Christian Solorzano [01:06]

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'm delighted to speak with both Kim, Executive Creative Director, and Alex, Director of Brand Development of the Chicago-based design studio, Simple Truth, who've worked with clients such as the Chicago History Museum and the City Colleges of Chicago.

And throughout our conversation, Alex and Kim both share the power of uncovering and working to discover what your simple truth is, not just for yourself as a designer or a strategist, but also what it takes to help clients unpack that vision Through workshops, through building a culture of learning, to even doing exercises like being your own clients. They also share Simple Truth's 5 rules and they break each of them down and they are: be simple, be true, be imaginative, be generous, and be game.

As usual, thank you so much for tuning in. I hope that you find this conversation inspiring, insightful, Good afternoon, Alex and Kim. How are the both of you doing?

Kim Terzis [02:31]

Great.

Alex Sommerville [02:32]

Good.

Christian Solorzano [02:32]

I learned more about Simple Truth a few weeks ago at Field Day at Navy Pier that the Design Museum of Chicago put together. And I believe it was some of your interns that were there interviewing people, and they were asking a handful of questions that I felt like were very insightful. Very thoughtful. I believe one of them was, what does community mean to you? Questions regarding creativity and so forth. But what I'm most intrigued by is the name of the studio, Your Simple Truth.

So can one of you tell me where that name comes from and what it means?

Alex Sommerville [03:09]

Oh, Alex, do you want me to take that one?

Kim Terzis [03:11]

Yeah, please do.

Alex Sommerville [03:12]

Okay, so Years ago now, we as an agency chose to be our own best client. And so we worked really hard on our own brand, and part of that was naming the company. And so Simple Truth really came from the idea that we believe that every business, every company has something that's unique and special at its core. And our job is not to come in and, create that.

It's really to come in and find what it is that's true for those businesses and uncover it, discover it for them or rediscover it for them and articulate it in new, fresh ways that are really relevant to them and their audiences.

Christian Solorzano [04:01]

And it's been around since 1996, I read. So it's been around for a while.

Alex Sommerville [04:07]

The business, yeah. Has actually been around even earlier than that. But we've had a few iterations, we've had a few new partnerships. And so we've evolved with the times. We've had, like I said, a few different name changes along the way. But this is really, how we think about this has not really changed. It's just that we're articulating it for ourselves and sharing that with our clients and each other and our community. So.

Christian Solorzano [04:38]

And how did the both of you come into just joining the team. I was looking through your LinkedIn and Kim, yours says that you've been with Simple Truth for 35 years, which is not true.

Alex Sommerville [04:49]

It is true.

Kim Terzis [04:51]

It is true.

Alex Sommerville [04:52]

Okay.

Christian Solorzano [04:52]

All right. Tell us about that. Really confused me.

Kim Terzis [04:54]

Okay.

Alex Sommerville [04:55]

Well, in short, it's, like a journey of internship to partnership. So back in 1987, I was a VisCom student at Northern and I was heading into my junior year and I wanted a job. So I literally, back then it was like getting the Yellow Pages out and I called a company who was the original Simple Truth, then known as Graphically Speaking.

And I asked for an internship role and they had never had that before, but they entertained the idea and they interviewed me and brought me on. And I've been with the company ever since. We started, in Des Plaines and moved to Evanston, Wheeling and Evanston, and now Chicago. So, I've just, I've done every job, every design job along the way over the course of those 35 years. And yeah. And so here I am today.

Christian Solorzano [05:53]

And you said it was, it used to be called Graphically Speaking.

Alex Sommerville [05:56]

Yes. Way back in the day. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [05:59]

That's such a cool name. I love it.

Alex Sommerville [06:00]

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, and of course you can imagine the logo was like a mouth on graph paper. Pretty homegrown, but we were doing good work.

Christian Solorzano [06:09]

Okay. And then what about you, Alex?

Kim Terzis [06:11]

Yeah, so I've been at Simple Truth for about 6 years now. I started my career thinking I was gonna be an architect. I went to school to be an architect and then had a couple of internship experiences that really changed my life and the direction of my career. I came out with my bachelor's in architecture and said, I don't wanna be an architect.

And that really was kind of a huge moment for me and decided that I needed to work just a little bit a little bit and experience, what else is out there since I was so hyper-focused, up until that point on this one this one role for myself. And so, after some self-reflection, I realized that I wasn't too far from where I wanted to be but I just need to do a little pivot and got into graphic design.

