Christian Solorzano [00:49]

Hello, you're listening to Underscore, a show by the Chicago Graphic Design Club. I am your host, Christian Solorzano, and on today's episode, I am delighted to share my conversation with a close friend of mine and a collaborator and team member of the Chicago Graphic Design Club, Hamid Alavi, a graphic designer from Iran. And in this conversation, Hamid shares with us how he goes about seeking inspiration everywhere.

Film, music, Chicago museums, galleries, people. And he shares with us that process and how those kind of things come together to inform the work that he does. In 2012, he graduated with a degree in industrial and product design from Iran, and he is also the recipient and winner of a Red Dot Design Award. In this conversation, he shares with us stories of growing up in Iran, and how his life experiences come together to inform and shape his point of view and creative practice.

It's a great conversation, and I am always inspired by Hamid. If you've seen any of the work that he's done for the Chicago Graphic Design Club, you will know why. As always, thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Thank you. I did. Thank you, and we'll talk to you soon. Enjoy. Good morning, Hamid. Finally, the two of us get together to talk after many months of me begging you to be on our podcast.

Hamid Alavi [02:37]

Yeah, I know. Sorry, man.

Christian Solorzano [02:39]

And you're, and you're charging us a lot of money for this appearance. So this is our first guest that we're, that we're paying thousands of dollars.

Hamid Alavi [02:46]

Yeah, I was just waiting for the right moment and the right amount of money. So I would get a good deal. So here I am.

Christian Solorzano [02:54]

How are you doing? Congratulations yesterday. You had a piece of art at an exhibition here in Chicago last Friday night. This episode, it's going to be coming out on Monday, so it's a fresh conversation. We're recording November 9th, and yesterday, November 8th, you had some work on display. It was great. There were so many people there. You created a paper collage that was referencing some stained glass from Iran. Is that correct?

Hamid Alavi [03:24]

It was a remake of one of the, windows we called orosy, and we had it in the Iranian architecture for a long time now. It was one piece I was working on it like a while ago, but I, I'm happy that I finished it before this exhibition so I could apply for it.

Christian Solorzano [03:43]

So in Chicago, a lot of people probably know you, but for the people that don't know you I've actually only known you for— I think it'll be 3 years sometime this year. But you came to an event by the Chicago Graphic Design Club that we were hosting in 2021 or 2022, and it was a studio tour of the design studio Normal. And I remember you came all the way from Munster, Indiana, and it was like late in the evening.

And I know, and afterwards you emailed me and you said like, thanks for hosting. That was really fun and so forth. And pretty much you expressed interest in getting involved with the club. And since then you've been like a core member of a lot of what we do. Like social media programming. You help with the podcast. There's a— there you're a lot of behind the scenes. You're behind the scenes, but people know you because your face is always on the homepage of our websites.

Hamid Alavi [04:50]

You always put me on the COVID But yeah actually I'm so happy to be part of the club. Yeah, I moved to the United States about 3 years ago in 2021. I was living with my family in Indiana, Münster. But because it's pretty close to Chicago, so every once in a while I traveled all the way to Chicago and just visiting the art galleries, museums, just exploring the city. It's a beautiful city and there's so many things going on every, any time of the year.

But I also started to searching for any communities, design communities in Chicago, and I've I found the Chicago Graphic Design Club, and I noticed that you have an open call for the posters. It was like ongoing open call for posters for Chicago, which kind of was really exciting for me, and I made a poster for that and applied and submitted it.

I also— there was— if I remember it correctly, you also had like a forum for volunteers on the website too, and also filled out that one. And I was— I started to listen to the Underscore podcast because through that I started learning more about the designers who are from Chicago or live in Chicago. And yeah, it was great.

So, and I noticed that you also have some studio visits, so I was kind of waiting for the next one, which was in the Studio Normal, and that tour was that studio tour was October sixth, two thousand and twenty-two.

Christian Solorzano [06:38]

So it's been yeah.

Hamid Alavi [06:41]

Yeah. I joined the club about like maybe on November or December. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [06:45]

Yeah. I want to learn about your upbringing in Iran, and I want to know. Everything that kind of led up to the person that you are today. Has creativity, has design always been an interest of yours? You're into music, you're into— you're a very creative person, and I feel like you're one of my close friends that is very knowledgeable in that domain.

