Christian Solorzano [01:26]

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 have the pleasure of speaking with designer and community organizer Valerie Craig.

And in our conversation, we spent a lot of time talking about what community means, the ways to build it, and the power behind people uniting together for the greater good, which in this case is building community, building programming, and creating spaces where designers can come together to share their experiences and learn from one another. Valerie also shares with us how she got into the world of graphic design. She also offers advice for designers that are looking for ways to differentiate themselves.

But what I love most about this conversation is Valerie's commitment to joy and her words of encouragement that urge us to find joy in the things that we do. And if we're not finding joy in those things, then why do them at all? So as always, it's a great conversation and I hope that you find it as inspiring as I did. We'll talk soon and enjoy. Hey Valerie, nice to be speaking with you. How's it going?

Valerie Craig [02:44]

Good. How are you? I'm so happy to be here.

Christian Solorzano [02:46]

Like I was mentioning to you, there's been many people that have been bringing up your name as a guest as a, as a potential guest on our show. So I'm glad that we're finally here connecting.

Valerie Craig [02:57]

Yeah, I'm really happy to be here. The community, especially in Chicago for design is a really rich and wonderful place. So I'm just I'm happy to spend this time with you and get to know you as well.

Christian Solorzano [03:08]

So you're a designer, you're based out of Lincoln Park, right? That's where, that's where you live. And what I, what I'm, what I'm really inspired, I'm always inspired by people that have been doing community service or just community programming for many years.

And I look to people like— I look up to people, for example, like Tanner at the Design Museum of Chicago, is almost like an older sibling because I feel like there's so many people that have laid a blueprint or like a foundation for even a lot of the stuff that the Chicago Graphic Design Club is doing. So I want to hear from you, what has been some of your community involvement throughout According to the internet, for the last almost 11 years.

Valerie Craig [03:52]

I don't know if I want you to say the number. I love Tanner. He is such a wonderful person. I wish that I could spend all of the time with him. Yeah, I really— let me think. I first— I have a, I have a strong history in AIGA in Chicago, which I think is like a whole topic on its own. But that's really where I started in college. I was part of our chapter.

And when I came out of college, I joined the Chicago chapter as a volunteer on Small Talks. And the Small Talks series that we had at the time was small intimate gatherings that we'd have. We'd limit it to 20 to maybe max 40 people that we'd bring into a local studio and have a conversation. And I just found them to be like magical experiences, right? Like you could sit down in someone's studio and be like, how does your business work?

Like it looks like you're just beautiful books all day. How does this financially work for you? And people would just share all of their inspiration and how things work. And that like really got me excited about the community. And I also felt like I got to know a lot of people that way. So from there I became like a regular programming person for AIJ and later the VP of programming.

And at that point in time, we were like, we were having like membership gatherings and putting on like 70 or being involved in like 70 events a year. The board was big and a working board. And it was just like a really I don't know, like busy, exciting time to put on programming. We had a lot of money. I feel like a lot of like printer and paper money out there in those days, really like funding a lot of what we were doing.

And from there, I just like the community, the board that I was on was just so fantastic. And eventually I became co-president alongside David Sieren. And I think that was maybe the way to get me out, give you the top job and then you're done. But really, for me too, at that time, that was around 2020 that my tenure with the board ended.

And that was such an interesting time to be part of a community when all of a sudden we were like, in our homes, not going out, not having events, trying to find new ways to invent ourselves in the space, which I also find like Fascinating and so excited that like you started Graphic Designers Club like in that period of time as well. Really interesting, but it's really been a journey. It's how I've met people. It's how I've gotten jobs. Those connections that I've made.

And even for a period of time, I worked for myself freelancing and we had all sorts of events where I could like come and talk to other designers and get critique on my work.

Christian Solorzano [06:41]

So it's also been like out of utility and function to like get other people's opinions and help strengthen my and do you recall any one moment that maybe perhaps like just getting out of college, maybe a moment or like a situation that really kind of was a milestone for you professionally? Did you ever have one of those moments where maybe it's talking with someone that is more experienced than you, or maybe like a really nice lesson that you've learned early on?

Valerie Craig [07:08]

Yeah, lesson. I think one person that is a huge inspiration to me is Alisa Wilson of Leo Burnett. She, working with her when she was president of the AIJA board, she, we put on this like big event celebrating the like transition of leadership on the board as well as a book that we were publishing as a board. And basically I was like in over my head.

It's totally in over my head, especially in a volunteer situation where you're like hoping, wishing, dreaming that all of the pieces and all of the funding and all of the graphics and all of the people come into place at the right time.

She's someone who is just I think I was, I think, I don't know how to, I hope that this comes out the way that I intended. I was just like so in awe of her work ethic and her coming in and being like, pen to paper, let's make this work. How can this come to be? And it doesn't have to be hard. And like her ability to organize, to see the big picture and then to pull it into detail was really inspiring to me.

And I think being part of the community and having access to people at different levels, different stages of their career has like really helped, bring my experience up and help me successfully pull off events, which is huge.

Christian Solorzano [08:28]

Yeah. I remember, so I could trace everything that is happening in my life today back to being a mentee at the AIGA, the Chicago AIGA Mentor Program back in, I think it was 2012 or something. And then through that program, I can trace every person that led me to another person that led me to this person. And the people that My, the closest friends that I have today are people that I can point to that first program that I participated in. And it's so great.

It's just such— and I think that experiences like that, you might feel this way too, just keep that like momentum going of like, let's create, let's create these moments for other people that perhaps are like fresh out of college or that maybe are new to the city or getting into design for the first time. Do you, how do you, do you have anything to say about that? Or what are your thoughts around that?

