Christian Solorzano [00:02]

Hello, you're listening to Underscore, a podcast by the Chicago Graphic Design Club. I am your host, Christian Solorzano, and on today's conversation I am joined by the wonderful team that helps put a lot of our programming together, a lot of the programming of the Chicago Graphic Design Club.

So if you've been to any of our in-person or online events you will see that it takes a lot of work to put a lot of what we do together, and it wouldn't be possible without the generosity, without the time, without the effort from so many members in our community.

So I'll be speaking with Cheryl, Alexis, Jeffrey, Carson, and Hamid, who is another team member, wasn't able to join us, but he was kind enough to record a little bit something for us that we'll play towards the end of the episode.

So I just want to say thank you so much for supporting us for the last four years. It's flown by. So much stuff has changed, and I am constantly surprised by all that we've been doing, all that we're capable of doing, and honestly, none of it would be possible without your encouragement, without your participation. So thank you. I hope you enjoy learning a little bit more about the people that are behind the scenes. Making this whole production possible. Enjoy, and we'll talk soon. Hey everyone.

Hi Alexis. Hi Cheryl. We're recording this episode unscripted. There's no agenda other than I wanted to get together to chat and celebrate 4 years of the Chicago Graphic Design Club. And there's a new person on our team. So the listener won't, I don't think I mean, they, they've never heard your voice on this, on this podcast. So everyone welcome Alexis Gonzalez. Can you introduce yourself to all 10,000 listeners?

Cheryl Bever [02:14]

I'm Alexis. I'm a graphic designer based in the Chicagoland area, like everyone here. And I am 2 years into my design career.

Christian Solorzano [02:24]

Alexis joined our team about 2 months ago, right?

Cheryl Bever [02:28]

2? I don't know. I don't have a concept of time with that.

Christian Solorzano [02:31]

And Cheryl, who you all know, we, she's been a guest on our show. She's everywhere. So 4 years. It's, I feel like it's I was looking up earlier characteristics of a 4-year-old. And at 4 years old, there's quite a lot of like advanced things that a human can do like expanded vocabulary, better motor skills, that type of stuff.

Jeffrey Hitchens [03:02]

And do you feel like the podcast is experiencing these things? It's probably still fun to do and still fun to listen to every week.

Christian Solorzano [03:13]

So with that said, I did have some questions that I wanted to chat about and not Our entire team wasn't— isn't able to join us just yet, but I think they're going to be joining us a little bit later. So, but I guess the question that I want to ask the both of you about the meaning of community and perhaps talk a little bit about how the club has changed your perception of what community means. Let's start with that question.

Jeffrey Hitchens [03:42]

I mean, I know that I've said it before. I just— community for me is something that I never really knew I needed until I had it, and then now I can't imagine not being without it. Just having these— this group of people that you can relate to, connect with, share with— it's helped.

I know it's helped me in my design journey a ton, helped me grow, become more confident, not be afraid to mess up, like yeah, it's just, it's helped me become a better person, I think.

Christian Solorzano [04:14]

Yeah. Yeah, for me it's been, I feel like the club is the perfect thing in my life where I'm able to disconnect from my job and have like a, and almost have like an entirely different like alias or just an entirely different life where the work is different. Like even though my day job is design and, this is a design club. They're— they feel like 2 very different worlds.

And I find that the inspiration that I get from our community, I'm able to bring back into other parts of my career. And I, and I think that, I don't know, that makes me— it feels good. And it, and it helps me be less reactive to certain things that happen throughout the day in my job. Because I know that there's this community that that's here. And it's— and that's, yeah, that's here. Even our group chat is a great little space.

Jeffrey Hitchens [05:10]

And that you're not the only one going through it. People are going through it. Other people are probably going through a similar situation. And yeah, you can talk to somebody that gets it.

Christian Solorzano [05:19]

I like that. And I think that the fact that we have a community, I think, is such a luxury because unfortunately, I mean, there's so many people in this world that don't have community, and it's important. What about you, Alexis?