And so I applied to grad school, went to UIC got my master's degree in graphic design, and then came out of that Worked at another small agency and then over onto Simple Truth as a senior designer, which is where I've grown over the last 6 years, now a creative director there.

Alex Sommerville [07:19]

Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [07:20]

And looking through the work that Simple Truth does, I noticed that the industries that you all focus on appear, to me at least, they come across as very niche. It's education, environmental and engineering services, healthcare, culture and museum institutions, et cetera. So what's the— is there a particular type of client that Simple Truth works with, or?

Alex Sommerville [07:47]

Well, I mean, we work with a lot of range of clients, but when we reflect on, most of them, they fall into one of 3 categories, either home-related, health-related, or learning-related. So those are really, we refer to those as 3 areas where we focus on ecosystem thinking. And so that is, the idea that what we're learning in one area can apply in many different ways in another area. So learning can inform home can inform health, things like that.

And so that's really— if we had to get real specific about clients, I mean, it would be sort of in those buckets. It's not that we target a very specific industry, but it happens to, work— good work begets good work in similar areas. And so that's really where our expertise has grown.

Christian Solorzano [08:55]

And has the type of clients that you work with changed throughout the last, like throughout the last few decades, or how has that Has it— have you noticed that it's narrowing down to maybe a more specific type of clients, or has it always sort of been that way?

Alex Sommerville [09:12]

Well, I mean, I guess it still kind of goes off that idea that, as, word of mouth, and as you're producing good work in certain areas, that tends to spread, right? So I think we've also been known for some clients who we had very long term. So in industries like insurance. And so other insurers know of us and same with higher ed in particular, so it just, it kind of just organically, naturally grows in those areas.

I would say senior living is another area that we've done quite a lot of work in and that's sort of word of mouth. People leave from one place, go to another, bring us along. So.

Christian Solorzano [10:01]

And would you say that there's like one particular industry or client that you feel like encapsulates what Simple Truth is about, or is it sort of like a little bit of everyone, or?

Kim Terzis [10:13]

I mean, I think it's a little bit of everything. I think there's— it feels like in general, the design industry and design agencies, there's a trend towards like hyper-specialization, right? You go to your UX designers, you go to people that have super deep knowledge of one industry, and, there's benefit to that, right? They have a lot of experience. They know exactly what, you're trying to get, what you're trying to achieve.

But, I think that to me there's something a little bit to be said about being kind of a generalist in this case. We do know a little bit about everything and we're able to, harness those thoughts and ideas and approaches to different challenges that, one industry might have that another doesn't ever experience. And so I think that there is that knowledge share that we're able to kind of tie our different experiences with clients together.

By— that's the whole reason why we like— we don't like to focus too deep on one sector. I mean, that being said, we have— do have a lot of great experience like in the real estate world. And, I bring my architecture background and knowledge into that. That, level of expertise helps me in, conversations with those types of clients. So we do have, areas of kind of Specialization within our team itself.

But I would say just as an agency, we try and stay a little loose when it comes to that, which I think our clients tend to find differentiating and really helps us. It just changes the way you would think about things and approach, problem solving.

Christian Solorzano [11:53]

And when it comes to, for instance, like helping a client uncover, discover their truth, their simple truth, what are some like exercises or activities that go along with that? Because I know sometimes, I see this a lot in our industry, is that there's almost like this truth that is spread across the industry. And sometimes that truth, I don't really see it as applicable to particular problems that are trying to be solved.

So what's like, what are some few ways that, that's just a way to discover what that simple truth is? And maybe not just for the clients, but also for amongst your teams or— Yeah, just more on the individual level.

Kim Terzis [12:40]

Yeah. So I think one thing that's really interesting and unique about our team specifically is our, the head of our strategy area are both creatives themselves. So they approach brand strategy and it's really the team that's doing that, like uncovering of the deep simple truth, that core idea.

But they come from a writing and design background and so they're able to take those skills that they innately have and kind of approach strategy and development of that simple truth or uncovering of it from a creative point of view, right? It's a lot less formulaic because I totally agree with you. There's very similar structures and formats to how, we people can approach strategy. And, we try and come at it fresh almost completely fresh every single client that we have.

Sometimes we have personality traits, other times it doesn't make sense to have that and we wanna have ways of being instead. And, we don't have the same workshop that we do for every single one of our clients. It's all kind of what are we trying to pull out of them and what's gonna be important, and relevant to, themselves as a business, but also to the rest of the creative team.

