Avondale Park, in the Northwest Side neighborhood where Bright Bright Great is based. Photo: Nick Number / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Jason Schwartz runs his design firm on a single rule: make something amazing, and people will come. That belief is what pushed him to leave a stable job and start Bright Bright Great.
The firm is based in Avondale and works for businesses of every kind around Chicago. Graphic design is part of the job, but the larger pitch is brand strategy, helping companies use design to reach specific goals. Bright Bright Great also runs side projects, including the type foundry Avondale Type Co. and The Secret Handshake, a resource for young creative people trying to turn professional.
Industrial design roots
Schwartz trained in industrial design, a field he describes as making things for people. In his view, good design should do a job or make life easier, not just look nice. In college, his senior thesis was a map combining train, bus and plane schedules for the city. Classmates questioned the point of it at the time, years before GPS and online maps became standard. Now that everyone carries that kind of tool, he sees the project as an early example of the functional design he chases.
Before starting the firm, Schwartz worked as director of creative services at a large company. He found he couldn’t give each project the attention it needed there, and that frustration fed his decision to go out on his own.
Starting with an audit
Bright Bright Great often begins with what it calls a brand audit, asking clients what a brand identity, marketing plan or website is supposed to accomplish. Only after that question is answered does the team start building.
Schwartz also wants the firm to stay ahead of clients’ technology needs. In tech, he has noted, a single year is a long time, so the staff spends much of its time learning. For the people at the firm, he says, the work is less a day job than a way of life.
Marcus Hadley covers business, transit and real estate in Uptown.