Cheryl Bever [05:38]

Community is like, it means everything to me, and it's something I've been— in terms of design community, it's something I wanted since I was in school, and I didn't really have that in school. So to have it now is, I'm like extremely grateful for, and I'm happy to participate in, and hope I can help it flourish, especially in Chicago. It's just something that, I think a lot of students need, especially those who are— do go to, the smaller schools.

I mean, at the same time, you are learning a lot in school, and, it's only so much you can get out of your peers. And then having, that outside, or, that other internal, source to help, like mentor you is something that's extremely important. And as a growing designer, it's something that is vital to growth as a designer.

Christian Solorzano [06:31]

I want to know, I want to talk a little bit about like our favorite moments of these last 4 years. And Alexis, I know you've joined like relatively not that long ago, but maybe let's spend some time talking about what have been your favorite CGDC moments since you've been involved. Or your favorite memories?

Jeffrey Hitchens [06:50]

So as far as events go, the 2 that are sticking out in my mind right now is the Chicago's Tomorrow Today exhibit that we did. It was the first thing like that we've done, like in person, showing off people's work and things. That was like, that was just way cool putting that together and then just, experiencing the event too. It was really cool. And then the Design Museum of Chicago's field day. Doing that was super fun.

It was a gorgeous day, and, we had set up the booth, and you got to talk to all kinds of people who never had heard of us before, or had heard of us, but, we just got to connect, talk to more people. That was really fun.

Christian Solorzano [07:31]

And the funny thing is that for those 2 things, it was our first time doing them. I feel like we had no idea what we were doing.

Jeffrey Hitchens [07:38]

No, and I think that made it fun, because I feel like they were— I don't want to say I don't know that that's the right word, but I feel like that we rocked it. I think we did a good job. And we learned and know how to do them better. And I think that might be why they were fun because we didn't know what we were doing. We had no rules. We just did what we wanted.

Christian Solorzano [07:58]

Yeah. And I think that's like the kind of attitude that I want to, that I try to keep in everything that we do is like, let's just go into it like as if it's our first time, even if we've already done it. Otherwise, it could just get repetitive and it's like, oh, let's follow the same formula and all that. But yeah, that was those 2, those 2 stand out for me. Exhibition that we did, I can't believe how— I think we had like almost 200 people.

Jeffrey Hitchens [08:24]

And it's crazy.

Christian Solorzano [08:25]

There's like, there's like music and there's like—

Jeffrey Hitchens [08:30]

Cool videographic happening. And yeah, tarot readings. I mean, such a great like mix of things that we had. And then the space that we were in, the minimal space, was so cool. Got to see their work. And yeah, it was kind of like everything that we do all mixed into one event.

Christian Solorzano [08:49]

I remember there was like a big line of people like waiting to register.

Jeffrey Hitchens [08:54]

Yes, I was checking people in and I was so flustered because I'm like, oh my God, like just everybody go in.

Christian Solorzano [09:02]

I think I mean, this has been— this hasn't been an event, but I think that some of the best memories have just been like working with our team. Going to, I remember last year at this time, we all went to your house, Cheryl, and like there was a cake and we just hung out and like ate food. Yeah, just like those little things. What else? Like putting up the posters at Minimal, the wheat pasting posters last year as well.

Jeffrey Hitchens [09:26]

That was fun.

Christian Solorzano [09:27]

Going out to eat. Like just a lot of, a lot of like little tiny things that I think add up and just become like this big core memory. Jeffrey, I see you just joined. Welcome. So Jeffrey just joined everyone. Right now we're just talking about our favorite memories of the last 4 years of the Chicago Graphic Design Club. Alexis, I know you haven't been around for that long, but maybe share with us a favorite memory you have or something along those lines. Absolutely.

Cheryl Bever [09:55]

I guess my favorite memory is my first memory of Chicago Graphic Design Club, which was at like this Design B&B field trip. It's gonna— it's a field trip for me. I'm sorry. I don't know how I even found it. I think it was someone posted it on their story, and I thought it was so cool how much well thought out this was. I'm like, why isn't— not even in like school that we didn't do any like studio tours. That's what it was, the studio tour.