Because, strategy is just the one portion of it, which we do a ton of, but Hopefully, then transitions into brand development or design, and we're able to create something and craft something brand new with that strategy. So sometimes we'll cater, which workshop exercises that we're doing to kind of best help, that next phase of the project itself too.

Christian Solorzano [14:22]

Yeah.

Alex Sommerville [14:22]

I would, I would add on to that too, that when we do workshops, we really like to have a diverse group, because we want to hear from everyone and we can find different exercises that kind of level the playing field so that everyone feels comfortable to speak out. We have workshops that involve Pez dispensers. We have workshops that involve Mad Libs. And, we try to make it fun but really insightful.

We ask people to bring personal items from home for different exercises and we'll run through a, creative sort of this or that exercise to kind of take temperature where they are from a visual tone or, voice tone. So it's— we really do mix it up and we try to make it really engaging.

Christian Solorzano [15:15]

And as far as like, I often think that like participating or like host or facilitating those type of workshops and activities with clients is great. And I'm curious about how Internally amongst your teams, how do you foster that culture or that environment where, like you mentioned, like being your own client, like being your own best clients?

So I'm curious about how you go about that, because I know that there's, especially for listeners that are like finishing school or like new to the world of design, sometimes finding that simple truth within ourselves can be so challenging and difficult. And it's almost like we tend to identify with a broad, simple truth that sometimes doesn't align with our own values and purpose. So, yeah, just curious about that.

Alex Sommerville [16:11]

Well, so, I mean, Alex, and maybe you'll have another perspective on this, but my thought is, in order to get everyone sort of on board and learning and collaborating together, we do just that. Everyone comes to the table and has a voice at the table. So recently, we were rebranding a library. And one of the phases included a workshop with the library team.

And so we had one of our new hires, who had been an intern of ours, brainstorm with us to figure out what kind of workshop would be relevant to them. And not only did she help come up with this idea having them create a book jacket, small groups creating their own book jackets with certain language and things on it. But she ran the exercise.

So, I mean, we really give people the opportunity to be empowered, to learn about themselves, and to, gain confidence by doing and, having the support there along the way.

Kim Terzis [17:24]

Going back to like this idea of finding your own simple truth and your own process and all of that. I think it's really important to recognize what it is that you're really interested in and what it is that you're not interested in or that you're not as excited about or that you just don't have as much experience in and it feels uncomfortable. And being able to vocalize that, I think, has been huge for myself personally.

But I also think when you're around a supportive team, you feel like you are able to kind of voice those concerns and questions. And, it's, I'm not really sure what, what's going on with this half-baked idea, but, there's something there. Maybe this person can go work on that. There's something really nice about the culture of the creative team at Simple Truth that really supports that type of like active questioning of the ideas, of the work, of each other, of yourselves.

There's always kind of that willingness to want to push yourself creatively. And this, like I said, this willingness to like I can come into a meeting and say, I really don't know what this client does. Can you writers tell me like in 10 words what this client does? I have no idea. And that's okay. There, there's that. That really supportive kind of feeling.

Christian Solorzano [18:55]

Yeah. And I think sometimes having that, lack of knowledge is a kind of superpower because it sort of encourages everyone else to sort of, simplify. It's like explaining it to a 5-year-old. I always say, if you can't explain it in one sentence, then you— then it demonstrates that you, truly get it. Because I've been in environments where, a problem statement or, a brief is like this long documents and I'm just am I the only one that doesn't get it?

Kim Terzis [19:26]

Right. I know it's so true though. And it's like, and you're slacking someone on the side that's just hey, are you, are you getting this? I'm not getting this. It's so hard. Exactly. No. And it's kind of funny, like going back to like our company name, Simple Truth, like that's, those are 2 questions that we ask ourselves all the time. Is it simple and is it true? And if the answer is no, then we need to be doing better.

Christian Solorzano [19:52]

I love that. I almost feel like that needs to be like a requirement on resumes of like, what is your simple truth?

Alex Sommerville [20:00]

Yeah. And it changes. It's okay to know that it's going to change. Years ago, I think mine was measure twice, cut once. And I think today it would be pass it on. Now I'm at a in my career where I just want to mentor and, help those emerging artists. So my own team and the ones that are coming through, school and things like that. So yeah, made a change.

Christian Solorzano [20:29]

I love it. So I— so on your, on your website, I noticed that you have 5 rules. And typically when we talk about rules, they just— it's like rules, like who wants to follow rules? Rules suck and all this stuff. But your rules are fun. Your rules are fun. And I like that you're using rules as a term because you're giving rules a new definition.

