Design & Chicago (intersection of tags)

Here are my notes from the Society of News Design meetup on May 16, 2009. (Pictured above is Theresa Carter, Audarshia Townsend, Whet Moser, Brad Flora, and Jeff Daugherty on the Social Media Roundtable) ———————— Matt Mansfield (president of SND)…

I like how the Millennium Park logo treats the MP letters. My name is Matthew Paul Maldre. I greatly appreciate the MP treatment. That got me curious who has matthewpaul.com. He’s a great web designer. I sent him the following…

AIGA is a great resource for graphic designers. But the annual membership fee is $315. Ouch. $315 a year. I recently wrote a letter to the AIGA asking if they have considered lowering their annual fee. This isn’t an exciting…

Here’s the story of how I captured the 42nd most interesting photo taken on flickr for January 22, 2009. While sitting at work in the Tribune Tower, the TV was tuned into WGN’s coverage of the Inauguration. As I listen…

Chicago residents get creative with an empty lot by building rock sculptures.

Here’s a letter of praise I just wrote to Walgreens: Hi there, I am a HUGE fan of Walgreens. The rebates, the employees, and the general Walgreens love. My comments here touch on these points, and I even offer some…

Chicagoland design agency Rule 29 asks, What’s your favorite Crayola color? So far the designers have answered: Red, Hot Magenta, Salmon, Red-Orange, GoldenRod, Raw Umber, Spring Green, Cerulean Blue (three votes), Midnight Blue. All designers and nobody has said BLACK?…

Monkey bars belong everywhere. In hallways. Along the aisles of CTA cars. In meeting rooms. Architects of the world, pay attention. Monkey bars belong everywhere! Start incorporating monkey bars into all your designs. Who doesn’t appreciate a good monkey bar?

A workspace where designers, writers, freelancers and entrepreneurs can consistently meet and get work done together. Working alone can get a bit lonely. I know. Tribune Company gave me a sabbatical for four months in 2006 where I worked by…

Dear offices that play music, What does your office play? My office plays no music, but it is interesting what other offices force their employees to listen to. Sometimes it’s just one station. Other times, it’s a group decision. Rule29,…

(photo courtesy Chicago Tribune) Oh Pigeon Man of Lincoln Square, With fire hydrant as your chair, You fed the pigeons with such care. You even let them sit in your hair! In 2007 a Chevrolet Geo van Struck Mr. Joseph…

Many of the Reps in the Illinois House have Metra stations in their district. However, many of these Reps did not vote to pass funding for Metra. $400 billion is needed a year for Metra, CTA and Pace. Here’s a…

Today Chicago reveals their new logo today for their bid of the 2016 Olympic games. The previous logo featured a torch. (Critique of that logo available at Previous torch Chicago Olympic logo). The International Olympic Committee allows the torch to…

Trader Joes Coloring Contest! Color the Chicago bean and get your drawing on display in the downtown Chicago’s Trader Joes grocery store. At the front door of the store they have sheets of paper with an illustration of the Chicago…

There should be a list of the official team colors for professional teams. So I’m starting one here. I’m accepting the colors for any team in the NHL, NFL, MLB, and NBA. Seeing that I’m a designer for the Tribune,…

One of the great avenues of the world is missing something. A red carpet. Chicago’s Magnificent Mile has wonderful shopping, skyscrapers, historic buildings, and even horse carriages. But now imagine a mile long red carpet on the sidewalk. That would…

There’s plans for a new monster 2,000 foot tall building to appear on the lakefront in Chicago. Blair Kamin of the Chicago Tribune wrote an excellent review pointing out how the old plan had the tower gracefully pointing upward into…

1999 Cows on Parade 2001 Couches 2001-2004 Wacker Drive Construction   2003 Bobbleheads 2004 Mickey Mouse (Photos courtesy of Vincent Falk) When Chicago does a public art theme, Vincent Falk photographs himself beside every single sculpture with a matching outfit.…

This fall my kickball team won the league championship! We went undefeated for the entire season therefore making us the undisputed the 2006 kickball champions in Chicago. If you want to dispute it, we dare you to bring the challenge…

Here’s a collection of fonts about jokes and graphic design found around the internet. (thanks to Tom Saaristo for emailing me this first joke) —– Four fonts walk into a bar. The barman says, “Get out! We don’t want your…

Both the Rockford News Tower and Elgin Tower appear to have been built recently, however it’s amazing that they were both built just a few years after the Tribune Tower. Tribune Tower: 1922; News Tower: 1930; Elgin Tower: 1929 ————————-…

Mayor Daley and Chicago unveiled their logo for the bid to have Chicago host the 2016 Summer Olympic games. VSA Partners’ Chicago office designed the logo. Here’s my critique of the logo: Flame It’s said that the skyline seen in…

Q101 stole my video and put it on their “cool” “chicago site” whatswrongwithchicago.com to promote their station. At that site, scroll down to see “DANCE BATTLE” That’s my video that I shot and put up on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq6iQLJ2f_g. I’m…

(image from ArchitectureChicago Plus blog) The Blue Cross-Blue Shield Building in downtown Chicago at 300 East Randolph is going to double its height by adding another building right smack on top of it. According to the ArchitectureChicago Plus blog, The…

Graphic designers in America are projected to show a 24% increase in jobs by 2012 (from 197,460 in 2002 to 244,320 in 2012, according to projectionscentral.com) In 2002 Illinois there was 8,590 Graphic Designers. They are projecting in 2012, there…

On a quiet, loaded rush hour El (Chicago transit train), there were two older people that were networking, talking business, and exchanged business cards. The usual daily rush hour train in Chicago is a silent box filled with sleepy workers…

I recently submitted some work to the Highland Park Art Walk, and they require an artist bio, so here’s a rough draft. Any comments or suggestions are very welcome. Matt Maldre, a native Chicago artist, earned his Bachelor of Fine…

One of the reasons for low-voter turnout is that people just don’t know. You often hear “I don’t know who to vote for, because I don’t really know anything about them.” The Chicago Tribune does have some nice articles about…

The image for MLB.com’s fantasy opening day features photos of cubs players in 1985 Topps baseball card frames. Ahhh yes. That was the year that my brother and I collected the most baseball cards from our youth. That design is…

Navy Pier is Chicago’s number one tourist destination with more than 8 million visitors annually. There are so many advantages to the pier structure. It’s by the lake where people can enjoy the water. Desintation for boat tours. Because how…

While riding in my work’s elevator at the Tribune Tower, I couldn’t think of any other elevators that had the same button design. Have you ever seen the same elevator button design in two different buildings?