And I'm like, why wasn't this done in school? This is what, young designers need in terms of, inspiration. And then, you can envision yourself in, those spaces, or, it's— it just shows how, feasible, your career is outside of school. But yeah, Design BnB was the first introduction to Chicago Graphic Design Club. I was, still, unaware of how deep Chicago Graphic Design Club was in was it in Chicago? Like the roots of Chicago Graphic Design Club?

Jeffrey Hitchens [10:56]

I'm like, oh, this is so cool, I'll just go.

Cheryl Bever [10:58]

And then I get there and I'm like, oh, this is actually like a huge thing. I don't know what I was expecting, but I don't know. I like, I like the, I like the vibe, for lack of a better term. When I walked in, it just felt so like welcoming and warming and full of like open, open-mindedness that I wanted in design spaces because like My experience in design spaces aren't— it's just opposite of that.

It's intense and anxious, and I don't feel like I belong there. But when I got to the Design B&B Chicago Graphic Design Club event, it felt like, oh, this is how it's supposed to feel, like you walk into a design home.

Jeffrey Hitchens [11:42]

That makes me so happy to hear you say that, because I know that that's like what we try to do is to be, we say we're welcoming, we say we're all, inclusive, blah. But to hear that was the vibe that you actually got, that's like, that's super cool.

Cheryl Bever [11:56]

It was amazing. And then like all the activities on top of that, I'm like, wow, it's like I'm 5 years old again and discovering all these new terrains in terms of like the design space. So I felt like I didn't feel pressure to talk to everyone, but I still wanted to put myself out there at the same time. So all like All happy yellow, like sunshine, rainbows and sunshine for in that like core memory with Chicago Graphic Design Club.

Christian Solorzano [12:27]

Very cool. And shout out to Maddie. Maddie, if you're listening Maddie was the person that helped bridge us with Design BNB. She works there. Super shout out to her for just organizing and making the whole thing a big success. And obviously shout out to like our team as well. And then what about you, Jeffrey? You've been, you, so you've been coming to our events for quite some time now. Recently you joined our team as well.

Oh, I'll turn the question to you as well, but what's been some of your favorite moments, memories since you discovered us? Which I don't even know what year that was, like '22, 2022 maybe?

Alexis Gonzalez [13:01]

Yeah, I think it was 2022. I feel like I definitely found the club on Instagram at that time because I was, I was transitioning from being an employee at a place called Deeply Rooted Dance Theater to doing freelance work. At that time, I was just, anything I could find, I was just Find it, grab it, follow invest into it as much as I can and see if I can try to build a community with, from it.

I had been coming from a different I was not, wasn't really coming from that much of a design background in that way. So I didn't really know the Chicago design community like that. The event that I remember that really stuck with me was, it was actually with it was—

Christian Solorzano [13:38]

Letterform Archive?

Alexis Gonzalez [13:39]

Yeah, I remember that. And that was, I really enjoyed that. It was just seeing different types of design and just Seeing the general interest within the group for having those discussions, just talking about design. But still, it was still presenting the different things from different cultures, because, they have been more of an archive thing there. And I just really liked having that general vibe and energy. So I would just kept coming to different events.

But that was— I don't know if that was my first event, but that was one that really stuck out to me. And then I think I've only been to one of the book club ones, but I did enjoy that well as well. And then, yeah, from that I just kept showing up.

This felt like it felt good because it didn't feel— it didn't feel— there was an intimidation part just in terms of opening up to the community, because that takes— tends to take me a while in general with people. But it didn't feel pretentious, which is a big deal. It felt very approachable, even though it's obviously dealing with folks that have more experience, have different backgrounds, have gone to school for doing— to do design. Which wasn't my experience. And honestly wasn't something I could afford anyway.

So it was nice to see that I could still come into this space and be met where I'm at.