So your 5 rules are be simple, which we just talked about, just keep things super simple. And you mentioned make it usable, accessible, sayable, and gettable. I love sayable because if you could say it, then you understand it.

Kim Terzis [21:16]

Yeah.

Alex Sommerville [21:17]

Well, I mean, a part of what we do is making the complex simple and then simple compelling. But that idea of being simple is also— it applies to process and our approach to problem solving. And also just working with us. We want our clients to love working with us and feel like, the meeting they're going to have with us today is going to be the best meeting they're going to have all week?

So, we just come at that from a couple different angles that I think really matters to not only the team, but again, our clients.

Christian Solorzano [21:53]

And is there ever any friction with like maybe a client coming to you with like, we know what our truth is and—

Alex Sommerville [22:01]

We love that.

Christian Solorzano [22:03]

Oh, you do?

Alex Sommerville [22:03]

Okay. Love that because then we get to tell them, we get to prove it. Show them, like that's it for them to go that far. That's really great. Sometimes it's about making it more relevant. It's not having a new one, having a new truth, but yeah, just finding, looking at it in a different light, the different lens.

Christian Solorzano [22:24]

Be simple, be truth, and then be imaginative. Provoke thought, emotion, and action. Can one of you talk a little bit more about that? I love that.

Alex Sommerville [22:34]

Being imaginative is, it's sort of table stakes, right, for what we do. But this is like, I would say, next level imagination. And a couple of ideas I can give you, when you get an RFP, you usually spend time writing a document, sending that back off and keeping your fingers crossed.

Well, I mean, we, we've done things like created a pop-up event, food truck event at the potential client's site, I mean, to show them enthusiasm and to respond to the RFP in a different kind of way. There's more to it than the food trucks, but the food trucks are a big part of it. We have delivered a brand expression presentation with a song and a guitar before. So it's, looking for new ways to really Do the same things, right?

And we have to read our clients in the opportunity and to take the opportunity. And so, that's part of being imaginative for us.

Christian Solorzano [23:39]

I love that because again, like sometimes online I'll see like templates for how to do XYZ and it's nice to actually think outside the box and not go about just doing things that people, work, but, it's like if they work, then most likely everyone's going to be doing the same thing. So why not do something entirely new? And then generous, be generous. What does that mean? I never really hear generosity as like a synonym or something that is talked about like alongside design.

So what does be generous mean at Simple Truth?

Kim Terzis [24:15]

So I think for me, it's really about this idea of making time for mentorship. Making sure that we are investing our time, our talents, our resources in that next generation, whether they are at Simple Truth or, outside it, out in the— still in school, doing things like this, just being able to share our experiences and our skill sets, outside of just our client work.

And then also, I think a big part of maybe this is just the teacher in me, but I also think that, making sure that we're really equipping our clients' teams with everything they need to really make the work that we do work hard, every day. There's always that handoff moment, right? After you do a new rebrand and you're giving it off to whether it's an internal marketing team, best case scenario, they have a whole in-house creative team that can run with it.

But sometimes it's just like one, lonely marketing manager, or not even that, someone that just needs to actually implement the brand and, live it, breathe it every day. And, making sure that we are doing everything that we can to help train them and make them feel confident in all of the decisions that have been made together so that they can take it on and run with it. We do a lot of, training workshops and things like that after the fact, after the guidelines are done.

And I just, I think that being able to communicate with other people, making sure that these tools and resources that we're crafting are usable, is huge. Because, it's— you can, you could write pages and pages of guidelines, but if they aren't understood, if people aren't adapting to them, if you're not willing to kind of sit down and show people, your design intent, then it's always going to fall flat.

And so we want to make sure that we are, giving or putting our best foot forward there with launching any new brands.

Christian Solorzano [26:22]

And then Alex, and then, and I know that you teach, that you're also an educator, and I'm curious to hear about how, just your overall sentiments around, the new generation of designers that are, joining the industry. Do you notice, what are some of the differences that you notice from, perhaps when you graduated? Do you feel like there's a big difference? And if so, what are your thoughts there?

Kim Terzis [26:49]

I will say that they are eager as heck, which is exciting as being on the employer side of things now, is that there's just so much energy coming out of school and colleges. And I think some of that is that design is so accessible now. There's so many, so many places for inspiration. On the other hand, I think you mentioned it a little bit earlier, things can start to feel a little templated, a little, too similar.

