1.0
How the work is made
The rules every engagement runs to, in the order we apply them.
Eight rules, written down in 2015 and reread at the start of every engagement. They are short because rules that need explaining are not rules.
The grid is not negotiable
Twelve columns, one gutter, one baseline. Every application is drawn on it, including the ones the client thinks are exceptions.
Five type sizes
A display, a heading, a subheading, body and a caption. The sixth size is a layout problem in disguise.
One signal color
Links, buttons, the active state and the one figure that matters. Everything else is black, white and two grays.
Show the round
A naming or a mark is presented with everything that was struck, so the choice is a decision the client can defend later.
Test at the size it has to work
A mark is approved at forty meters and at sixteen pixels before it is approved at one meter on a wall.
Write for the person who will use it
The guidelines are addressed to the designer who joins the client next year, not to the board that signs them off.
Hand over, then leave
An identity is finished when the client makes something we would have made. The two handover sessions are on the manifest for that reason.
Say no early
Work that only needs a logo, pitches, and anything due in under eight weeks get a reply on the first day and a name to call instead.
2.0
The people
Four of us. You will work with all four, and there is no account layer between you and the work.
Dana Whitfield
Founder, creative director
- Since
- 2015
- On now
- Identity system for a regional bank
Marcus Oyelaran
Strategy director
- Since
- 2016
- On now
- Naming round for a hospital network
Priya Venkataraman
Design director
- Since
- 2018
- On now
- Type system for a university press
Tom Halloran
Production lead
- Since
- 2019
- On now
- Signage rollout for a transit authority
3.0
The room
Six frames from the room where the systems are built, on the same grid they are built on.
4.0
Record
Awards, talks and press, by year.
Awards
Identity system of the year, Halden Bank
Midwest Design Awards, Chicago
Wayfinding, Meridian Health
Society for Experiential Graphic Design, national award
Packaging system, Verre
Type Directors Club, certificate of excellence
Signage program, Northline Transit
American Institute of Graphic Arts, Chicago chapter
Talks
Twelve columns and why we never change them
Grid Systems conference, Basel
The handover is the deliverable
Brand New Conference, Austin
Naming in public: showing the whole round
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, guest lecture
Press
The studio that hands you the grid
Print magazine, feature
How Meridian Health got one name
Chicago Business, interview
A bank, one mark, forty-one branches
Communication Arts, case study
5.0
Now
What is open at the studio this season, rewritten every few weeks.
Updated week 37
Hiring
A mid-weight identity designer
Systems, not decks. Starts January, West Loop, four days in the room.
Open for
Two engagements starting Q1 2027
One strategy and identity, one rollout. Proposals go out in November.
Reading
Grid Systems in Graphic Design, again
Every September, all four of us, one chapter a week.