Christian Solorzano [14:53]

Now, I like that you mentioned that because I remember like in the past going to events and definitely feeling like a big outsider or like excluded because I didn't have like a fancy job or didn't wear a beanie or whatever. Like just, you go to these places and there's like the cliché of like what a designer is.

And if you don't like follow that format, then you kind of feel like you're, you have nothing to contribute because it's like, well like, what am I supposed to talk about? I don't have the experience. I don't know these people. And you just you just in your mind, you make up like a big checklist of why you're not qualified to participate. And I feel like that's such a, it's so counterintuitive to creativity and like. What we do, which is to design things for people.

Alexis Gonzalez [15:42]

Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like that makes it difficult for change, for being self-aware as an organization, for staying in touch with the community as it changes. So there need to be those moments of stepping back and being like, all right, what are we doing? How are we connecting with people?

Christian Solorzano [15:59]

Yeah.

Jeffrey Hitchens [16:00]

Yeah.

Alexis Gonzalez [16:01]

And I feel like that's part of the process here. So I do enjoy that.

Christian Solorzano [16:03]

We have that Had that call for designers on our website. Cheryl, Jeffrey, you've both done a poster for us. Alexis, you haven't done one yet, so hopefully soon.

But neither has Carson, who is also on our team but not here right now. But someone made a comment the other day about how the fact that anyone that submits a poster to us gets into our gallery says a lot about us as an organization because we're not cherry-picking which ones are, quote, good. We're just letting everyone participate. And I think that, and that comment made me feel really good because I never really put those 2 things together.

There is a lot of value in just like allowing everyone to participate regardless of like your skill level, where you work, your age. Demographics, like all that stuff. I feel like it doesn't matter. All it takes is like, just show up and that's it. You show up and you're a nice person, you're in. That's it.

Alexis Gonzalez [17:10]

Well, which of these questions have we already done from what you sent over?

Christian Solorzano [17:16]

We talked about what community means. We talked about our favorite memory.

Alexis Gonzalez [17:20]

Well, I guess I kind of touched on how I found the club already. How are we different? I feel like it's gonna sound like a cop-out, but I feel like, Christian, you should lead that question if I'm being honest.

Jeffrey Hitchens [17:29]

Are we different?

Christian Solorzano [17:31]

I don't know.

Jeffrey Hitchens [17:33]

I kind of feel like we've been talking about that already right now, as far as like not being pretentious and being welcoming. And I think we're—

Christian Solorzano [17:42]

I mean, the other thing of how we're different, I feel like we're independent. Like we don't have to report to anyone. We don't have major shareholders in the pharmaceutical industry. We're like, we're not sponsored by any huge corporate donors. You don't have to report to, yeah, anyways, I'm not gonna say it, but yeah, we're independent.

Jeffrey Hitchens [18:17]

Making it up as we go along.

Alexis Gonzalez [18:25]

Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [18:28]

I guess we could talk about the future, not just the future for our organization, but just the future for Chicago design, the future for the community. Maybe the question is, why do we bother Putting like our time and effort into building this community, like what are we trying to get out of it? Or what are we trying to build long-term? If that's even something that comes up for the future, like what do you guys think of, like what's something you'd like to see?

Alexis Gonzalez [18:56]

It's all right if I start? Something I think about a lot, and this was something I had been thinking about before I was even doing freelance, is that I want to create more opportunities for Black and brown designers. I obviously deal with a lot of imposter syndrome myself because I feel like, oh, I don't know enough. I should be, I don't know enough people and blah. And in some ways, I do definitely feel like that is the case.

There's a certain level of skill that I think I could help certain people get to. And then after that, it'd be like, all right, well, I can give you connections to other people that can help you further along. And that's okay with me. I, but I definitely would like to do a lot more of that. Because I think the industry is great, but I think some people count themselves out as soon as they go walk into a room and just look around.

They don't feel like they're included in the conversation. They don't feel like their experiences are part of the conversation. A good example of that was when we had the panel and it was Rachel that brought up her experience in terms of being working in with social workers. I'm sorry, working as a social worker, a social worker, and that being part of her design process, mentioning certain economic situations that people might have.

