done me, has allowed me to execute better work than just making good work.

You have to kind of win them over in the hallway before the meeting, before it even begins. And so like part of that enablement when I was building out that project was meeting with every person individually and letting them get how they felt about the project out to me and feel heard. And then kind of answering some of those objections early before the meeting. And, I feel like I was able to create something that people are actually proud of now and they love to use.

Christian Solorzano [39:08]

Yeah. And I'm sure a lot of that leadership that you're learning is brought— is influencing AIGA Chicago. Yeah. Yeah. I always say that I work for a very corporate consulting firm. And even though I tend to complain a lot about the stuff that I do there, I do find that the way that my advantage is that I have that background that I've learned and that enables me to, do, figure out how to like plan and organize and all that kind of stuff.

Derek Desormeaux [39:39]

I think it's a great skill. And I would say like we were talking about earlier about before this all started about how schools versus the professional world are. But I would feel like design school did do one thing that I feel like was trained into me was that it teaches you to ask questions and to never kind of stop those trails of questions. And knowing the why before you make something has saved me more time than just getting started on it right away.

Christian Solorzano [40:10]

Yeah. So today, what are some questions that you find yourself asking?

Derek Desormeaux [40:13]

Like generally about either my work or—

Christian Solorzano [40:16]

Just in general, like what's a question, like some question that keeps you up at night? Or, and it could be a personal question, existential question, but what do you, when your mind is just drifting, what do you find yourself returning to?

Derek Desormeaux [40:30]

Yeah, well, we kind of joked before this podcast that I kind of am a bit of a pessimistic thinker, but for me, it's just like the sustainability of everything. I feel like my career started in a very unstable time. I, I've been working as a designer since 2019, which, as everybody knows, 2019 going into 2020 was not a smooth transition into anything. And that was the time where my, I was at the earliest, greenest side of my career.

And every institution, including the AIGA, was not functioning the way it always had been. And now I feel like it's gotten even more unstable. And so as a designer, I feel like we all want things to be organized and to work when we're done with the project.

We know it won't be perfect. But we have a goal in mind that we want it to achieve for that state in time. And so it kind of really does rack my brain when you look out the window and it's not that. And I feel like everything's in question now in our careers. And it's part of the reason why I feel like we do need more community because in times when things were uncertain, it wasn't just one person that solved anything.

Christian Solorzano [41:45]

Yeah. It was a group of people working on it yeah, and I do find that with all this technology, like artificial intelligence, that it's making it so easy for us to not have to talk with one another.

Because I can go on my computer and do a project on my own with zero collaboration and never have the need to like talk with someone sitting next to me. So I do feel that community, to your point, and just like this human exchange is going to be a huge— I don't want to say— let's see, how do I say it? It's just going to get a little bit more special and meaningful.

And I think talking and having a conversation with someone and making eye contact is going to be this almost like a forgotten craft of conversation. And I try to talk to that, talk with my students about that, because a lot of them are just growing up in this day and age where they can just be on the computer all day and never have to.

Derek Desormeaux [42:47]

And even those who do walk out with, I would say, average social skills, there's a thing that I've noticed with the internet where it's made people think in pluralities, where it's like, just movies, for example, right? Online discourse. It's either that movie was mid or it was hype. There was no in-between. There was no like, okay, the movie wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed it for X, Y, and Z. It's either you are on the trend of liking it or hating it.

And it's just really diminished a lot of conversations into that. And it's very hard for anything productive. And then when you go to seek out information on the internet, it feels like it's all bloat. Everything's SEO optimized.

It takes you 20 minutes to get down to what you actually wanted to read in an article. And so it's just I feel like it's created this era of not only people being hyperbolic, but impatience. And I sometimes worry about that. But then like, and I'm pretty sure you feel the same way, in my volunteer work, I meet a lot of really ambitious young people that have amazing social skills who are just 10 out of 10, way better than I was in college.

And you meet them and you're like, oh no, they're it's just, is it widespread? Is it not? It makes me doubt my assumptions after being online. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [44:08]

I do get a sense that there is— young people give me a lot of hope sometimes because to your point, sometimes they will be very ambitious and they're great at the social part of things. And I'm like, all right, we're going to be fine. And then sometimes it's like the complete opposite. I'm like, damn it, we're screwed.