Valerie Craig [09:23]

I mean, I think that that's like truly the sense of belonging, right? Like that we're all here, no matter if you're new to design or you've been working in design for 20 years, that we all have commonality and we all can find common ground. And I think it's for me, I'm an extrovert. So like there used to be times that I would be, like before I come to an event, I'm like a little bit of nerves.

But when I leave the event, I am like, Glowing with excitement. Like no matter what happened that day, no matter what preceded that, like by the end of any like meetup or event, I just am like glowing with the experiences that I've had with people, honestly. And it's, I, people at all stages of their career are so interesting and so inspiring and have something to offer.

Christian Solorzano [10:10]

Yeah. I always refer to that moment of like you're leaving an event as like the post-event glow. Like you're just it just feels so—

Valerie Craig [10:18]

I bask in that glow.

Christian Solorzano [10:21]

Yeah, so whenever, sometimes when we put together like really big events, like you just go home and that's, you're, it's, it just, it's like you just like left a concert.

Valerie Craig [10:33]

Yes. Yes. So like that, like kind of moment of awe. And I don't know, like you said that you're surrounded by those people that were kind of the beginning of your journey. I think that's true too, that I like get this sense that, like with like David or Kelly Kanaga, like they're people that I've like met on this journey that like I want to surround myself with Every single day, and work with as much as I can and, really just make cool shit.

Christian Solorzano [10:57]

So can you talk to us a little bit about, what was life before graphic design for you? What were you like as a kid growing up? Was this something that you've always knew that you wanted to get into?

Valerie Craig [11:10]

Oh, that's a good question. I grew up in West Michigan and I— it wasn't— I— so West Michigan, very conservative, especially at the time. Grand Rapids area, which is pretty cool today, but very different when I was growing up.

I'm the oldest of 4. And I think that I was like, in my mind, I was going to be a lawyer or a judge or something that my mom really wanted me to be. Most of my family is in healthcare. And there was the moment that I ended up on this path was I had completed like all of the classes or, whatever that I needed to graduate from high school.

And I started taking a philosophy class at the community college, and then there's this one class, and this will probably tell you how old I am, but there's this one class where a librarian had organized 5 huge Macs and like basically had a free-for-all with, I think there were 7 or 8 guys who like made a multimedia class. And basically there were like Jazz Drives and like really early Photoshop and some really early like After Effects type stuff.

And I somehow found my way into that class. I was, the only girl, the only, the only thing that was required was to like create a project in 3 different programs. And I fell in love with Mrs. Van Dyke, the librarian who has no design background, has no background in those programs, but she basically just set up this environment for people to come play with these programs, which was really cool.

And I came out of that like winning some scholarship money to like a local art college. And it just like solidified for me like, this is— Something that I really enjoy and I am really rewarded out of, like creating things or solving problems. So that's kind of like that high school class that was very random and unstructured really helped me get on this journey.

Christian Solorzano [13:07]

And do you remember the first time that you came into contact with something that you now think of as your first encounter with a graphic design thing, whether it was like a poster or like a TV show or like what was your first? I guess the question is like, when it comes to visual media, what were you drawn to? What kind of things were you into?

Valerie Craig [13:29]

Yeah, this doesn't really define who I am today, but I was very into fine art. My grandma and I can see there's watercolor paintings that my grandma— my grandma used to do art classes with me where she could teach me how this background-foreground layering of painting would be. And all of my projects in elementary school, I remember we had to do a year-long project and mine was on Impressionism.

And I was always really interested in Monet and Degas and like art, I think is like kind of the beginning, even though that's not truly like a graphic or, typography. But when I think about like art coming into my life that's what I think of.

Christian Solorzano [14:09]

And then you go in, then at what point do you, do you decide that graphic design is something that you want to study? And what was, what was that transition like from going into a program that's now going to be geared towards making you a professional?

Valerie Craig [14:24]

Yeah, I think it was definitely like in high school. And then I started— I remember picking up like a lot of— I remember like designing invites for people, or I remember designing like my stepdad's return address for his envelope. They're just like random things that I remember that I started making that were little one-off things. And I think I just realized that I really enjoyed it.

And when it came to— when it came time to like graduate from high school, I was like, this is, this is what I want to seek out. This is what I want to explore. I feel like I could have a future here.

Christian Solorzano [15:00]

And then so then going back to, going back to Chicago, like what brings you to Chicago? And maybe was there a sense of like coming from where you did? You grow up coming to Chicago? Were you familiar with the city?

Valerie Craig [15:13]

I was. Yeah. Yeah. Like Michigan Avenue. Okay. Bus trip. Yeah, it wasn't Chicago specifically, actually. I looked at Boston pretty seriously too. I really liked Chicago because I wanted to be in a city. I wanted to be in the mindset. I wanted to have the access that you have in a city. But I also wanted to be like, truthfully, like 18-year-old Valerie wanted to be close enough to like hop on a bus and go home.

Like the Pier Marquette Amtrak was like a thing that I took all the time to like go home and see my friends and family. But I came here for college. That's how I had to get here. And I don't, I don't see myself anywhere else. Around that time I also met my now husband. He also went to art school but is a developer today. And this is just like our place.

We'll never— I don't see us anytime soon ever being anywhere other than in the city of Chicago.

Christian Solorzano [16:14]

Yeah. What kept you here? What was it about the city that made Honestly, people.