Not everyone can afford to go to design school, but there are a lot of designers, and there's a lot of ways to learn this craft and this practice that can be applied without going to design school or doing a boot camp, $15,000, $18,000 to $15,000 or something like that, depending on which one you're going to. Obviously, there should be a an effort to make sure you're learning how to do it right and you have the right skills for it and everything like that.

So it's good design and it actually answers, it helps reach, it helps to accomplish what a client is trying to accomplish. There are different ways to do that. Trying to have different schools, workshops, workshop series and everything so people can learn that. And ideally, it'd be nice to get to a point from going from college age, maybe even high school age.

And including them in that process so they can start thinking, start asking those questions that we've been asking now at a younger age so they can start becoming stronger designers.

Cheryl Bever [20:51]

Branching off of Jeffrey's answer, basically the same as him, like creating a space for Black and brown designers and other people of color as well, because that's not especially— I think like culturally it's not— design and art isn't really seen as something that's stable.

And you just need that encouragement from another group of people, especially a community, to continue and pursue that, because that could truly change your life and allow you to become who you want to become and pursue what you love instead of, instead of pivoting towards something that's going to pay the bills.

But yeah, creating that space for them, and like you said, creating like Going into like a class for children and just letting them know like it's possible to have a career in art and design, because I know I needed to hear that. But like we're older and I'm at this point, I want to be that person for them too. That's what I want to cultivate and, plant those seeds and water them.

Alexis Gonzalez [21:56]

I think you're a great example of like young designers just doing their thing, all your panels and whatnot. And then you have the show on Thursday, which I'm gonna try and make.

Christian Solorzano [22:04]

Carson just joined. Please introduce yourself.

Hamid Alavi [22:07]

Oh goodness.

Christian Solorzano [22:09]

Hi everyone.

Hamid Alavi [22:11]

I'm Carson Koppin. I'm a member of the Chicago Graphic Design Club. I'm a freelance designer, animator, creator, storyteller, and I'm just blessed to be part of this amazing group of creative individuals who are helping to Highlight what's happening right now in Chicago.

Christian Solorzano [22:29]

But thanks for joining, Carson. We were just, we're just chatting about a few things here. Well, I guess the question that I want to ask you that everyone's already answered, but what's been your favorite memory or just most memorable moments of the CGDC?

Hamid Alavi [22:46]

Most memorable moment of the CGDC absolutely has to be the gallery tour we did at Minimal. Along with the exhibition highlighting the different designers, that being not only being my first, time I've ever been part of a gallery or an exhibition, but just the energy was so palpable. Everybody was so excited to be there. I hadn't, I was still discovering what it was like to be part of this club and kind of introduced more.

And I feel like I met so many of you at such a deeper level at that point in time. So yeah, that definitely, that studio tour is the most memorable for me. It was amazing.

Christian Solorzano [23:27]

We're giving Alexis major FOMO. Sorry.

Jeffrey Hitchens [23:30]

Yeah, I was about to say, I'm like, wish I went.

Christian Solorzano [23:36]

That was the best event like that we just ever did and will ever do.

Hamid Alavi [23:40]

So—

Jeffrey Hitchens [23:40]

I guess we should do another exhibition.

Christian Solorzano [23:42]

Yeah, true. So the person that helped us put that event together was Jay Byrnes. Who worked at Minimal, and I just saw on his LinkedIn that he doesn't work there anymore. We'll have to see where he's working at now and ask him.

Jeffrey Hitchens [23:57]

Stalk him there.

Hamid Alavi [23:58]

Hey, got any other cool spaces?

Christian Solorzano [24:05]

Do you want to look really cool for your new employer?

Alexis Gonzalez [24:09]

Right?

Jeffrey Hitchens [24:10]

Let's have a party.

Christian Solorzano [24:14]

All right, bye everyone.

Jeffrey Hitchens [24:15]

Carson, one of the questions that we had was the future of the club. What do you— like, money was no option, there was no, red tape, no nothing, we could do whatever we wanted. What would be one of your goals?