Derek Desormeaux [44:28]

Yeah, and it's a mixed thing. And then I also feel like we're just— they have— because I'm turning 30 this year, kids would call me Unc, but my nephew does. And there's just this relationship that him and I have. We went to go see the Godzilla movie recently. It was Godzilla vs. Kong, right up there with any other great movie. But him and I were talking about it and he was referring to certain parts as filler.

And I was like, you mean the scenes with character development? And he's like, what's that? And so it was just— he's 13. He's a kid. All he cares about is just playing outside and having fun. But I'm like, is this my first kids these days moment where I'm like, we weren't even watching a highbrow movie with a lot of talking.

But I ultimately just think to myself, I'm like, no, these kids just they're always gonna grow up valuing something different because they're picking up what was left behind for them. And they're just adapting.

And that's what I think about, like back to like what I brought up with like sustainability, right? Like how efficiently is that torch being passed? How thought out is it being? And so it's like for them, it's like, yeah, they can be the most ambitious in the world and that gives me hope. But sometimes, that was just the circumstances that someone was given and that's who they are now.

Christian Solorzano [45:55]

Yeah. And what gives you hope?

Derek Desormeaux [45:58]

Yeah, honestly, that's a deep question that I don't know if I could answer, but I would feel like for me it's just the people in my life. Okay. I have a, I have a very skeptical view on how people operate. And I feel like it's a very, this is a very deep conversation for a podcast about, like design and everything. But design is human nature in a way.

But I don't know, I do meet people and I have looked in the course of history, people have overcome a lot of terrible things. And I'm just hoping that we're just one more footnote in that story of people overcoming a lot of terrible things.

Christian Solorzano [46:36]

I wrote down design, human nature equals design, because I mean, that's true. Every micro decision that we make is a form of design.

Derek Desormeaux [46:44]

And I would even say, going kind of into deeper of that, that's kind of how I view it, as a humanities almost. I feel like a piece of design is no— and you could examine it through art history's lens or even a movie reception writing lens. But a lot of design is that moment in time describing something that someone wanted to do and their motivations. And it's no different than a poem or a book, and it could be dissected in many different ways.

And you see that on social media a lot too. I feel like it's designed as part of the common discourse, whether people know they're talking about it or not.

Christian Solorzano [47:24]

Before we started recording, I was asking you about your YouTube consumption. And you mentioned being into video essays. I love video essays. What are some of the video essays that you that you watch?

Derek Desormeaux [47:35]

It's a breakdown of like anything on video games. I'm a big fan of like any video essay on Dark Souls and the design decisions or lore about those games. I could listen to some of those for hours. Sometimes it's like a breakdown of a certain video game. I was watching one recently on Fear and Hunger, which is an indie game that was made on RPG Maker and all the decisions that got put into that.

And I just find like them relaxing to listen to and work to and very inspirational. Okay.

Christian Solorzano [48:09]

My video essays are someone smoking a cigarette and talking about life. A girl in her car smoking a cigarette while it's raining and she's talking about why she started smoking or her parents or something.

Derek Desormeaux [48:23]

I get that on TikTok and they're usually like 12-part TikToks. Storytimes.

Christian Solorzano [48:28]

Yeah. There is one video essay, this guy who has this, I forget his name, but he has this philosophy channel and he has a big beard. He looks like Santa Claus and he just smokes a pipe.

Derek Desormeaux [48:40]

That's so funny.

Christian Solorzano [48:41]

And he just talks about things like very profound things. And it's pretty sweet.

Derek Desormeaux [48:48]

Oh, that's awesome.

Christian Solorzano [48:49]

So the other thing that we're talking a lot about, we're talking about hope, we're talking about human nature, we're talking about design. And I think the event that you guys are having next week, the paper show, is a perfect capsule of design and print coming together to create these artifacts that have the possibility of outliving us if they're taken care of and stored properly and all that.

Derek Desormeaux [49:21]

And the pages don't go yellow. Exactly.

Christian Solorzano [49:24]

All these conditions. But I want to talk about the paper show and what I imagine the paper show must be so difficult to put together. And in Chicago, paper shows have been around for decades and they're just a part of Chicago's culture. And AIGA Chicago wasn't doing paper shows for a while. And then most recently, I think this is year 3.

Derek Desormeaux [49:44]

Yep, our 3rd year.

Christian Solorzano [49:45]

Our 3rd year since they've been back. So talk to us about the paper show and your involvement. Behind the scenes, tell us some of the drama. Yes.