Valerie Craig [16:21]

We had I have such fond memories of like living in Logan Square in a period of time where we were like riding our bikes everywhere. And this is obviously before we had children or so many responsibilities, but there were periods of time where we talked about like maybe New York would be a place, but like the people and the culture of the city of Chicago is just like a place that I love to be.

I even like, even in the worst of winters, still just have such fond memories of, being here and the experiences and people.

Christian Solorzano [16:53]

Yeah. And then, and then so today, so what can you, can you describe what you're doing today? Professionally? I, you have a, I've looked through your resume or your LinkedIn profile and you have like a pretty extensive, roster of experience at like a variety of like different places. And most recently you're at ActiveCampaign.

But maybe walk us through, people tend to be really interested in just like the trajectory of someone maybe coming fresh out of college and getting into the industry, and maybe walk us a little bit through what that experience was like for you.

Valerie Craig [17:31]

Yeah. Yeah, it's— there's a lot. I— so initially when I graduated from college I had like my internship had turned into a full-time position, and that was at Time Out Chicago, and then I had moved to a small design studio for a while. And I think in my mind, especially coming out of college, that I was like, design studios and agencies are the places that I have to be. Like.

I had some stereotype in my mind that like in-house design was not for me and maybe not as exciting as like a client agency experience might be. So I did work for a small design studio for a few years and ultimately decided to try working on my own. So I freelanced for a number of years. I built a lot of websites during that time with my husband, the developer.

And that's, that was a period of time that I like got really close with community because as a sole, like an individual working like that sense of community or team really is wanting. And then it was during small talks. I ended up at a small talk at Acuity Group which is now part of Accenture Interactive. And it was at that small talk that I was like, these people are awesome. I want to work here. This is so great.

And shortly thereafter had the opportunity to work at Acuity Group. And that's where I like reentered into kind of like corporate jobs. And from there I had I had I had an experience with Sarah Frisk. She was also a past president at AIGA and just a wonderful human being. And she was taking this big leap from IDEO to some unknown startup in tech. She was really— we were having this conversation where she was unsure if that was going to be her next move.

And I was like, I— if you're gonna— if you do that, I want to come. Can I come? And she was like, she'd consider it. And soon after I interviewed and I got to join that team. And that's what brought me into tech. That company was Uptake. And at the time, that was 2015, and that was just like an interesting, wonderful world.

What I've really found that like I enjoy, and I enjoy this about ActiveCampaign as well, is like this space that is always changing, which is tech. Like it's always reinventing itself. There's so many avenues to explore and do. And at Uptake, we were able to, like any, if anyone from Uptake listens to this, they'll laugh about how much swag we created, but it was like environmental design, VR tables. We had a makerspace, like 3D printer inside of our space and like memberships to mHub.

And there's just like a non— the CEO of that company was so hungry for design and saw— is really like truly a salesman at heart and like saw the power of like being able to sell something through design. Like the experience was just incredible. And I think that kind of solidified for me, as tumultuous as tech can be, it also is a place of opportunity. And I think that I like really latch on to that like idea of like, this could be anything.

Like today it could be nothing and tomorrow it could be like a giant unicorn company. And also that company like had just the best people that I've ever worked with in my life. So I ended, I worked there for 5 years and then moved on to ActiveCampaign and it's been a similar experience where I came on as a creative director overseeing brand design, working alongside product design and design systems, and then was— had the opportunity to move into marketing and hold more of a brand role.

And that gave me the opportunity to work more closely with social and multimedia. And then there was a need in product design. So I had the wonderful opportunity to move into the product org and oversee our product design and design systems and brand design and have this like unified design group for about a year and a half. And then we started at ActiveCampaign, a project of redoing our website. And that has brought me and the brand design team back over to marketing.

So now I'm overseeing our site team, brand design, multimedia, and copywriting. And that's kind of what I love. As things come up, as we change and evolve, that I have the opportunity to just go make Cool things. That's what, solving those problems and not being too boxed in is like what really gets me excited about a role. So I've been, in September, it'll be 4 years that I'm at ActiveCampaign.

Christian Solorzano [22:15]

And how have you seen, how has the, what's been the relationship between your jobs and also your community involvement? I'm always very curious about how those 2 worlds come together for people. Because every time I always hear different perspectives on that. Was there a relationship between the two, or did you kind of see them as two separate things?

Valerie Craig [22:39]

I think that my community involvement has been a way that I've come into some of my jobs, but also known people or scouted out spaces and people and how things might work. And then once I'm there, I just I don't know if this is the right way to think about this, but I see that space as an opportunity to bring people in. So like when I was at UpTake, it was like, hey, we've got this stage and the space, like let's host this big event here.

Like let's host every board meeting here, or I can provide this, I can give this. It's like something, it's like an asset. And we haven't done, it's been the pandemic took up a lot of this time that I've worked at ActiveCampaign, but there's been a number of times that we're like, we've got this, we've got the Cedar space. Like if Chicago Design Club needs a space, like we got a space we got snacks, we got coffee.

Like so I always see them as connected and almost like assets of each other because then once too, you like, it's, I think it's like good for recruiting if you want to be bringing designers onto your team, like giving them the same way that I was at Acuity. Like I walked into their space and was like, I like these people. I like these projects. This is a really great place that I would love to be at.

So I think it like serves the company as well to introduce people to their brand, to their culture. And it all just becomes intertwined. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [24:00]

Yeah. And when it comes to design, what are— like, even within the last 4 years, there's been so many drastic changes that have been happening in the industry. And something that I always like to cover is just when it comes to your perspective on the evolution of design, going back to when you first started to the work that you're doing now, what's your overall sentiments around the direction that the industry is heading towards.