And so, how are you trying to find ways to really differentiate yourself and stand out? And so there's always that little bit of a— it's kind of like the two, the angel and the devil on your shoulder, right? Those two voices. There's one where you want to be really on trend and, make sure that things, feel like they're of the time. And then there's the other part of you that's like, well, is that just copying, right?

And so you're gonna have to balance those 2 things in making sure that you're putting out original work and ideas, because that's what's really gonna get you noticed, not just kind of using the same, typefaces that are trending right now. But I do think that there is— it is interesting. There is kind of like a shift towards back towards, wanting to have the tactile and print medium and things like that.

It felt like when I was in school, it was like more so the arc of the— everyone was super into digital things. Everyone was making an app. Everyone was, creating a website. And so it seems like the pendulum has swung the other way back into print, which, as a brand person myself, I mean, I love it. Give me a Pantone book and I'll, be very happy. So, it's nice to see. That the sense of like physicality hasn't gone away completely.

Christian Solorzano [28:41]

And at Simple Truth, how do you go about like just drawing inspiration? Or I'm curious about like the visual creative process. Like there's the, there's a simple truth of like what's the voice of the clients, but then there's like the simple truth expressed through like the visuals, like the color, the typefaces, etc. So what are some like yeah, just talk a little bit about how the visual voice is crafted.

Kim Terzis [29:13]

Yeah, so I think a little bit, or what's unique about how Simple Truth kind of approaches expression is both a voice and visual kind of marriage at all points throughout the entire process. And so we are, we always start off every project with, taking a look at what is that strategy that, was just handed to us from the strategist.

They walk us through it in detail, kind of recount all of the conversations they've had with the client thus far, if we weren't already a part of the conversations, which most of the time we are actually, brought into those initial strategic conversations. But, it's a matter of just kind of having as many inputs as you can right at the beginning. So I'll take, one little nugget from the strategy. Maybe it's just a line that, was in kind of a creative anthem video.

And, we'll take that one line and start visualizing it, 20, 30 different ways, pulling things off Pinterest, get just gathering a bunch of different ideas just to see what, that one little line could spark. Maybe it sparks a color palette that I pulled from an image that I found on Unsplash or something, and start to just see how many different ways you can start to mine what's already been crafted.

It's kind of this ebb and flow of going really big and then narrowing down and then going really big again and narrowing down again.

Alex Sommerville [30:47]

I do also really like it when we have the opportunity to go on site to a client. But right now I'm working on a senior living project, and to talk to the team is— it was so incredibly helpful. But to go there and feel it and experience the space and the attitude and the energy there, and to be able to really embrace that and tap into it, there's nothing really like that in particular.

When— if you have the client and the project that kind of demands that, I always take the opportunity to bring the whole team. To go. We're all going to get something different out of it.

Christian Solorzano [31:23]

And did COVID change a lot of the way that you all go about working, or are things back to normal now? What was the impact there?

Alex Sommerville [31:35]

Well, we were really productive during COVID and we adapted to new ways of collaborating online. And I mean, we really we've worked it out. We figured it out. We stayed the same company that we were before COVID We had the same team coming out of COVID we learned— we always said we couldn't do this job, at home, and that we could. And so we have, adapted to a hybrid style of work. And that's really because, we missed each other.

We missed being next to each other and like rolling up our sleeves and hashing something out over a table? And so having opportunity to have face time with each other is super great. But we also respect the flexibility that we all came to love? And so we kept that.

Christian Solorzano [32:38]

How does the team go about maintaining like inspiration outside of like the work? I know you mentioned like there's just several, imaginative ways to, work with clients and, just do that. But what about, just keeping the morale up? And just, I feel like particularly, definitely, the last 4 years, there's been a lot of changes, in just in the world and the country. So, has that shaped or influenced the way that— Like you go about continuing to build culture or supporting one another?

Alex Sommerville [33:20]

Yeah, well, I mean, I and Alex, maybe again you'll have some other thought, but we really make sure we take time to have fun together.

So, we have a summer outing every year. We do our big holiday parties and we celebrate the years people have been at the company. We, we'll have, like I said, we have anchor days on one Thursday a month. And so we'll have breakfast or we'll bring lunch in. Sometimes it's breakfast too. We'll have a happy hour. We really carve out time to, like I said, have fun and kind of just learn from each other.

We have small group initiatives, like we're really digging into AI and seeing how that influences our work together. So we're learning together.