Derek Desormeaux [49:57]

Yes. So it is a 3-man operation with a bit of extra help from other members of the chapter and board at the same time. The 3 people who I want to thank right out the gate who are amazing. One is Hannah Goldberg. She is our operations admin person who helped us with the paper mills, helped us with our venue. She is amazing. And this wouldn't happen without her. And all of her organizing.

And then Katrina Tree, she is the mastermind behind the brand design, brand campaign for the paper show. Her and I have been working together on the social media strategy and getting everything out. But without her amazing design work, which is— this is her second year in a row designing— it would not do what it did. And it was performing extremely well.

I know we talked about comparing design performance, but I just felt like her designs, especially since it was an evolution of last year's, it really tapped into something that I feel us designers all love where it's like, you meet a designer, you have to almost resist the urge to put a paper texture on a design these days. And that was what she kind of leaned into was that inkling that we all have where like we miss printing stuff out.

And I feel like the design language she picked this time really pulled into that, especially with these really strong CMYK colors. I thank her all the time for the work she does. Same thing for Hannah. This couldn't have happened without them. But the big muscle of like what I did besides doing the social media strategy, which I got my start doing social media in design, was a lot of like the admin stuff. It was a lot of emails.

These things do not happen without being an email warrior and reaching out to people and having to resend the exact same email because they didn't read the one you sent 3 chains up. It was a lot of like coordinating, going back and forth between a storage unit for our VIP bags, and just having to kind of have faith that this event went on well last year and it'll be even better next year.

Christian Solorzano [52:03]

Okay. And how do you see paper being an almost vital part of yeah, the moment today. We live in this moment where, a lot of the work that you're doing, let's say with Workday and the stuff that I'm doing as well, a lot of it is digital. And if the computer dies, it's gone. There's nothing tangible that we can touch. And I think the beauty of paper is that you can preserve it. Yeah.

Derek Desormeaux [52:30]

And I would say like you're tapping right into kind of what made me want to come to these. So I used to go to paper shows as a student, and sometimes they wouldn't give paper samples to students because you're not a potential client. And I remember being steered away by one of a paper mill, and now that I'm running it, I always joke that it's just my excuse to steal all the free samples I want.

But I'm a huge print lover. I have a huge book collection, tons of art books, tons of comic books, tons of nonfiction, fiction books. Last time I counted, I am almost at 500 books now in my entire collection. And I'm also a huge card game tabletop RPG person. And to me, print design has been an aspect of everything I've loved. All my favorite movies and TV shows are based off of books and comics. Those were print. And I read those exact same books and comics.

I can't walk into Barnes & Noble without grabbing something. I once bought a cookbook I never made anything out of because the COVID was gorgeous. Yeah. We really wanted to bring that into the paper show this year. And that's even how we selected our panelists because we're having a print panel and I wanted to kind of capture a diverse segment of what print is. So we have like, we have one of our panelists, they work at an agency that does everything in-house from design to print.

They have the whole printers facilities inside their agency. And then we have 2 designers who work in like publication design and different forms of environmental print design. So does the previous panelist, but then we're kind of throwing a curveball and we're bringing someone who is more in that tabletop zine space to give their opinion and how that affects design. And a lot of print work these days is in that tabletop zine space.

I can't open up Kickstarter without finding a new card game or finding a new comic book that's being Kickstarted. And I just felt like that tackled the wide gamut of our audience. And where it's going. Because like someone who's doing a Kickstarter is going to want to approach getting paper and quoting stuff very differently than someone who's doing it for a client through an agency. And I just felt like these people kind of technically are doing the same thing. And where is, where's that overlap?

Where does the process stop and begin? How does that affect our profession? And so I'm really excited to have that conversation because I just feel like the canned question before, what's your opinion on AI, was, is print dead? I feel like every guest designer who got brought into my college was always asked that. Where it's like, I feel like print's never been more alive than it has been before.

I often joke that my house is a fire hazard for how much print work that we have in it. I have so many books.

Christian Solorzano [55:10]

So talk to me about your, let's say, give me your top 3 most prized books that you have. If there is a fire, what are the things that you would go to save?

Derek Desormeaux [55:20]

This is a tough collection. Questions, but I have the first one. I— it would be my I don't know if you're familiar with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, but he's a— he's a— it's a manga series that aired over in Japan, and I have a huge collection of art books from this artist. And this artist for that comic has been in the Louvre, he has worked with Gucci, he has done— and I have just a very expensive art book collection of his stuff.