I know that there's a lot of— there's— I feel like we're very divided. There's people that are hopeful for, the possibility of AI making the industry better, faster, all these other things. But then at the same time, there's a lot of concern. So what are your thoughts on just, design today, and maybe even more specifically, design in Chicago? What are your thoughts there?

Valerie Craig [24:53]

Yeah, I think design is going in a great direction. I think that AI is amazing. I'm on an advisory board where we had this conversation last year that was like, we need to have rules around how people can use AI and like a lot of maybe fear around how it might surface.

And don't get me wrong, there was like, there was an employee at ActiveCampaign who used AI to create a lot of imagery that's really weird, but that's no different than like people using crappy fonts in the past, right? There'll always be some visual noise happening that, we're not gonna love. But AI, I think empowers us to go so much faster, so much further, even in the tools that we're using.

One thing that we've done is use, FigJam to do some brainstorming, and then we can, summarize those notes and share them out so much more quickly. Some of that busywork, I think, is empowering us to get to the design faster. So in general, I don't know. I'm sure that there's a million different narratives you can write about, what's happening in design, what's happening in the world, what's happening in Chicago. And you can become overwhelmed really quickly.

But I think where we're going is that we're like adding to our tool base. And I think that we're communicating farther, faster with these tools. And I think it's, I think it's overall positive. I'm not, I'm not concerned. The work that we do, I don't think can be replaced with AI, whether that's literally like Hands come out funky when you put them through an AI machine.

But like the thought and like solving a problem for a client or an internal resource, like it's a person, it's a person that needs to do that. So I don't feel concerned about that. And if that— I don't know if we can be replaced, then like maybe we should move on. I'm open to like technology revolutions that maybe there's something different that we should be doing. I think that that's totally— I think it is what it should be.

Chicago today, I think, and this is really just based on the pandemic, I felt like everybody, maybe it was me, maybe this is my story, is that like, I felt really withdrawn and kind of sad about community and, like the 2020, '21, even into '22. But I see like, maybe we, because we were inside for our days, and I feel like the pendulum is starting to like shift back into like, No, we need events. We need community.

We, exactly what you're doing, like bringing people together to have in-person reviews. And while it is nice to do virtual things and have that opportunity, I think that we are like shifting back in a way that makes sense for us where we have the virtual and the in-person. And that's just going to like make us better because it's more accessible in a virtual sense, but that sense of connection you get from an in-person experience, cannot be matched. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [27:43]

And when you were doing a lot of the community involvement stuff with AIGA Chicago, how would you avoid burnout, or did you experience burnout? How do you— how would you balance those 2 things? Because one thing, because I started teaching a few years ago, and I'm always very encouraging with my students that they prioritize, their well-being and that they don't— that they just learn to take care of themselves.

And I think it's very easy for someone like Speaking for myself, to take on more than we should be doing? So what was like, just what were your— how were you doing all of these things for— I mean, with AIGA Chicago is like almost 11 years. What was—

Valerie Craig [28:29]

I don't know what I was thinking, honestly. I don't know if you should be asking me this question. I don't know if you saw, but I like winced a little bit at first. I honestly, something in the last probably like 5 or so years is that I've just been really like, I hope this comes out right as well, but like that sense of awareness of like who I am and how I'm doing.

Like I'm, I've become more attuned to like when I'm clenching my jaw more or like when I'm having reactions of stress. And I like to, I think today I'm better at taking a step back and saying like, what's gonna make me successful today? I'm okay today. What can I take off my plate? And I'm a lot more willing today to like rearrange or postpone things than I was maybe 10 years ago.

I think it was a lot of burnout and a lot of like, I gotta do all these things. And that's where I ended up with like an Elisa Wolfson like bailing me out of like this idea and this like huge thing that I signed up for. But having that awareness of like where you're at and what's really important has made a difference for me as far as like stress and burnout goes.

Christian Solorzano [29:33]

Yeah. And then, and then I'm curious about what was your transition Out of AIGA Chicago, or like maybe more like your transition out of like doing a lot of community involvement, like what was that? Was there an instance that maybe sparked that or what was just, I'm curious about that.

Valerie Craig [29:54]

Yeah. So my like tenure as co-president was ending. So we, it was like the natural progression. And at that time it was like, in the thick of 2020. We had gone through so much, and I just kind of that burnout, I felt I wasn't— I go to an event, I get like so jazzed, that glow, that excitement. None of that was happening at all for me. And I don't know if it was happening for anybody else at that time or, like in that moment.

I just felt really unsure what was next for community or like if events made sense to be online. Or I had a lot of criticisms of AIGA National versus the local chapter because the experiences in that group is very different what National is putting out and putting forth versus the people who are on the ground organizing a chapter and seeing the people. And I had like, I had some issues there.

So I kind of like, as my tenure ended as co-president, I kind of just floated off. And I haven't, I haven't like jumped into anything really since. I also, in that period of time, had a child and I've— she takes up a lot of time as well in the best way possible. But like some of my day, like I have— that was my 3 children and my day's just like different, right?

Christian Solorzano [31:31]

Yeah.

Valerie Craig [31:32]

In a good way.

Christian Solorzano [31:33]

And do you see any, today when you look at Chicago or just the community as a whole, what do you think are, from your perspective, what are the most obvious needs or what's something that you feel is necessary or you wish you could see more of? If you were to give myself or the listener a call to action, what would that be?