Alex has been with a few other people leading an incredible internship program that's kept us busy and thinking and learning in new ways. I was just telling the interns, they think they learned a lot this summer, but we learned right alongside them. So, we just were very thoughtful about it and we love to have fun and we're very competitive. So anything that has a game connotation to it, we're all in.

Christian Solorzano [34:31]

A question that I often ask our guests is like, just regarding the industry and like opportunities and more and more importantly, do you notice that there's something within the design industry that is lacking right now? What would be your call to action for something that we— you feel like we need more of? Overall industry sentiments, how do you see— how do you see things changing? And I know like AI continues to be like a trend.

Kim Terzis [35:00]

I think AI thing aside, because AI scares me from a legal perspective. But, I think the— as is every industry right now, it's really demanding diversity. And I think that, the design industry is no different. I think that a lot of— there's a lot of opportunity out there. And I As a third-generation Mexican-American woman, I, feel that sense of responsibility to bring others that have similar heritage as myself and that may be underrepresented in our design industry along with me.

And that is part of the reason why I, enjoy teaching so much and why, I'm so passionate about the intern program at Simple Truth as well, because I do think that there, we need to be reflective of the society that we are designing for, that we're creating for. And it's impossible to do that without having all of the voices, all of our voices at the table.

And so, I think it's really important to be able to provide those opportunities to those who may not have had the, as easy access to that in the past.

Christian Solorzano [36:22]

And just to follow up on that question regarding like diversity and representation. Is there— at what point— because I've noticed I agree with everything that you said, but I've also noticed that at some point, like having too many voices, almost like you don't want too many voices. And by that, I just mean you don't want too many cooks in the kitchen. So how do you strike that balance of the right number of voices?

Kim Terzis [36:48]

I mean, that's the age-old question, right? It's brutal sometimes when you have so many voices. I think, making sure that Yes, every voice needs to be heard and has value and all that. Absolutely. But making sure that you're having a good understanding of kind of who the key stakeholders are, taking everything together, synthesizing it, making sure that, every voice and opinion is kind of laddering up to whatever that common goal is at the end, because sometimes more voices are just more voices. Right.

You don't, you don't need, 4 creative directors on a project just because, they all have a little bit of a different tweak to them. Eventually it's, you're going to need that one person that's going to kind of, take that charge and that lead that has the best understanding of, the client and what their needs are.

Alex Sommerville [37:43]

We— I would say that also applies to, how do we approach projects with large client groups? And so we, we've had clients in the past where really they said the process is the project. I mean, of course we're going to create things and we're going to, deliver communications, but to get there is going to be quite the project. And so like I said, we like to hear from everyone.

So bringing everyone to the table, it could get unwieldy if we didn't have guardrails kind of set up from the and part of that is each person understanding what, why they're there, and what it is that they can contribute. And so that goes for our own team internally as well as for our client teams. And I think that once everybody knows what's, what they're really, what we're, what we're looking for, what they really have to contribute, they almost feel better about it.

They know what their role is and we actually get better buy-in that way. So people feel really invested and feel like they really contributed and made an impact with a little bit of shaping around, the process from the very beginning.

Christian Solorzano [39:02]

I remember many years ago I was working on a— with a client, and the only user interviews that we were doing were with amongst ourselves, which— and we're not the— like, we weren't the users. And then we finally got the product in front of like the actual users. And their perspective was like black and white compared to ours. It was so vastly different and it forced us to have to like go back and like redo so much.

And that was a blind spot that we had. And I, and I, and I like hearing that. Yeah, that just this like emphasis on bringing in like the right voices into the picture.

Alex Sommerville [39:43]

And sometimes they really surprise each other. We really surprise ourselves with, an insight that like came from the least likely place that really was the pivot point for the work we were doing or the approach we were taking. So, it's really great to be able to be open and know how to work that way.

Christian Solorzano [40:02]

And right now, what's exciting the both of you the most happening at Simple Truth or just happening in the industry?

Alex Sommerville [40:11]

Any—

Christian Solorzano [40:11]

Yeah, just what's exciting the both of you?

Kim Terzis [40:17]

That's a tough one. I'm so busy right now.

Christian Solorzano [40:21]

Or what? Or the other question is like, what's keeping you up at night?

Kim Terzis [40:25]

Oh, brutal. Both brutal questions. No, I think what's keeping me up at night is, it's the end of the year. We're just about to enter into the new quarter and it feels like this is the time of year when things start to just really ramp up, in terms of timelines and deliverables. And so it's all, it's exciting stuff. We have a couple of new brand projects on the horizon that are about to get kicked off that are, exciting work that we're doing.