Hamid Alavi [24:29]

Design conference, Chicago. Like a cool casual one where we actually get people from around the city and happening. And I feel like I'm still leaning more into what it is like, what's happening right now in terms of conferences and creatives and things like that, as I'm trying to find that balance.

But how do we take, I don't know, any, anybody, everybody that we've had on the podcast and put them all, on different panels or give them workshops or just continue to elevate the spaces available for the current creatives right now in Chicago. So something like that would be Out of this. And then, I don't know, let's do like a— let's do a ball. I don't know, that'd be fun.

Jeffrey Hitchens [25:15]

Yeah, totally.

Christian Solorzano [25:16]

Yeah, to add to that, Carson, I feel like it would be cool to do like a festival, like a— and it's like a conference, it's a ball, it's a whole festival, like a week-long thing of just things, activities. Have people fly out from like all over the country.

Hamid Alavi [25:33]

Imagine a bunch of designers throwing a DJ party. They're all just standing there awkwardly, not looking at each other.

Christian Solorzano [25:42]

That'd be cool. Hamid could be the DJ.

Jeffrey Hitchens [25:45]

Oh my God. Yes.

Hamid Alavi [25:46]

Absolutely.

Christian Solorzano [25:47]

So Hamid's not here but for the listener, Hamid's also another member of our team. So a lot of our really popular Instagram Reels are done by him.

Hamid Alavi [26:00]

Well, I feel like we're Massively underplaying the cultural icon that his presence has steadily elevated to simply through existing, which is, it's pretty astounding in its own, in own manner, I must say.

Christian Solorzano [26:19]

I mean, he's the only one that's ever been asked for an autograph, so.

Hamid Alavi [26:22]

Okay, you know what's crazy about that too is that's literally the first person that came into that event. The last day at the Design Museum of Chicago, we like, we've got everything there for a month. We're closing everything down. Okay. We're going to, we're going to have it one more day. So we're going to, go there and just like make a little event out of it.

And literally we were setting up the table and not 10 minutes after we set things up, this guy walks in and totally bolts straight for Hamid. He's like, hey, are you— did you design this? And I think, I think I talked to you guys. I messaged you before on the platform and I was just are you selling these? And I mean, Oh yeah, I can. I can like you can just have one.

Like and then you know he's like, "Can you sign it?" And he Hamid was he played it so cool because he is cool obviously. So it's okay. Let it be known for the record, Hamid no joke is like the kindest, most approachable person who I've only ever seen give absolutely everybody the time of day. And like is just willing to talk to you, especially design stuff at any point in time. So jokes aside, big shout out to Hamid because he is amazing.

Jeffrey Hitchens [27:38]

Yeah. And not even to touch on how incredibly talented he is and like the stuff that he can just create out of nothing is just astounding.

Alexis Gonzalez [27:48]

Yeah.

Hamid Alavi [27:49]

Yeah.

Jeffrey Hitchens [27:49]

Yeah.

Carson Koppin [27:49]

True.

Cheryl Bever [27:50]

He can cook.

Hamid Alavi [27:50]

Well said.

Christian Solorzano [27:52]

And Hamid's gonna be doing the Instagram reel for this episode that we're recording. Hamid, select this part as the, as a real, as a content.

Jeffrey Hitchens [28:00]

All about Hamid.

Hamid Alavi [28:06]

It's just cycling through photos of him.

Jeffrey Hitchens [28:10]

We have tons.

Alexis Gonzalez [28:14]

We do have a lot.

Hamid Alavi [28:16]

We gotta dig through Facebook too. You gotta throw in some old ones in there. Gotta do some Nardwuar vibes right off the bat. Hamid, I got a gift for so what else?

Christian Solorzano [28:27]

Anything else we should— we want to chat about? Anything else on people's minds?

Hamid Alavi [28:31]

What are you excited about? I feel like that's such a good question. What are you excited about for the future? Whether that's design or general, I mean, probably CGDC related would be great. Yeah, anything design I feel like is awesome.

