A retrospective on the first five years of running a design practice and working for yourself. A talk about starting up a studio right after finishing school, loving it, then hating it, then loving it again, then hating it again, then hovering your hand over that big red button. Includes: one lawsuit, one mugging at gunpoint, one low ceiling, one smashed-in window, one euphoric high, and one guy falling off the roof. Oh, and vectors. Happy endings guaranteed, maybe!

About the Speaker

Frank Chimero is a graphic designer, teacher, writer, and creative person in Portland, Oregon. His fascination with the creative process, curiosity, and visual experience informs all of his work. Each piece is part of an exploration in finding wit, surprise, honesty, and joy in the world around us, then, trying to document those things with all deliberate speed.

His clients include The New York Times, Nike, Wired, Microsoft, Bloomberg/BusinessWeek, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Starbucks, GOOD Magazine, and others. He has been featured by Print Magazine, the Art Directors Club of New York, Vanity Fair, Monocle, and The Society of Illustrators. Frank’s work has appeared on both The Colbert Report and The Suite Life with Zach and Cody, spanning the full quality-spectrum of television.