Valerie Craig [31:58]

Yeah, I wish that we had and I don't know if this is a realistic wish, and this is something that David and Kelly and I have talked about, is like we used to have like a design week and it used to bring together different groups. Tanner, some like Mass Contexts, like we'd bring together STA, like everyone would come together and we would all organize something together. And I wish that we had those like regular events or AIGA used to do awards.

We had like an annual awards where we would recognize people in the community and tell them how wonderful they are and showcase their work and just like come together and have drinks. And I wish that we had those recurring events. I wish we had something that we always knew that we were like looking forward to or that was happening at the same time every year that like involved everyone, that didn't feel so like siloed or particular, that like we knew was for everyone.

Christian Solorzano [32:53]

Yeah, I remember Design Week. I don't know when was the last year that it happened, but it felt— my recollection is that it felt like a festival, like it was in different parts of the city, something new happening, like sometimes multiple things happening in one day. And I— it's funny because I remember being— getting so stressed out about choosing which events to go to because all of that, I just wanted to be at all of them. And it was—

Valerie Craig [33:23]

It's a good kind of stress though, right? No matter what, it's going to be good.

Christian Solorzano [33:26]

And it's like they all they all sound so good, but physically I can't like attend all of them.

Valerie Craig [33:31]

Be in them. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [33:32]

Yeah. But I miss that feeling so much. And yeah.

Valerie Craig [33:36]

But you know what I mean? It's like then we could all look forward to— we'd like know who, what to expect.

Christian Solorzano [33:44]

And it was nice because like the identity, like the visuals for each of these things was different every single year. So you're always— you were always curious about like, what is Typeforce gonna look like?

Valerie Craig [33:57]

Yes. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [33:58]

Design Week, that those are some good times.

Valerie Craig [34:01]

Yeah. Typeforce is a good one as well. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [34:03]

Yeah. I think it's coming back next year. I heard, hopefully, fingers crossed.

Valerie Craig [34:07]

Yeah. Fingers crossed.

Christian Solorzano [34:09]

Yeah. So what else are you working on today? I know you're ActiveCampaign and you have a family now, but how do you, how do you, how do you, what else are you up to lately? How do you, how are you staying inspired? And is there anything else that maybe you're working on the side that maybe no one knows about?

Valerie Craig [34:31]

Yeah. Oh, I wish I had some like juicy secrets of things to reveal here but I don't. I think that right now, like I said, I've got small kids and that's like a whole other experience I think also involves design. I mean, for what it's worth my 6-year-old won the like Chicago Public Schools visual they had like a whole visual thing, and it was an experience at the Chicago Design Museum. So we got to go and see Tanner, and she had artwork alongside other CPS students.

Christian Solorzano [35:04]

That's cool.

Valerie Craig [35:05]

Which is so cool. And like seeing them experience art and design and like be involved with those things or like that, that's my identity to them is really cool. I think experiences honestly is how I stay inspired. And I don't think that Chicago has any shortage of that, whether it's like going to shows at Salt Shed or like going to really exciting new restaurants. I think that those are the things that like today right now are getting me excited.

I also have like, and I haven't done it, but like have such a hankering to like return to conferences. Like I feel like it's been so big the last 2 years and getting out there and like seeing people's work in person. But I don't have any like special secret projects, but I wish I did. Maybe next time we talk, I'll have all of this midnight oil that I've been well, we're launching—

Christian Solorzano [36:02]

I don't know if you know this yet, but we're launching our— we launched the publication and we're doing— we're accepting submission proposals right now. So that's an invitation for everyone to hear.

Valerie Craig [36:18]

Thank you for the invitation.

Christian Solorzano [36:19]

Yeah. Yeah, because I also like— it's funny because sometimes even I get a little bit I don't want to say worried, but I get a little bit self-conscious about how, sometimes I don't produce any work, Christian, just for the sake of making work. I feel like it's always because of, a prompt or, a need. But I miss, the selfish work of, I'm just doing this for the sake of pleasure or, just interest, self-fulfillment.

Valerie Craig [36:51]

I do take on freelance work and sometimes it's just to like change it up with the people to solve a different problem. I am doing some freelance work right now that like involves like education and reporting. And it's just nice to like have a different group that I'm meeting with for the day or like a different problem to solve that isn't maybe marketing automation.

So I do, I do like to keep that kind of thing up. I also think that that's inspiring because then I'm exposing myself to other, that's like the coolest thing about being a graphic designer, right? Is that you get to be an expert in like many different things over time. And that helps me like deep dive into something totally unrelated to my day job and will in turn inspire it.

Christian Solorzano [37:35]

What has been like one of the most odd like industries that you have to like, or rabbit hole that you've had to go into because of work?

Valerie Craig [37:45]

I mean, there's probably a lot of stuff. But the first thing that comes to mind is like when I worked at that design agency early on, we did a men's suit company. That was a local suit company, Hart, Schaffner & Marks. But I had to become like an expert in everything about suits and like buttons and lapels and how things fit.

And we did all of these like photo shoots for Dillard's, and there was just like how to retouch what was really important about the fabric and what to show in that fabric and those the buttons and the shape and the cut and the naming and the seasonality was just something that I never pictured. The way you tie ties, different tie types. It was just something that I didn't anticipate becoming an expert in for that period of time. And I did.

It was cool. We got to go to the coast and do photoshoots. This really random photoshoot with Chris Isaak, that singer.

Christian Solorzano [38:46]

Oh, really?