Hamid Alavi [07:16]

Yeah, thank you so much for all the kind words. But As a kid, I was always interested in drawing like any other kids, I guess. But my introduction to design, I was like 14 years old. And so it started with this, actually, the basketball shoe, because yeah, there was a store near in the neighborhood. So they— it was like a store for sneakers and like shoes, and they were I remember seeing a shoe behind the windows, like basketball shoe.

Then I realized that, okay, they call it Flyte Posit 2. And then, but it looked very different, looked very like futuristic, like it looks like a spaceship to me. And that was kind of really interesting. Oh, okay, so shoes can look like that too. And yeah, I was starting to like drawing some shoes like checking their Nike's website every once in a while and seeing what are they doing, what is the new product.

And yeah, and about the same time I was starting working like computer was kind of new thing, and I started working on some like the Windows Paint or down like Adobe Photoshop. I was always— I tried to create some of the like a For every shoe, basketball shoe that I like, I started to make like a something like a poster or maybe like a billboard with some like message. And I'm like exploring all the filters on Photoshop.

And I was studying mathematics and physics in high school and also for college, but yeah, for the university I decided to find like a field of study that kind of— I have a program that is kind of connects me to the world of design. And I found out, okay, you can apply for industrial design and you can also learn how to design like basketball shoes, or any other products.

And then, yeah, I am so happy and glad about this shift because I am— my point of view kind of changed after that. I learned about like studying like history of arts, like knowing more about architecture design and all of that kind of, yeah, changed my whole perspective. And then, as, I have a BA in industrial design, but also I was working on some— since I kind of was familiar with the 2D softwares, my work was kind of in graphic design, not really industrial design.

And I kind of, after a while, I realized that, okay, if you want to turn an idea to like a final product, and you need more people to, finish a project, and you need— it's kind of more complicated, and there's so many aspects of the design that you need, really need to consider. But for graphic design, it was a little easier because you could, okay, make something in computer and then go and somewhere print it.

And if it's a poster, it's a postcard, and all of that. So yeah, I was kind of excited to— okay, now I can design something, and then I can just see the results, like a physical— in physical format. So that kind of— after the graduation, I kind of shifted to graphic design.

Christian Solorzano [10:44]

Do you remember the feeling of making something and printing it for the first time?

Hamid Alavi [10:50]

Not for the printing. Exactly. But I remember like a first logo that I designed for someone. I was not even in the university yet, but it was kind of interesting that, okay, I can design a logo too. I have this vision. I had this chance to explore.

Christian Solorzano [11:06]

And coming, and coming to, for example, to the United States from Iran, what are some of the differences that you notice with how America communicates visually, like their visual communication their way of messaging as opposed to a place like Iran or maybe other places in other parts of the world that you've been to? Did you experience any kind of— yeah, just curious about that experience of coming to Indiana, coming to Chicago from another place. Did you— what were your feelings there?

Hamid Alavi [11:36]

I was kind of familiar with the works of designers in Europe, their kind of unique style for everything. I don't know how to compare Iran to here, to any other countries, because we're kind of like, it's like a different, language and script. So it's like a little different since everything kind of— the scale of everything in the US is like big and like any, everything. And it's the land, the buildings, the everything is very— the highways, like all those things, like it's just totally different.

Like environment. So I kind of understand that why maybe sometimes that specific style for design is chosen, or they need to consider so many things for the people and for the, like advertising and all of those things. I don't know how to exactly— sorry— say— I mean, and answer that, but all the design works that I've seen that I looked kind of familiar to me, was kind of looked like European style, or like I was interested more in those kind of things.

So I cannot say I'm a big fan of the old advertising style in the US, like designing like with using so many fonts and just big words, like so many words on one thing.

Christian Solorzano [13:07]

And I prefer something a little minimal and During your time in Chicago, I feel like you've been, you've definitely been very active. You've done a poster series for the launch of our publication last year, or earlier this year, actually. It's almost going to be one year. You've also participated in the Design Museum of Chicago's banners, like street banners that promote various theaters throughout Chicago. You have like your two, like these two exhibitions, like the one that was yesterday, one coming up next week.