But again, it feels like you blink and it's 2025. So it's definitely creeping up on us here.

Alex Sommerville [41:09]

And I think for me, I'm really focused on the team, making sure we have the right people and the right places that, we have all the resources that everyone is looking for. And, that I'm able to be responsive very quickly when things change because, as we know, projects and clients and timelines and all kinds of things shift very quickly in our business. So just really trying to stay on top of things, knowing who's out there in terms of talent. And also adapting to new clients.

It's exciting to have new clients come on board. It's a learning process. We dive really deeply. So there's quite a bit of work to do ongoing in that, in that way. And then I think also, like we touched on very earlier in this conversation, keeping those workshops, keeping the engagement high with our clients is really always coming up with something new and interesting. Trusting is really important. We continue to work at that and bring everyone along. Sometimes we all brainstorm together and things like that.

So just keeping it going, keeping it fresh.

Christian Solorzano [42:28]

And in regards to outside of Simple Truth, I'm curious about what you love most about Chicago and why I mean, obviously Simple Truth is based in Chicago, but what's like, what's the relationship between Simple Truth and Chicago? And what's your answer to what's special about Chicago? What do you love about Chicago?

Kim Terzis [42:55]

For me, what's so special about Chicago is, I mean, everybody says it, you have all the benefits of a big city while getting all the people of a small city. I think that it's such a perfect scale, but it has such you know world-class amenities. I feel like I'm you know on you know some travel show right here talking about Chicago.

But you know being such an architecture nerd, you know I mean it's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to and you know had the pleasure of living in. But it is so approachable, and I've found that both you know just as was, a resident, but also just being a designer. I served on the board at AIGA for a while, getting to know folks through my teaching at UIC and, just being in the industry and going to different industry events.

And, it's such a welcoming community and it's really, it just has a good sense of scale to it, where you feel like you're a part of something big that's happening, but it's not intimidating in a way. You feel like it's manageable enough that you can have an impact on it. And I just think that that's so unique for a city of this size.

Christian Solorzano [44:13]

Yeah. And you're not from Chicago, you're from California, right?

Kim Terzis [44:17]

Yes, I was born in California. And I went to school in Cincinnati, so I'm definitely a transplant to the city itself. And so it's a cool spot. I love it.

Alex Sommerville [44:32]

I think a little bit of what Alex said, but I just, I love the fact that it's actually so close-knit. The people who have come through our doors are still— most of them are still in Chicago. We're still connected. We are, they connect us to others. We see each other at events and also, know people who we work with outside of Simple Truth. We sponsor the Design Museum. And so we get great opportunities to do work with them.

And just to, like Alex said, to be able to see your work make an impact in this city, a city of this size. I mean, sometimes, you put things out there and you never see it again, but here you actually can run into your billboard, run into the bus, ad you did, and feel like you really had something to say here and make that impact.

Christian Solorzano [45:27]

So can the both of you share was there like a moment in your careers where you felt like you've made it? What was that milestone moment where you're like the main character in the movie and you're like, all right, I made it?

Kim Terzis [45:42]

Oh, I have mine. So to just kind of build off of what Kim literally just said. So it was a couple summers ago, we had 3 different campaigns running at the same time for 3 totally different clients. And I was downtown running some errands and I happened to see a version of all 3 ads somewhere when I was downtown during that day, and it was so cool.

There was one that went by on a bus, there was an ad up on just a billboard, and then a train wrap went by that we had done. And so this is just such a cool moment to be able to see your work not only out there, but like at scale here, having an impact on the city. So yeah, I had a little Misty moment there for myself where I definitely felt like a main character.

Christian Solorzano [46:31]

That's cool. That's cool to see your work like on an actual train wrap.

Kim Terzis [46:36]

Yeah, it was awesome.

Alex Sommerville [46:37]

I would say, well, years ago, I we worked with United and they were launching a new airline called Ted. And I got to be the designer who traveled to all of these great kind of leisure destinations with a photo crew and take pictures for the booklet that went in the seatback. And so we did kind of an offbeat, you're going to Phoenix, well, you're going to see all these things, but what about these?

And so we went to all these kind of like off-the-beaten-path kind of places and we wrote and we designed and we shot all the imagery on location for all these. And I was like, to be on that plane and to see your work in the seatback pocket, I was like, whoa, that's pretty fun. That was really cool.

Christian Solorzano [47:28]

And is there a dream client or a dream project that Simple Truth has yet to do? What's the holy grail of Simple Truth?