Christian Solorzano [28:42]

I'm excited for our second issue of our magazine. The first issue was like a huge success and I'm still very surprised that like how many people bought it. Obviously, it's a great magazine and great content, but it just— the reception just exceeded all of my expectations. So I feel like the bar has been set really high, and this next one needs to be even better.

Cheryl Bever [29:06]

I'm excited for more in-person events and being a lot more strategic on what we do throughout the year.

Jeffrey Hitchens [29:15]

I'm excited that you're scheduling more social things. I think those have been like very successful and I'm excited that you're gonna be putting together more of them.

Christian Solorzano [29:23]

Shout out Alexis.

Cheryl Bever [29:25]

For real.

Alexis Gonzalez [29:25]

With that house party.

Christian Solorzano [29:26]

Well, it's funny cuz like Alexis, I think we were talking and you were like, can you guys do more like in-person, like social things? And I was like, why don't you do it?

Jeffrey Hitchens [29:35]

That was Alexis's induction into the club. Sure, come and do it. Shout out Alexis. I'll do it.

Alexis Gonzalez [29:41]

I've been saying this to so many people and it sounds like so basic, but whatever. I'm just generally excited about summer. I'm just really excited about it. I'm actually really excited about Field Day because I think I got there like the last hour last year. I mean, I got some free stuff, which is cool, but I would have liked to spend more time just looking at all different vendors.

Christian Solorzano [30:04]

And shout out to Tanner and Kevin for inviting us to be a part of Field Day. It was, it was awesome last year and I feel like it's only going to be awesomer this year. So Kevin and Tanner, if you're listening, thank you.

Hamid Alavi [30:16]

I feel like I gotta echo Jeffrey. I'm really feeling the warm weather and especially I'm excited for Field Day as well too. I got this candle from there in this container that looks like a Roman pillar and it still inspires me to this day. So I'm really— Yeah, it's really interesting. And it, I mean, it's been burned. It's got no candle left in there. I just really like the container.

Jeffrey Hitchens [30:44]

That's awesome.

Hamid Alavi [30:44]

I mean, I'm equally excited for this warm weather. I feel like it keeps getting better and I keep getting busier and more excited about whatever it is going to happen. So great call, Jeffrey. I totally agree with you there.

Cheryl Bever [30:56]

What is Field Day?

Hamid Alavi [30:58]

Design Museum of Chicago takes a space out where you think I would know exactly what this is, but I don't know exactly where space is, but they set up a tent, some tents outside, and they basically have a big space open for a bunch of vendors. And Chicago Graphic Design Club has been so graciously asked to include ourselves there as one of the booths amongst the vendors. And you just get to go outside and enjoy the amazing warmth of summer and design and community.

Anything I missed there, Christian?

Christian Solorzano [31:30]

Yeah, I mean, it's outdoors. There's a lot of people. Last year we had some activities, like there were some kids that came by and like they— well, what did they draw? There's like a flag activity.

Jeffrey Hitchens [31:41]

Yeah, we did a design your own Chicago flag.

So we had like the, just a template of the flag, and kids got to come and color in and make their own flag kind of a thing. We hung them up. Basically, it's just it's field day. It's like we go, and there was a bunch of tents set up with a bunch of vendors. It was all about design and sustainability. And so they had a lot of like eco-friendly small businesses. Throughout Chicago were there, like the people that do the e-scooters and e-bikes rentals.

There was gosh, I mean, so many different kinds of—

Christian Solorzano [32:18]

There's like yoga, there was like bubbles a DJ.

Jeffrey Hitchens [32:22]

Yeah, they had kites for kids. And then have you seen those flags that the Design Museum promotes that different designers made? They have them all hanging front of the museum now. So those were all up and blowing in the wind all around the space there, and you just got to see them. It was just a really cool experience and really cool day. So you just got to meet people and like people that you wouldn't see otherwise because it was at Navy Pier.

So you have all the families that are coming through Navy Pier just kind of checking everything out.