There's another one that you were discussing before our call a while ago. So you've been, so you've been pretty active and I want to, and I'm curious about, for someone that is new to the city, still relatively new, what are some of the things that you like about Chicago? I'm just always amazed. I'm always very fascinated by that wonder.

And that curiosity of just seeing, a city like Chicago for the first time, or even still as like— you now live in Chicago as well. You live in Lincoln Park. So how's Chicago been treating you?

Hamid Alavi [14:16]

I really like the city. I'm so kind of lucky that I have this chance to live here and explore the city. It's a beautiful city. There's so many things to explore and learn, and I like it that it's kind of near to the— it has a lake, beautiful lake. I like the trains, and I like to— since I like to walk for hours, I like to walk and just find new neighborhoods. And anything in the city can kind of inspire you.

I mean, like the stickers behind the stop signs, or even just watching people like running or riding the bicycle, or, something dancing or whatever. And they have— there are so many festivals and events and exhibitions, expo, all of those things there. So it's that. So yeah, these are the things I really like about Chicago.

About being active, I'm not sure if I've been active that much, but one of the things that I really liked so far, it was that the communities and people are— they're all kind of welcoming and they, they're really supportive. Stuff that I'm doing for the club, so because for the club I'm so happy that all we can discuss for every project that we're working on and anyone can share their ideas and can volunteer for anything.

Okay, I can do that, I can work on this one, I can make posters on that one. For the other event, I cannot do anything, but I can be there and just help and welcome people. So yeah. That is, that's a very great thing that we have in our club. So yeah, whenever I can help with something, I just raise my hand and, share my ideas.

Christian Solorzano [16:05]

I feel like the feeling of, there's always some, there's always more that you can do. I think that's just a feeling that comes, I think it comes to, even for me and for many people I know that you can be doing all the things in the world and you still feel like you're not doing enough. So I don't think that feeling ever goes away. I think it's just, it's just always going to haunt you. I would encourage anyone to visit your website.

Hamid Alavi [16:32]

After that is finished.

Christian Solorzano [16:34]

After it's finished. But you have like a— there's a very experimental and playful nature to what you do. I don't— from my point of view, Your work doesn't really follow any— like, there's craft, there's definitely craft in play, but there's— to me, it feels like it's not really following any rules. Everything feels very, freeform and fluid. And I'm curious to know where you draw inspiration from.

And maybe how your life experiences and the city and visual inspiration, music and so forth, like how all of those things sort of come together to create and spark the things that you do, whether it's your personal work, like your collages, or stuff that you do for the club. Or even, I know that another thing that you're quite passionate about is using design for activism. I'm just curious about sort of your ethos when it comes to your work.

Hamid Alavi [17:51]

After I started studying design in the university, I had like a notebook. I was always reading my— sorry, writing my ideas for different, just like different products. Okay, we can design a lamp look like this, or we can design a car look like that. And I was kind of curious about so many, different fields of design. Sometimes I was kind of inspired by the concept works, concept arts for the, a video game, some works of the people who are considered as illustrators.

And sometimes there's works of— I kind of have a big archive, like digital archive, the of the— all the artists and designers who I liked. So yeah, I had a— I think I'm kind of good at ideation, maybe. I don't know. Yes, you are. But yeah, I was always trying to find like new resources for getting inspired, and sometimes just an idea makes me go and explore more. Maybe it's a new thing to me.

I have never done any collages but start— I have like a big pile of fashion magazines, so I started to just, looking at the photos and, okay, maybe I could cut this part of the— I kind of have like 2 mindsets. Sometimes I feel like an artist for working on like an abstract drawing project or something that I like to work on. I like to make like the atmosphere. My room looks like a mess. I'm playing something like a— I don't know.

Metal music or, I don't know, like dark ambient or something. Or I try to like get absorbed like more of those kind of watching like, I don't know, some weird movies or like anything that can really, gives me some like good feeds for that type of project. And then I, for the next project, I'm Okay, maybe I like— I need to clean everything and everything needs to be nice and shiny.

