Chicago Metro History Fair

DESIGN

— An assignment I ALWAYS looked forward to.

I was lucky enough to work on this project for six years, and each design was a new adventure. Below are the posters I created. Each contains a link that will take you to its own, detailed section. Or you can scroll at a leisurely pace.

The theme for 2016 was "Encounter, Exploration and Exchange in History". The CMHFEC was immediately inspired to use imagery from the 1933 World's Fair, "A Century of Progress". There was a mountain of iconic graphic design created for the 1933 event and I was asked if I might draw inspiration from it. With pleasure! Below is the History Fair poster along with its inspiration —thank you, Weimer Pursell! Also included is the poster that inspired the CMHFEC button used to promote the event prior to the school-wide kick-off and poster reveal. It ultimately was the source for the 2016 Illinois t-shirt, which the students wear at the national convention.

Here is the t-shirt design for the 2016 competition. Originally, it was going to be on a black t-shirt, but DC gets oven-hot, so it was decided to run it on white tees, which gave it a fresh, popsicle feel.

The poster design made for a popular trading button. Also, some nice words from the CMHFEC crew.

The year's design direction was like being let loose in a candy shop. Here are some other poster designs I had presented.

In 2015 the theme was "Leadership and Legacy in History". In a classroom setting, it often helps to have historical figures to point to—literally—so this design fit the bill. That year, the client asked if I might incorporate the color scheme they had picked for the "Make History" button.

The t-shirt design for 2015. There was a bit of a snafu with the inks, but the shirt still worked. Huzzah!

Another option for the "Leadership and Legacy" theme.

The 2014 theme was "Rights and Responsibilities in History". There is a grit and an inherent struggle in many of the topics within this theme and I wanted to convey that dynamic without getting too "dark".

The colors in the 2014 t-shirt proved to be highly visible; a good thing when you're trying to compete with Texas' delegation...

In 2013 the theme was "Turning Points in History". Sometimes it works to have historical figures incorporated into the design, and other times a figurative depiction gets to the point much more quickly. This was fun to illustrate.

The simplicity of this design made for an impactful t-shirt graphic.

The 2012 theme was "Revolution, Reaction and Reform in History". This was a very combustible set of topics and the work had to capture their spirit and energy.

This poster translated very easily into a t-shirt, as well as trading buttons.

Anything high-energy always produces multiple options. I also included some early sketches

The 2011 theme, "Debate and Diplomacy in History" provoked all kinds of ideas; the trick was not to look too argumentative.

This was the first year that the t-shirt tied into the poster design.

The main visual of these posters focused too much on the "debate", but I loved all the colors. I also included some initial tests for the t-shirt.