Valerie Craig [38:47]

Yeah. He became a spokesperson for a time. It definitely opened up experiences that I didn't expect. And that's what's cool, right? Who knows, 2 years from now, we might be an expert in something that like is just completely unexpected.

Christian Solorzano [39:01]

Yeah, I had to really get into, for Project 1, insurance portals and like claim, like insurance claims and like the nuances of like getting into an accident with a, with like a truck versus like a, like a sedan and like what happens if your house gets like, just all these little like edge cases when it comes to insurance.

Valerie Craig [39:22]

And have you been able to employ that knowledge? Has that helped you in any insurance dealings in your personal life?

Christian Solorzano [39:29]

No, not really.

Valerie Craig [39:31]

No. Not yet. So I was gonna say like, and then you're an expert and you like know to how.

Christian Solorzano [39:35]

I mean, I like appreciate a good user experience now. Like if I ever, like there, there's been a few incidents where like someone's hit my car and I know now know that I could pull up the app and like take a picture of the incident and like report it and file a claim and date of loss and all that kind of stuff.

So I guess I'm a little bit of an expert, but there's like, there's a whole other world if you have like a commercial vehicle and like a commercial building and all these type of other things. So but it's always funny, like getting into these worlds of, yeah, really unrelated things to you.

Valerie Craig [40:08]

Yeah, like really niche things that you're— we got, my husband and I got like notifications the other day to like renew our TSA PreCheck, and I got mine and he didn't get and I'm like, you're probably stuck in an automation. Could be a couple hours. And he's like, I'm like, probably though, honestly.

Christian Solorzano [40:24]

Yeah. Yeah. And when it comes to— so I mentioned that I— well, for one, there's a lot of young folks that listen to this podcast, students, people getting out of school, finishing school. But what do you think is something that could really differentiate a designer today? What do you suggest that they like learn? Even maybe if you're, when you're bringing on new people into your team or whatever, what's something that you feel like the new generation of designers, should really understand and prioritize?

Valerie Craig [40:59]

I think one thing to understand is that, the tools that you're using today are maybe not going to be the tools that you're using tomorrow. That ability to learn and demonstrate the ability to learn and evolve is really important.

In some regards, I think in design school, we're like, not only learning how, the core aspects of typography and layout, but we're also like learning how to learn and that that's going to serve you for your entirety, whatever, however many years ago it might have been a lot more print and today it's not gonna, it's gonna be a lot more digital experiences. And I think that will continue to evolve.

For one thing like when I'm doing portfolio reviews sometimes I find that somebody tries to really classify themselves in a way and they're only showing, like a select few of things, few things that like paint this very specific picture. And I wish that like I, it feels a little bit inauthentic and I wish people would like bring forth the things that make them, joyous, whether it is a fully polished project or something on the side that you created that you just think is really great.

I think like giving someone a window into you via that portfolio is really important versus saying like, well, I do whatever cover design and these are 5 covers that you have to see.

Open it up and like talk about your problem solving and like what really gets you there. Because again, like you might be doing this today, but, 5 years from now the landscape might change or the needs might change or how we're interfacing kiosks or screens or whatever. We're going to be wrapping screens around things. It's going to be totally different. So yeah, just be, I think like showing you and what brings you joy is most important. Yeah, and so don't bring bad stuff.

Christian Solorzano [42:54]

And for you, how long did it take you to maybe get comfortable with your own voice or like feel like you're in a position where maybe you feel more confident, like sharing maybe some of your personal work or your perspective? Because I think I mean I think it's like I graduated from college like. In, I think it was like 2016, and social media wasn't as like present then.

And I feel like today it's so easy to just like get into the habit of like comparing yourself or seeing really amazing work on the internet and maybe feeling like if you can't produce that type of work, then maybe you're just not good. And I hear from a lot of students that just get stuck because they just don't know where to start because there's just so much noise. Which is unfortunate.

Valerie Craig [43:50]

I don't think playing like that comparison game is like— everyone loses. You're gonna lose no matter what. I think if creating like a pristine, beautiful, regular cadence of Instagram posts of your work brings you joy you should do that. If that feels like a job to you and doesn't bring you know what I mean? You shouldn't do that. Being something to everyone or proving who you are to other people, you're gonna lose. It just feels like a lot.

Even saying it feels like a weight on my shoulders. I think, time and experience brought me confidence around the work that I'm doing. I think that I've had a lot of—

Good collaborators. And even I just, I have, I remember being on, doing some projects with AIGA with Charlene King and her being like, think about who you are, like how you show up, what's important to you. And like kind of getting some coaching around like how I show up, which kind of like helped propel me into that confidence. But it was definitely time. And I even today am like, ooh, I should post more on like my Instagram is like random kid pictures sometimes.

And I'm like, oh, I should do better at that, but it doesn't bring me joy, so I'm not doing it. But yeah, I don't know. Don't put too much pressure on yourself, right? We do this because we enjoy it, or at least I hope that we're doing this because we enjoy it. I enjoy making things. So where that shows up and how that shows up is up to you.

Even if it's only in interviews, you don't necessarily— unless it's important to you to like have a big facade out in the world, do that too. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [45:32]

Yeah, because I feel like I've noticed, I purposely keep my Instagram on private because I feel like it kind of shelters me from ever being worried about what the public—

Valerie Craig [45:45]

Who's seen what.

Christian Solorzano [45:45]

Yeah, who's seen what. And it's like, I know who's in my house, on Instagram, and I don't have to worry about an appearance or like any of that kind of stuff. So I agree. I don't think there's like there's no formula.