Christian Solorzano [32:53]

And last year we had a really cool booth. We had balloons, activities, a really cool tablecloth. A flag. They put us right next to AIGA Chicago. Alexis and I, we were talking the other day about creating some friendly rivalry between the different design schools in Chicago, because there's a lot of design programs, and it would be cool if there was like, some kind of design programs or like events or something where maybe it's like a student show, and it's like all schools participate.

And they all kind of wanna— they're encouraged to like give it their all because they're gonna be representing their school. And I don't know, that could be, that could be like a fun way to—

Jeffrey Hitchens [33:37]

That could be really cool.

Hamid Alavi [33:39]

I like that a lot.

Alexis Gonzalez [33:41]

I think it would also be fun to get like core domain members as well to do their version of it too. So like a student, the, like your main team contributors being the people that also give out to it. Because then I think that's also a way to be like, okay, these are the people that are actually helping to lead some of these things that are happening. And for folks to be like, oh, I like their work, I like this work, blah.

Because, I mean, designers, a lot of people, they get a little judgmental sometimes. And I think seeing the work, okay, this is what they're doing, you know what they're doing.

Christian Solorzano [34:09]

My parting words are, you guys are awesome. And thank you all so much for, yeah, just being part of this team. Sometimes people ask me like, how do I, how do I, how did I build a team or how did I create it or whatever? Our team just attracts like-minded, kind people. And I, and I think we all have that. We all, we all have one thing in common. And I think it's that we're just like genuine and just in it for the right reasons.

Jeffrey Hitchens [34:41]

No, I guess thank you, Christian, for having us all. Bringing us all together and having this place where everybody can come together and be themselves and be creative and yeah, showing us all cool stuff.

Alexis Gonzalez [34:55]

Yeah, I definitely want to lean into just the gratitude for having a space to speak to be open to, talk about design, think about design in different ways and ask the questions I think that come up a lot with designers, but actually then trying to put action behind those things. And I appreciate that space a lot. I think I found it at the right time in my life as well.

In addition to that, I'm also grateful for the opportunity to disrupt some things within the industry that need to be disrupted. I'll leave it at that so it doesn't get too political.

Christian Solorzano [35:24]

Open to interpretation.

Cheryl Bever [35:27]

No, I just thank you, Christian, Cheryl, Jeffrey, Carson, Hamid, that's here in spirit. For opening your Chicago Graphic Design Club arms to me and can't wait to continue contributing to the design community and making it better than it ever was.

Christian Solorzano [35:52]

So, all right.

Cheryl Bever [35:53]

Thanks.

Christian Solorzano [35:54]

And this episode couldn't be complete without hearing from Hamid, who is another team member of the Chicago Graphic Design Club, who couldn't be here for today's conversation. But he did record a little something for us to stitch at the end of this episode.

Carson Koppin [36:11]

Hi everyone, my name is Hamid. I'm a freelance graphic designer and a visual artist and a member of the Chicago Graphic Design Club. So I found the club a few months after that I moved to the United States while I was searching for the design communities in Chicago. What I've found so exciting about the club was their ongoing open call for designers to submit a poster about Chicago. And so I just designed a poster and submitted that.

And after that, I also filled out the Get Involved form on their website. And I also started listening to their podcast Underscore, which was really helpful to find out about the graphic designers based in Chicago and what they love about the this beautiful city. And after a while, I joined the clubs. One of the clubs' studio visits was Studio Normal, and it was one of my most favorite moments in the club.

And also, it was a very inspiring experience because it was my first time that I visiting a very professional graphic design studio and learned how they do what they've been doing. So it's like a behind-the-scenes experience, which was very fascinating to me. And I also met Christian for the first time, and afterwards he asked me if I could join the team to help him with the club's social media content. So I officially joined the club in December 2022.

Christian Solorzano [38:02]

All right, that wraps up our episode. Thank you for sticking around till the end. As usual, I hope you found this conversation insightful and inspiring. We hope to see you this summer at some of our summer programming, which will be announced I'll see you guys in the next few weeks. Talk to you soon. Thank you.

Carson Koppin [38:27]

Goodbye.