And now, okay, I'm gonna design a piece that is symmetrical and I need to be clean and accurate as much as I can. And I've been working on so many— I was kind of really interested in taking photos. I was interested into making some motion graphics for a while. I was interested in my collages, doodling. And for every project I like to prefer to do some research and make sure that, okay, I can come up with some interesting ideas.

And I want to make sure that, okay, for this one I can— I need to look up for the, graffitis, search that, area. Or for this one I need to look up for some more, sci-fi movies. Or for this one I need to go back and just look up through my sketchbooks, old sketchbooks, and For every project, I'm trying to explore new things, and most of the time I'm not sure about the results. What am I even doing?

For example, for the banner that I designed for the Sun Museum of Chicago, I had no idea what I'm doing.

Christian Solorzano [21:10]

How do you know when you're done with a project? What— like, how do you— how do you measure success?

Hamid Alavi [21:19]

For the design projects, so something that kind of— you have a deadline and you need to make sure that you finish all the work about that time. So whether you're better, if you're not happy, whether you're not happy with it like 100%, you don't have much time to finish. So you need to just finish the job. So for those, I'm not sure, maybe I've— I'm trying my best to, finish the work. Or the design projects, because of the time limits.

So I can— whether I'm happy or not, I need to finish that. But sometimes there are some works that I— after that, when I go back to them, I was like, I'm kind of maybe thinking that maybe I could have done it differently, or is it good enough? Because back then I was so happy with it, but now that I'm looking back, maybe it's not that satisfying. Sometimes I have— for some projects, I have that.

At that moment, I'm not sure if it's the best result that I could— that I have already.

Christian Solorzano [22:25]

And sometimes it could just— it could just be a feeling, like a feeling sometimes, like you feel— like, I know for me sometimes, I know I'm done when it feels like it's a— it's like a feeling inside that's like, all right, this is— this is as far as it's going to get. And sometimes it's like if I keep touching it, it's just gonna— I'm gonna make it worse or something.

Hamid Alavi [22:49]

Yeah. And sometimes I'm not happy with it. But for— I just remembered the poster that I designed for the exhibition that we had in Minimal. So I was not quite happy about the result, but I inverted the whole poster and it was white and then it was black and, oh yeah, okay. It looks much better now.

Sometimes it's just that simple and you can change the whole thing. And sometimes I'm happy with the result, but maybe it's not— I'm not really answering the question. I like, yeah, the project that is kind of exciting to me and like working on it for like all day and all night, and I'm enjoying doing it. I like to be more involved in those kind of projects. I cannot find those kind of projects, so it's like all just like solo, just, yeah, self-initiative works.

Christian Solorzano [23:41]

So walk us through a typical day in the life of Hamid. And are you a morning person or are you a night person?

Hamid Alavi [23:49]

I was a night person for a while, but now I'm— yeah, I'm not— somewhere in between. I'm not really morning person now, but I usually maybe, yeah, go for a walk and just if I have— there's something like an Art exhibition or something going on, I like to go and visit the show.

Christian Solorzano [24:08]

Do you have a favorite neighborhood in Chicago? What's your place in Chicago that you just love to go there?

Hamid Alavi [24:14]

Yeah, I love Lincoln Park. I also like downtown. Okay. There's so many things to explore, and it's a big city. After like 2 years, I— yeah, there are so many places I haven't been. I was wondering, where was this place? Why I haven't seen it? But yeah, usually I take photos whenever I go for a walk, and later I look them up and, oh, this is really inspiring and interesting.

Yeah, and sometimes I go to just go to movies or like attending concerts, just every once in a while. But and there are so many things that I learned. I mean, even for the events that we have with the club, there's every time we are hosting like an event, but I am, I am also one of the guests because I'm learning new things.

And it's not just only about the, oh, the professional designers talking about their experiences and all those kind of things, but it's like how people connect to each other, how people get involved in the activities, how do, how do they like get how's the— how do they like socialize? Like all those things are kind of— I'm still learning so many things even from those events. And just, yeah, they're eye-opening. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [25:41]

That's one of the things I really love about this city is that there's always something to learn. And even if it's from the same person, like there's always like this momentum happening. That just always feels like fresh and new. So even with the club, we're— we'll be having your 5-year anniversary next year. I also feel like a guest sometimes.

