A Colorful Night of Paper With Gruppo Cordenons

Gruppo Cordenons Color In Chicago event

We had an amazing time at the “Color In Chicago” party hosted by our clients and friends at Gruppo Cordenons, and it’s not just because we designed the invitations and materials for the event. It was a great night filled with premium paper, good friends, and paper dresses, at the beautiful Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago. You can get a glimpse of the festivities thanks to amazing photographer Steven E. Gross, and even purchase mementos – the next-best thing to owning a paper dress!  All photos courtesy and © Steven E. Gross & Associates.

Jun 11 2012

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New work: Gruppo Cordenons and Golden Apple

New work: Gruppo Cordenons and Golden Apple Foundation

We’re continuing to post new work, so here are more of the projects we’re bringing out from behind the curtain. These are event and invitation design work for fine paper maker Gruppo Cordenons, as well as a direct mail campaign for local Chicago nonprofit, Golden Apple Foundation. Click for more details on the fruits of these great client partnerships.

Jun 8 2012

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Musings: Confidence vs. Arrogance

Our short musings on design, branding, business and the human condition.

After buying a new iPhone 4S this week, I’ve been reflecting on the chief person who helped create such a wonderful device. Steve Jobs. And that led me to consider one of his central tenets, that things in life, creativity, and business were either “insanely great” or “total shit,” and you can guess which side his opinions and ideas fell on. That is arrogance, not confidence.

There is a difference between the two. Arrogance is binary. It demands My Way. I’m right and you’re wrong. My idea is awesome and yours is utter crap. Confidence, on the other hand, shows trust in your own abilities and intelligence, especially if you’re right. But it also allows for the fact that there are other views, other options, and myriad possibilities beyond your own to consider. We would all be wise to suss out the difference.

Jun 7 2012

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New work: YMCA and pipopipo

new projects: YMCA and pipopipo

It’s been busy around here, and we’re finally about to slow down a moment to talk about some of the work that has kept us so engrossed.

We’ve posted some new projects in our portfolio, including some fun, family-centered work for YMCA of the USA, as well as the interactive brand presence for new children’s apparel maker pipopipo. Check out the linked project descriptions and drop us a line if you’d like to discuss how we might partner with your organization for similarly awesome results.

Jun 6 2012

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Musings: Eames on Art

Our short musings on design, branding, business and the human condition.

“Art resides in the quality of doing; process is not magic.” – Charles Eames

Jun 1 2012

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Unpacking the 5 Types of Creativity

Unpacking The 5 Types of Creativity

Innovation. Inspiration. Creativity. We toss those words around daily. Are they just fancy ways to say “I’ve had an idea?” Those of us who are marketers, designers, and artists are often labeled as creative. But what do people mean by that? There’s a widely-held (and poorly-articulated) image of the stereotypical creative person floating about in our culture. Is it Steve Jobs? Albert Einstein? Thomas Kinkade? Are creative people different than that? Can we better quantify and understand creativity?

Read on…

May 30 2012

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Musings: Looking For Serendipity

Our short musings on design, branding, business and the human condition.

I’ve been reading (on paper) Eli Pariser‘s book “The Filter Bubble” and it’s amazing and chilling at the same time. He discusses many of the unplanned ramifications of a world where customized information changes our view of the world, our creativity, and how we interact with others. It’s absolutely worth a read, and might disturb you out of your current filtered bubble. Do we go looking for serendipity that will interrupt your planned day and narrowed thought paths? Do we make an effort to go further outside of our boxes to explore the ideas and truths that might dent or re-sculpt our worldviews?

In our future, maybe the next big thing in social computing technology will be recreating our rapidly-eroding experiences with serendipity.

May 29 2012

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Musings: History Matters to Everyone

Our short musings on design, branding, business and the human condition.

History isn’t just words on a page, dates, or events of the past. History tells us where we’ve been, what we’ve done, and how we’ve gotten where we are. It provides context, connects us to the past, and weaves onward to the future. Show me a person who doesn’t care about history, whether it’s personal, societal, or organizational — and I’ll show you a person who doesn’t truly grasp the world. Those who seek to understand history are the ones who know the world, and long to find their place in it. History matters to us all.

Apr 19 2012

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Student Spotlight: Logo Redesigns

Chicago Portfolio Students - Brand Standards Manual

No matter how much Design and our industry changes, at Hexanine, we never feel far from our roots. It’s not hard to remember where we started — as young, hungry students. We like to stoke our creative fires and also remember those foundational days by working with the next generation of talent out there. Teaching is one avenue for that.

From time to time, we like to showcase the work of our students like those below. It’s the impressive output of Tim’s students from Chicago Portfolio School, as part of their strategic identity redesigns in Brand Standards class.

Read on…

Apr 6 2012

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Hexanine Interview on HOW’s Design TV

Hexanine HOW Design TV interview

At Hexanine, we are passionate about design and communicating. So, mixing the two makes a lot of sense. We’ll be speaking at this year’s HOW Design Live and are continuing an ongoing discussion about issues around the work we do as designers. We talk at more length about this and other sundry in an interview “workshop” that has just been posted at HOW Design TV. Check the link for a short excerpt, and make sure you join us this summer in Boston!

Mar 28 2012

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