I would take that in a heartbeat. That's prized possession. And then a few of my Bernie Wrightson comics. He's my favorite horror artist. He's no longer with us, sadly, but he was the creator of Swamp Thing, which is my favorite DC hero. But his artwork, immaculate. I wouldn't trade it. And his inking is just something you can't replicate. And even inkers who have like tried to continue some of his work after he passed away could not even match up to his so I would take those.

And then I guess for my third answer, this is probably the toughest thing. It would probably have to be something from my card game collection because I'm a huge card game nerd. And I don't know what I'd pick. I'd probably cry while grabbing the thing that I wanted. But yeah, I just surround myself with all these, artifacts that I just— I have to say, there hasn't been, a year or a couple of months where I'm not rifling through, looking back for inspiration on any of these.

Christian Solorzano [56:46]

Yeah. And when it comes to design, I find that sometimes as designers, we tend to be very polite and we don't talk about the things about design that we don't like. But we're all very opinionated and we have our little things that just really bother us.

Derek Desormeaux [57:03]

Designers being critical of things never happened, ever.

Christian Solorzano [57:06]

So tell me, what are you the most critical of when you look around and you look at the state of design today? Yeah, what's something that you just can't stand?

Derek Desormeaux [57:14]

Yeah, I would have to say it's probably everybody forming their opinion about design from social media. I feel like— and one of my favorite content creators, ironically, he jokes about this all the time. His name is Elliot's a Cool Guy.

Christian Solorzano [57:28]

Oh, I know him.

Derek Desormeaux [57:29]

Yeah, and he riffs on those designer memes, right? But there's just like a certain pessimism that goes on, like Especially if you go on Reddit or you go on Blind talking about our industry. And I just feel like people forgot that you can still make things even if you're not paid. And I understand if that's like your main contention right now. I've been there. But like design isn't over just because a company says they will no longer pay you to do it.

And sometimes you create your own demand by doing that. We saw this with illustrators. The illustration market has long been under assault even before AI was a thing. And it's why so many of their projects are indie these days.

It's why they go to artist markets and do Kickstarters. And they wanted to do something out in the world, so they made it. And that's kind of the thing where I'm saying it's like, don't get your opinions off of social media. Create kind of your own opinion based off of your immediate access to what type of agency you have as a designer. Kind of like how you guys have your faculty magazine.

You saw a need to want to create a voice for designers here in Chicago that wasn't being reflected, or that sure, they might be posting online, but someone's only appreciating it for one second. You wanted to give something for someone to take home and look through. And that's what I mean. It's like where there's a problem in the world as a designer, this is your chance to kind of fill that gap.

Gap with your work, or even just for yourself. I used to post my illustration work on Instagram, and now I don't. I just do it for myself. I have tons of canvases and saved files and printed out things that I've done that will just only be for me because I wanted to make that and I didn't feel the need to share with someone.

Christian Solorzano [59:18]

Yeah, and it feels good sometimes to not feel the obligation to share it because sometimes you share it and then you'd start thinking about how many people are liking it. And sometimes the things for— I've had conversations with some friends and they tell me that the things that they put the most effort in sometimes tend to be the things that get the less, the least amount of engagement. And then the careless stuff that they post gets more likes. And I find it to be so ironic.

Derek Desormeaux [59:44]

And also when you do that, you start making content for an algorithm and not you. And that's when you lose your voice. Like a lot of like the art that we look back to that came out in the '80s or the '90s, those were just based off of speculative— there was no high amount of data for whether something would succeed or not. A lot more, even in music, they would take more risks because they just didn't know what would work or what wouldn't sometimes.

And I feel like we lost a bit of that magic having to rely on metrics. And it's like, just make the thing that you want. Some of my favorite comics got started out as joke zine, and they took off.

Christian Solorzano [60:27]

I remember in the past I would take photographs and I would, I would look at something out in the world and I would be like, oh, this would look good in my Instagram feed. And I, and I don't do that anymore. And I feel like I'm, I am producing in my life right now is the moment where I'm producing the most amount of design work, but I'm not sharing it anywhere. And I feel.

And I'll share with you came over and I was sharing stuff on my computer. And back to my point about these kind of things being more meaningful is I'd rather sit next to someone and share with them what I'm working on than to like post it online for people to see.