Kim Terzis [47:40]

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, we all get so stoked when we are able to do something that has some sort of cultural impact. On the city of Chicago. I think when we just got the City Colleges of Chicago rebrand project, that was such a huge moment for all of us because it has such a big impact on, where we live.

And so I think anything of that same realm or scale, just being able to have a big impact on a cultural institution kind of like that, I think would be Pretty exciting to do again.

Alex Sommerville [48:16]

And I'm just like dying to do something with a spokesperson. Like we need Oprah on the next project. I—

Kim Terzis [48:25]

Amazing. I would love it.

Alex Sommerville [48:27]

Wouldn't that be fun?

Christian Solorzano [48:28]

Is there any new projects or anything new that the listener can be on the lookout for? Anything you want to tease?

Alex Sommerville [48:40]

Oh, interesting.

Kim Terzis [48:42]

I mean, I think I'm always down to take a moment to plug our intern program again, if we haven't said it enough. It's something that both Kim and I are super passionate about. But we do run a summer intern program that we're just closing out on for this year. But, we love having young— the youth around us to help inspire us. And so we'll be opening up those applications again, probably in kind of mid-February or so.

To kind of recruit for the summer. It's usually kind of a 13 to 15 week program. Designers, writers, and strategists all collaborating on an intern project as well as getting exposure to lots of client work and just agency life and all that kind of good stuff. So, definitely for those internship seekers listening in, definitely keep us in mind for next summer.

Christian Solorzano [49:38]

And what's your advice for someone? What makes a standout candidate? What would be some words of wisdom for that person that is considering applying?

Kim Terzis [49:48]

Oh, I think talk about your process. Anyone can create a really cool-looking image with a really dope mockup, but if you can't talk about those ideas behind it, that's really what we're trying to see is, how are you thinking about, approaching different topics, different challenges, and how can we kind of, use that to kind of help infuse, some new thinking into our team as well.

Alex Sommerville [50:19]

I would say I'm a real stickler for accuracy. So if you send me a note and it's full of typos, or, any of your materials that you're sending me, it's Getting off to a bad foot, a bad start, getting off on the wrong foot. So I always say proofread, have your neighbor proofread it, have your, it's your first impression. So you want it to be really spot on.

Christian Solorzano [50:47]

So that, okay, that makes perfect sense.

Alex Sommerville [50:50]

You'd be surprised at something, and some people don't proofread.

Christian Solorzano [50:55]

So I know I sometimes don't proofread, so Anyways, but thank you so much to the both of you for taking the time to chat with us. It flew by. And if anyone wants to learn more about Simple Truth, we'll put the link to the website online and also a link to both of your LinkedIn profiles. What's the best way for someone to reach out and get in contact with you?

Kim Terzis [51:23]

They can definitely email us. There's an email address at the bottom of our website. We also have a careers page, which we are constantly keeping updated when we're looking for new talent. But yeah, and then we're also on Instagram @YourSimpleTruth.

Christian Solorzano [51:41]

And then the last question is, and this is for the both of you, what's the last thing that made you laugh a lot?

Alex Sommerville [51:50]

It had to have been one of my son's imitations.

Kim Terzis [51:52]

Dang, I was going to say something about my daughter. I feel like we've got 2 moms in the room. So my daughter put this little tiny flowerpot-type teether thing— she's 6 months old— she put it in her mouth but backwards. And so it looked like she was Mr. Potato Head. It was the funniest thing.

Christian Solorzano [52:12]

Very cool. Awesome. Well, thank you so much again. And yeah, and it was great. And I look forward to hopefully at some point. The Chicago Graphic Design Club, we're always looking for collaborators and studios and spaces to get our community to tour and learn more about. So our door's always open. So if any—

Alex Sommerville [52:34]

As is ours.

Kim Terzis [52:36]

Yes.

Christian Solorzano [52:36]

So let's keep that bridge open and let's definitely do something together in the future.

Kim Terzis [52:40]

That'd be awesome. Absolutely. All right.

Christian Solorzano [52:44]

Well, thank you so much and we'll talk soon.

Kim Terzis [52:47]

Okay. Thanks so much, Christian.

Christian Solorzano [52:49]

All right.

Kim Terzis [52:50]

Bye.

Alex Sommerville [52:50]

Bye.

Christian Solorzano [52:53]

Thank you so much for sticking around until the end. To learn more about the Chicago Graphic Design Club, visit us at www.chicagographicdesign.club. Talk soon and see you later. Goodbye.