Valerie Craig [46:01]

And even if we had a formula, I don't know, I could tell you it today and then in 2 years it would be totally different. It's going to evolve and change. So.

Christian Solorzano [46:08]

Yeah. Yeah. So now, so we, we're not quite at time, but we're approaching the end of our episode. But I want to ask you a few questions about just Chicago in general, not necessarily related to design, but what are your, some of your favorite Chicago spots? What do you like to do in Chicago? You mentioned concerts and just being out and about, but any particular Chicago activities that you want to mention?

Valerie Craig [46:36]

Yeah. So I used to live west. I used to live in Humboldt and Logan Square. And when we moved to Lincoln Park, it was really truly for kids and school. And my husband and I had an identity crisis around it. Being close to the lake has been yeah. So incredible.

The fact that I can walk out my door and in 20 minutes, up here at Lake Michigan and just like the awe of that body of water and like being there and looking south and seeing the Chicago skyline is incredible. I just, I love the lake so much and I love being close to the lake. So any time, I mean, even in the winter, I know that it can be a little treacherous, but like any time that I can spend on that lakeshore, I love.

I mentioned Salt Shed. I feel like I've gone to a lot of shows at Salt Shed recently. I really like that venue. I think there's a big debate to be had about if it's better in the fairgrounds or on the inside. And then restaurants, I'm always in the Eater 38 looking at what's happening. And now the Bear. We went to Ever last year and spent all of our money on the most magnificent meal. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [47:49]

Are you a fan of the Bear?

Valerie Craig [47:51]

I am. I am. Okay.

Christian Solorzano [47:52]

Nice. I love seeing Chicago on TV, in a TV show.

Valerie Craig [47:57]

When they went into Kusama for the first time, we were like, yes, yes! We were cheering for them. We're so excited. And then we're like, shoot, we will never be able to get into that restaurant ever again. But it's good, right? A line is worth the wait, right?

Christian Solorzano [48:12]

And it's nice to see that the show is so well respected. So I just love any, cultural Chicago reference that, I just love it.

Valerie Craig [48:25]

Yeah. The Spotlight in particular, that show that, the culinary atmosphere here, I think is great. Even like a little bit, I know that it's the most stressful show, but like the work ethic that we're like people that this is a city of people that like show up and do the work and are creative is cool, right? Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [48:44]

Yeah. Yeah. And do you have any— this is a silly question, but do you have any guilty pleasures? Is there anything about you that someone wouldn't be able to pick up from looking you up online? Like anything that you want to share?

Valerie Craig [48:57]

I mean, like when you say guilty pleasure, like that is 100% like watching Bravo. Like that is— that's like my space and my me time is like anything on Bravo, whether it's something like Respectable, like Top Chef, or not respectable, like Real Housewives. I'm there for all of that. So if anyone wants to chat Housewives, I am there.

Christian Solorzano [49:20]

Okay, good to know. Do you have any favorite— or not favorite, but you've mentioned some names throughout our conversation here about people that had an influence on you in Chicago. Anyone else? Any other designers or people that that's a tough one.

Valerie Craig [49:44]

I did, yeah, I did say like, I love, I love the work that David does. And like I said, Kelly is someone that I work closely with and I love her. And Mary Foyter, incredible.

She does a lot more. Yeah, she, she's also a designer whose work that we used to have a whole series with AIGA that we featured female designers in the city and she was a really cool one. One. And so many of them are on this podcast. Like I said, when we first spoke, like the going through this episode is like, oh my gosh, these people are all so incredible. Let's have a party and invite all these people.

Christian Solorzano [50:21]

Yeah. I feel like every guest on this episode deserves like their own trading card and like you could like collect them all.

Valerie Craig [50:30]

It would like be a spectrum of different like types of design and experiences and specialties and yeah. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [50:40]

Because I'm all— I'm just it's so cool and like seeing how many awesome people are in Chicago. And I'm just always like, I have a huge list and it's just I'm never gonna get it. I'm never gonna like get through the whole thing because there's just so many people.

Valerie Craig [50:58]

Yeah, which is so rad.

Christian Solorzano [51:00]

Yeah, and everyone is also super nice.

Valerie Craig [51:04]

Yeah. That's our Midwest sensibility, right?

Christian Solorzano [51:07]

Yeah, so I love it. So if someone wants to get a hold of you, what's the best way for people to reach out or to find you?

Valerie Craig [51:17]

Oh, that's a great— if you want to see pictures of my kids, my Instagram, Valerie J. Craig. I think it might be Valerie Craig now, actually. There's a fine artist named Valerie Craig on the East Coast that I've really competed with for Website URLs. And then, yeah, my site is hevaleriecraig.com. I haven't updated that in a while. But yeah, probably Instagram is where I'm living and chatting with people if you wanna find me.

Christian Solorzano [51:48]

What's your— for example, on YouTube or on Instagram, if someone were to go to your For you Instagram feed, what's your algorithm giving Probably too much news right now.

Valerie Craig [52:05]

I think that there was a period of time where I thought that it was a good idea to get my news on Instagram, and now we're in an election and it was a bad idea. That and a lot of clothes, so maybe a couple of Real Housewives. I actually usually don't browse it that way. I'm all up in everybody's stories.

Christian Solorzano [52:26]

And what do you do today to keep your sanity? Because like, I mean, like on the topic of news, it's so— I've noticed that I could fall down like just this like mental fatigue or like just depression, not like, just feeling down about everything. And sometimes you just need to like disconnect. So for you, what's how do you recover? How do you do all of that stuff?

