Our British soap opera–loving Director of Creative Technology does his darnedest to get our bright, blonde, bubbly and buoyant Art Director to open up a bit.
As an Ohioan, what made you want to move to Chicago?
I have always wanted to live in a big city, but I also am a Midwestern girl through and through. When deciding where to build my post-grad life, Chicago was the natural choice for me given its 1) proximity to my hometown, Cleveland; 2) it’s urban yet friendly Midwestern vibe; and 3) it’s large Notre Dame draw—close to half of my graduating class ended up here!
Why did you decide to study Design and Marketing in school? Did you consider a different area of focus?
For a long time growing up, I actually thought I wanted to study architecture. It wasn’t until discovering that architecture was largely engineering- and math-based that I realized it probably wasn’t the right fit for me. At the time, my best friend’s mom was an executive at an advertising agency, and I always thought her job looked like something I’d love to do. I started at Notre Dame as a Marketing major at first (with the intent to go into the ad world), then picked up Visual Communication Design as a second major because I realized I was craving hands-on creativity and time in the art studio. These majors began as somewhat disparate interests until I realized that the intersection of business and design thinking was quite powerful, and I’ve really loved focusing on the added strategic “bonus” that comes with combining these two areas. Being an Art Director at 88 is the best of both worlds—I get the strategic business-minded decision-making side as well as the hands-on creative problem-solving side!
We know you love to travel. How does that influence and inspire you in your day-to-day job?
I love travel because I am an innately curious person, craving experiences that push me out of my comfort zone and shape my worldview. When I travel, I tend to approach the world through the eyes of an artist and a designer. I take in everything visually and use my camera to capture both small details and grand vistas that inspire me in some way. Sometimes it’s the color palette of the Ugandan landscape, other times it’s a unique pattern on the ceiling of a Chinese palace. Regardless, these memories and images always come back to me when I am looking for inspiration on a new creative project, and I have seen some of these connections come through in my work, even months later.
Following a project kickoff, what’s the first thing you do to get started and inspired?
I am in a very committed relationship with my highly curated Pinterest account. As soon as we wrap up a kickoff, I re-read the brief and highlight words that stand out to me as being particularly important. Then, I start by quickly skimming my already-curated Pinterest boards to get a high-level sense of what I react to as far as color palette, initial layouts or early sketches for logos and iconography. Ultimately, I end up building a private board for that particular client or project, then start looking for thematic clusters as they arise. Am I seeing a lot of one color in my board? How about shapes? I’ll use these clustered insights as a starting point for initial sketches, then things flow from there.
If you had to switch roles with someone at the agency for a day, who would it be and why?
Kevin Cahalin. I love how his role has evolved so much since he started here at 88, and I think it’s incredible that he essentially is a member of every smaller team here at the office. He hops from meetings with the Strategy team to writing campaign taglines in a matter of minutes; then he will turn around and manage facets of our “new business machine” and proofread a few ads before release. He does it all, and it makes his days fast paced, energetic and always different!
What has been your favorite project to work on at 88 so far, and why?
This would have to be a toss-up between the AVMA LIFE branding and the Eastland Disaster Historical Society branding.
I’d choose AVMA LIFE because it was the first “breakthrough” project of my career. After our initial ideas went to testing, the research showed that my concept was the preferred one out of all five we presented! This gave me the opportunity to lead the remainder of the brand development and rollout process less than a year after college graduation. What’s cooler? I was able to travel to Nashville that December to assist with a 4-day photo and video shoot for the brand asset library. Who wouldn’t love the chance to art direct a shoot filled with beautiful show horses and a slew of cute cats and dogs?
I’d choose the Eastland Disaster Historical Society project because it was interesting to learn about this tragic day in Chicago history and find creative ways to bring the story of the disaster to life through branding and marketing communications. Being an individual who is passionate about giving back to the community, I loved that this pro bono client gave me the chance to make a difference while also using my skills and passion for design, and Barb & Ted Wachholz and Susan Decker were an absolute pleasure to work with as clients.