Hamid Alavi [26:06]

And I know it's cool.

Christian Solorzano [26:09]

It's— and it's also important to not lose that passion. And one of the things that I like about, working with you and, the rest of the team is that there's just always like, we're just all like, we're just always drive— like, driven to do more and like just come up with like random ideas. And so it's fun.

And I, and I learn and I feel like we all are always learning a lot from each other despite us having different levels of experiences, different living in different parts of the city and so forth. I, I'm really proud of that aspect of our of our community.

Hamid Alavi [26:48]

Exactly. Me too. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [26:49]

What's something about you that we— that people wouldn't get from talking to you? From—

Hamid Alavi [26:55]

Yeah, I'm always shy and quiet and I don't— maybe don't participate that much. Well, I'm not really into socializing, but sometimes I'm enjoying myself listening and learning, absorbing. But I don't— I don't know. I don't have anything to say or to add. I mean, I don't like to talk so much and not listening and just— I know it's kind of Awkward.

I mean, maybe make people kind of uncomfortable, but if I don't know much about that topic, I don't say things that I don't know or have no idea about it.

Christian Solorzano [27:30]

You're definitely like very observant. And that's like, I think one of the things that I really appreciate about working with you is that like every time you, every time you say something, like it's always very thoughtful. Like it's not just talking for the sake of talking. What are you hopeful for the future? And maybe what's something that keeps you up at night?

Hamid Alavi [27:52]

Upcoming year, I'm very excited about the next issue of our magazine. I'm working on some ideas. I don't know, it's just like sometimes I'm feeling that I'm not really doing as much as I should as like a person or like a designer or like a part of the community, because I'm trying, sometimes struggling. To, be more active and do something. But I'm happy that I'm part of the club, so that kind of helps me to grow and like be kind of more helpful maybe.

Christian Solorzano [28:27]

And how do you, how do you take care of yourself? What you're describing, I think, is stuff that many designers or creatives can relate to, like this feeling of like always feeling like you can be doing more. There's just always this like dissatisfaction with like, yeah, with the present moment. I've spoken with people that I look at as having like the best job in the world, or like they have everything that I'm like, oh, I wish I could be at that point one day.

And then when they, when they share with me like their sentiments, they're not that different from myself or even from some of my students that are not even in the beginning of their careers. Taking care of yourself is obviously like very important. And I, and I want to know how you navigate through some of those feelings of not so pleasant feelings. How do you deal with it? Do you just wait for them to pass or do you have a little method of snapping out of it?

Hamid Alavi [29:29]

Yeah, sometimes I really just wait. Sometimes I really don't. I mean, I try to just get distracted. Watch a movie or just a TV series or something. Yeah, something. Just watching memes. Maybe that's like a kind of guilty pleasure too. I slept for 2 hours last night. I don't know. This is my second coffee this morning. Yeah, I went for a walk and it was freezing cold and windy. But yeah, I spent like an hour outside, but it was cool. It was— yeah, it was nice.

I was wondering maybe we should find like an Work on something like an AI voiceover for this episode. Yeah, because my English sucks. I yeah, I hate my voice. And by the way, I'm kind of funny too sometimes. I like that being funny. Yeah, sometimes I really enjoy myself that I can make people laugh. I don't speak that much, but yeah, sometimes I. Say something that everyone just exploded. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [30:45]

So I have another question for you. Really?

Hamid Alavi [30:48]

Again? Again?

Christian Solorzano [30:50]

My question is in the eyes of Hamid, what is a like, being that design touches so many parts of the world, whether it's, politics or mass communication or so much identity and so forth, what does Hamid's perfect world look like?

Hamid Alavi [31:08]

I mean, I could wish for a better world, for like all the countries are in peace and just— but for the, for the designers and artists, I'm thinking maybe a great world will look like something like a, like a place that everyone can express themselves as the way that they like, and they don't need to be part of any communities or any groups to be, considered as like creative people, and they can be seen and heard even if they're writing or speaking or in a different language.

I was working on the— I kind of have this idea about like, you remember my thing that I designed for the Weird Shit Maker?