Valerie Craig [52:54]

It's tough, right? With all of the events that are happening, sometimes I hear something and I'm Googling it, I'm watching things on the internet, listening to the daily podcast and ingesting this information so quickly and almost becoming what feels like obsessed with it. I think that it's that awareness, coming back to like, wow, I'm feeling pretty low. I feel a lot of weight on my shoulders, and I try to get myself outside.

Honestly, whether it's like meeting people and going out for a drink or like going and walking outside, like I just like recognize when I need to like take a breather and remove myself from a screen. And honestly, like kids are a really good way to do that too. Like they're always up to something. We're always outside at a soccer game or a dance recital or, like going and seeing a museum.

And honestly, oh, like the ice cream museum and like the color factory, like all these experiences that like I might have not come to as quickly or might not have gone to without kids has been like, really, there's a lot of cool shit out there to do in the city and a lot of like, pop-up and permanent event spaces or, like museums and institutions to see. So I kind of just try to like get myself out of a screen because that's where I'm experiencing it, right?

I just go back and forth of like, it's my responsibility to know. And then it's like, I am like losing my mind because the world might end?

Christian Solorzano [54:18]

Yeah.

Valerie Craig [54:19]

It's a tough balance of that like responsibility and then taking on too and sometimes I feel like just knowing about it doesn't really—

Christian Solorzano [54:26]

There's nothing— there's no benefit to knowing because there's nothing you can do about it other than just have it sit in your mind.

Valerie Craig [54:34]

I think that I got rid of Facebook. I'm not as involved in Facebook because for me, that experience was family members— I'm sure that we've all had experiences— but family members that I was like, oh, I don't know if I can spend time with you anymore based on like this social media platform. So I just had to like put it away and not be involved anymore.

Christian Solorzano [54:54]

Yeah. No, that's—

Valerie Craig [54:55]

But recognizing that, I want to see— I know that I want to see those people in the future and I just need to like turn this off. It's the right decision.

Christian Solorzano [55:03]

Thank you so much for joining our show today. It was an awesome time to speak with you. I hope that at some point we could do something together because I feel like there's a lot that I can learn from you and the Chicago Graphic Design Club could learn from you. Let's keep that door open.

Valerie Craig [55:19]

Yeah, I would love to. I would be such a pleasure. Like I said, I kind of like teetered out and I think I'm available, and I love this community so much. So it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

Christian Solorzano [55:30]

And I think it would be nice to, brainstorm with you.

Valerie Craig [55:34]

I love a good brainstorm. Ideating is the best.

Christian Solorzano [55:37]

What's your when it comes to working with teams or just community building, what do you, what do you feel is like the secret ingredients or like the perfect recipe for doing great things together in a group setting?

Valerie Craig [55:49]

Yeah, I think it's the people, right? Like having, man, I like, especially like as a manager or director, I really love having just really talented people and giving them the tools that they need and allowing them to run. And I think that that's true for like, for creating, like respecting who you're with and people that make great stuff that you admire.

And then like giving people the power to be them and show up how they want and make what they want, I think is really the key. What's not cool is like layering and levels and, being too good or too much or not good enough for anything. It's like giving people the space to show up as their authentic self is where you're gonna get the just the best work, in my opinion.

Christian Solorzano [56:39]

I've never been a fan of like hierarchy and titles and all that kind of stuff. It's like, doesn't mean—

Valerie Craig [56:44]

So gross. So gross. Sorry.

Christian Solorzano [56:46]

And I see that you have a lot of records behind you.

Valerie Craig [56:49]

Oh, I do.

Christian Solorzano [56:50]

The listener can't see this, but you got a lot of vinyl. What do you listen to? What plays in the house while you're working? Do you have a favorite album or favorite albums?

Valerie Craig [57:04]

That is a good question. I would say probably my favorite records on here honestly are Fugazi. I'm not sure if you're familiar, but big Fugazi fan. I've also really enjoyed, not from a record perspective, but from a Spotify perspective, the Daylist. And have you used this feature where it like—

Christian Solorzano [57:27]

The Daylist?

Valerie Craig [57:28]

Oh my gosh. Please go and check this out. Go look at your day list and it gives you these like, I wish I had, I wish I had an example. It tells you—

Christian Solorzano [57:40]

Oh, it's like the playlist curated just for you with like a name, right?

Valerie Craig [57:44]

Yes. And it gives you like the most, like mine right now says rom-com situationship Wednesday evening. I just love the randomness and also the predictability. I feel like I'm learning from myself that I'm listening to like '90s grunge on Friday mornings and like pop songs. So Taylor Swift, which is probably my daughter, on Saturday afternoons, like that predictability and whatever thing is making those names is incredible. That is bringing me a lot of joy.

Christian Solorzano [58:16]

See, I feel like if AI is creating these names, that's a cool use of AI because it's like, I wouldn't expect someone to be typing, hand typing every single one of these things.

Valerie Craig [58:26]

So rom-com, it says you listen to Preppy and Scream on Wednesdays. Do I really? So that is definitely one AI thing that is bringing me delight.

Christian Solorzano [58:41]

All right. Well, thank you so much. I'll include your website and any contact information in the description for this episode. And like I said, let's keep in touch and let's definitely do something together in the future.

Valerie Craig [58:53]

I would love that. Thank you so much.

Christian Solorzano [58:58]

Thank you so much for listening and for sticking around till the end. To learn more about the Chicago Graphic Design Club, visit us at www.chicagographicdesign.club. Thank you, and we'll talk to you soon. Goodbye.

Valerie Craig [59:11]

Goodbye.