Derek Desormeaux [61:05]

Yeah. And that was like what drew me to like going to and making like friends right when I moved here to Chicago is like, you're never going to get that true organic growth just posting and not talking to anybody. And, you could replicate it, come up through Discords. I know a lot of art Discords exist out there, but just being able to, jam out with someone and make some cool stuff in a coffee shop for a few hours, you can't trade that away.

Christian Solorzano [61:32]

Yeah. Yeah. And I think you and I live so close to each other and it'd be nice to maybe bring some of that to this neighborhood.

Derek Desormeaux [61:40]

That'd be awesome.

Christian Solorzano [61:41]

We can start a new club.

That'd be fun. So we've been talking for a while now, and I've, and I've asked— I've gone through all of my list of questions, but I do I do have some questions that were triggered while we were talking. And I want to know, what are some of the things that you're drawing inspiration from today? What are you listening to? I know you mentioned earlier that Chicago is one of those places where you didn't have to go anywhere to, see your favorite band.

Because they all come through here. So music-wise, what do you find yourself listening to?

Derek Desormeaux [62:14]

A lot of metal music. That is my— it rattles something in my brain. The last band that I went to see live was Hanabay. And they are a Japanese metal band and they dress all in Harajuku fashion.

And they're just this small band of these 4 Japanese girls and they can command a room and they're awesome. Yeah, I would have to say metal music has been like my biggest inspiration, but that's also because I grew up like kind of like stealing glances at heavy metal magazines that my uncle had or that were at a public library. And so like for me, like metal music is just kind of like me tapping back into that.

Christian Solorzano [62:53]

Metal music is great. I also grew up with it. Like I grew up listening to metal music and there's still like, when I was younger, I had a whole attire. That signaled like this person listens to metal. And I sometimes contemplate bringing it back.

Derek Desormeaux [63:13]

It's, I feel like it's the best medium to draw in people who really care about DIY. Who really want it to seem authentic. That's why like the jacket culture in metal is just so I would say expansive.

Christian Solorzano [63:27]

I agree. So metal music, and then what do you watch? We were talking a little bit about the stuff that you watch, but what's—

Derek Desormeaux [63:34]

Yeah this we talked about it earlier, but I'm like a huge anime person. I watch weekly anime. The best one that I recommend right now that's currently airing is Witch Hat Atelier, and it is an amazing manga, and it is an amazing anime series, and it is all about craft, actually. It's a fantasy and they cast spells by drawing symbols. It's all about mastering that craft and getting better. And I was really drawn to that because the artist is amazing.

It feels out of a fairy tale when you look at her inking, but the anime has been gorgeous. I'm really looking forward to the next episode. Okay, cool.

Christian Solorzano [64:15]

And then Chicago— what are some places in Chicago that you like to frequent?

Derek Desormeaux [64:19]

Yeah, so other than Bookstore Row, bookstores, which I'd say is like my guilty pleasure. This is kind of like a cop-out, neither. I just said I wouldn't say bookstores, but it's not Chicago, but it's the Mitzvah over in Schaumburg. I love going there. But if we had to pick Chicago, you could catch me at the Riverwalk with my partner throughout the summer. It is just beautiful, and it's our chance to get fresh air.

Christian Solorzano [64:42]

Nice. Yeah. And what's something surprising about you that maybe no one would know about you? What's something— to me, the metal part surprised me.

Derek Desormeaux [64:52]

Oh yeah. I would say for the metal part, also blame my roommate too. So 2 of my friends that I roomed with throughout college, that was what we did together. If you would meet them, you'd be like, yeah, they go to a metal concert. And then you see me who looks corporate and clean sometimes and you're like, what, really? But yeah, I just feel like it's just the best way to blow off steam.

My one friend, he's very— he's a lot shorter than me and he goes in that mosh pit and it's probably the most entertaining thing ever. But also it's just— it's people just going there to be authentic. I'm pretty sure most concerts, that's what people's motivation is too.

Christian Solorzano [65:36]

But it's just a different aspect of humanity where everyone's just there to just cause the most yeah, I love when you see a mosh pit and they're all pushing each other and someone pushes someone really hard and that person falls, but then they pick them back up.

Derek Desormeaux [65:50]

Pick them right back up. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [65:52]

And then that person then pushes them back. It's just like this.