Christian Solorzano [31:49]

Yeah.

Hamid Alavi [31:50]

I was thinking about like a series. I have some artists and designers in mind, so I can work on that as like a project introducing like people who I know which are not really well known or underrated, but they're like doing great works of design and art, and they inspired me. Maybe they're musicians or artists or just designers, and maybe it cannot fit anywhere, like in any like categories.

It's not good enough for like brand identity, to be like a part of a brand identity team, or like being part of like someone who can show his works in like art galleries. We're not— yeah, but it's still, it's something.

Christian Solorzano [32:35]

And today, what are you, what are you listening to or watching or reading? What are some of your sources of inspiration or what's the latest? I know, I know you and I kind of share a similar passion for music.

Hamid Alavi [32:51]

For the book, I'm starting to read this book, Design as Art, yeah, by Munari. And for the music, I was listening to some like ambient music. Ani Arani, maybe. Yeah, I was listening to her music recently. I went to the concert and liked that a lot. But sometimes I go back to my own archive and find like, oh, who was that guy who made this song. And movies and shows, I was watching some.

I don't know why, but I started to watch some like a documentary series Conversation with a Killer. And it's kind of fascinating and horrifying what humankind are really capable of. Anyways, but yeah, there's so many artists are Musicians that have kind of inspired me. But yeah, sometimes I just need to just sit back and just not listen to anything, not watch anything.

Christian Solorzano [33:54]

Just— And is there, is there a medium that you have yet to explore or experiment with? What, what's something that you, that you've, that you haven't had a chance to do yet that you, that you think would be that you'd be curious to try?

Hamid Alavi [34:11]

Yeah, sometimes I'm thinking about the, like art installations, like multimedia kind of projects which I could work on, like making like video arts and like maybe drawings and some 3D models or whatever, and like making like a whole new experience. So yeah, maybe that would be interesting to work on, and maybe in that installation, I can connect my photos to my drawings, to my, design works somehow, somewhere, because at the moment they look like totally different things.

Christian Solorzano [34:47]

Yeah, I think what would be interesting would be if you created a book and it could include your sketches, your thoughts, photos. They're pretty easy to do nowadays. There's just On-demand printing. You don't have to, print like 100 of them. You can just do one if you want to.

Hamid Alavi [35:07]

Yeah, that would be good.

Christian Solorzano [35:09]

Yeah, that would be interesting, kind of just to see, because what I like about you is that you're not just like a singular, static designer or artist. You're kind of all over the place, which I, which I feel like would be a nice story to tell somehow. So I don't know, maybe that could be a 2025 project.

Hamid Alavi [35:28]

Yeah, every time I'm thinking about like big projects, and also kind of scary, well, how am I going to even do that? Maybe I can do it in upcoming year, hopefully. Yeah, inshallah.

Christian Solorzano [35:44]

Well, we're almost at time, but you're very easy to get a hold of. So in the bio, in the description for this episode, I'll include your website. But is there any words of wisdom that you want to leave us with?

Hamid Alavi [35:57]

Yeah, I just want to leave you with an awkward silence. This noise. But no, yeah, I guess I already mentioned that. Yeah, sometimes you can just sit back and watch and absorb and listen and don't need to talk all the time. Yeah, and I have so many questions.

Christian Solorzano [36:19]

Maybe your episode should have just been the ambience episode. Well, thank you again for being a guest, and thank you for— thank you on behalf of me and just the entire community for just being very thoughtful.

Hamid Alavi [36:34]

And yeah, thank you so much for having me. I just wanted to thank you, thank you and all of the former and current members of the club for being so supportive and being so nice and kind to me and I learned a lot from all of the— all of you guys. So happy to be part of this club.

Christian Solorzano [36:52]

All right, talk soon.

Hamid Alavi [36:53]

Take care, man.

Christian Solorzano [36:55]

As usual, thank you so much for tuning in till the end. To learn more, visit www.chicagographicdesign.club. And if you are enjoying this podcast, Underscore, I would be very delighted if you give this podcast a rating on the streaming platform of your choice. Thank you, and we'll talk to you soon. Goodbye.