Derek Desormeaux [65:55]

It's very much like a group trust fall in a way. But also just like there's just so much random— like at my last concert that I went to, the opener, I'd never heard of this band. They were called Necrogoblicon. And they perform with the singer in goblin makeup and they have an inflatable goblin head. And that was the craziest crowd I've ever seen in my life. And it was just that unpredictable moment that happens within this genre.

And I actually would call me more of like a nu metal fan where it's like not traditional metal, but it's mixing other genres. Because what, other than the classics, what got me into metal was Babymetal. But then I like expanded my taste since then I still love them. They put on a great show, but it's why I brought up Hanabae because like, they're like, people often compare the two, but there's like a lot of like differentiation once you dig deeper in.

And, but I just feel like it's just the one space where it's like everyone's coming in with a cool jacket. Everyone's coming in to have fun. A lot of the openers make their own merch, which is really cool. It's just a layer of authenticity that I love.

Christian Solorzano [67:00]

Yeah. And I find that People that listen to metal tend to be the kindest people.

Derek Desormeaux [67:05]

Yes. Yeah, it's good that we save it all for the concert, screaming at the top of your lungs. Why do that at your desk? You close the Zoom window, you got to hold it in. You got a concert that weekend.

Christian Solorzano [67:17]

Exactly. So one of my last question is what are some things that you can't live without?

Derek Desormeaux [67:24]

Yes.

Christian Solorzano [67:26]

Give me your essentials. If this was like one of those GQ interviews, yeah. When you pull up the things that you—

Derek Desormeaux [67:32]

Can't live without. It would have to be trading card games. I feel like that is how, other than design and community, that's how I made friends throughout most of my adulthood and childhood. When it comes to like snacks, it's gonna have to be boba and then, yeah, boba tea. I was just telling you about the poke burrito place down the street from here.

You need to go there for their boba. And then the third one, cop-out answer, I would say my partner. But like the other thing would be, I would say video games and comics and entertainment. It's kind of hard for me to put all of them in one box because they all blur the lines for me. But yeah, those 3 things are kind of like where I get my most enjoyment and inspiration.

Christian Solorzano [68:18]

And what do you usually keep on your desk when you're working?

Derek Desormeaux [68:21]

Yeah, so figurines was one. So I have one of those I don't, I don't have a big monitor, so I have room for a desk shelf and it's collapsible and expandable. And it has like a couple of art books, figurines, small little I don't know if you've ever done those. I forget what the name of they are, but they're like random toy boxes that you get from like Pop Mart and stuff. And then a stack of my single issues that I still need to read.

That's my— That's my what you're going to find cluttered around me while I'm working throughout my day.

Christian Solorzano [68:56]

Yeah. Have you been to Scratch and Sniff?

Derek Desormeaux [68:58]

Yes, I have.

Christian Solorzano [68:59]

And Moon around the corner?

Derek Desormeaux [69:01]

Yes.

Christian Solorzano [69:01]

Yeah, they have some cool figurines there. Yeah. Cool. Thank you so much. I really enjoy getting to know you more. And I think what you're doing for Chicago is amazing.

Derek Desormeaux [69:11]

So thank you for—

Christian Solorzano [69:12]

Likewise. Yeah, for doing everything that you do. And I encourage everyone that's listening to go to the Paper Show. This episode comes out on Monday, so they have like, 2 days.

Derek Desormeaux [69:23]

Wednesday, May 13th. Yeah, please come, you'll have a great time.

Christian Solorzano [69:28]

Yep. So yeah, thank you so much, and I hope that we can cross more paths and that we can spend more time together.

Derek Desormeaux [69:37]

Yeah, and also Chicago Graphic Design Club will also be at the Paper Show.

Christian Solorzano [69:42]

Oh yeah, we will be there.

Derek Desormeaux [69:43]

So say hello to them as well.

Christian Solorzano [69:45]

Yeah, thank you for inviting us, by the way.

Derek Desormeaux [69:46]

That was really well, of course, the whole design community needs to be there, and everybody who loves print should be there.

Christian Solorzano [69:52]

Yeah, I agree. So thank you.

Derek Desormeaux [69:56]

All right, there you go. Thank you.

Christian Solorzano [69:59]

All right, thank you so much for sticking around till the end. If you enjoy this conversation and you want to learn more, visit us at www.chicagographicdesign.club. Thank you, and talk to you soon.