Hello,
I'm Chase Talon
About me. Hmm… Where to begin? Well I have been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil or crayon or blueberry to a piece of paper, cardboard box or living room wall. Sorry mom! I loved drawing and creating things out of anything and everything. After a trip to Disney World, I had made my mind up that the creative world is where I needed to be. Something about creating life out of marking up a piece of paper was exciting. So on I went drawing, sketching, painting, stacking and many more "ing" words to make my creations come to life.
One day a representative from the Illinois Institute of Art, Chicago came to one of my high school art classes to talk about their program. I thought to myself, "Hey, that place sounds good!". So in the fall of 2001, I started at the Illinois Institute of Art, Chicago in Illustraton. One class I had to take was a class on typography. This was a whole new concept to me. What? Type with art? Thats crazy! I think I must learn more about this. So I changed majors form Illustration to Visual Communications.
Also around this time I was cooking at Buffalo Wild Wings, where, by chance, I was introduced to Michaline Tomich of Mixdesign. That day I happened to have a JT cd cover I designed for one of my entry level classes. I ran out to show her and she asked me to come in for an interview. I showed her my portfolio of class projects and she hired me on as an entry level production artist designing t-shirt art. After a couple of years replicating sponsor logo after sponsor logo, I wanted to start creating the fun stuff. Actual design. For real companies. Micki took me under her wing and taught me all about branding and design. She threw me into all projects; setting me up for success. I took the opportunity Micki gave me and ran. I would work every night for hours at any coffee house or restaurant that would be open all night. I would get every book and design magazine that I could get my hands on and study every new and exciting award-wining piece of art out there. After many years of laughter, sweat and tears, I was well on my way to becoming the designer I am today. Thanks, Mick!!!
6 years later I felt I needed to spread my wings and learn about other designers and design agencies-see where I stood against others in the local industry. So on I went to Madhaus (Valparaiso), then to contracting for AC (Valparaiso), Biersma Creative (Chicago), and freelance project to freelance project. Along the way I met many new and talented designers, copywriters, programmers and illustrators, all of who have taught me many valuable lessons in connecting, design, type and art.
In November 2009, I met Michelle and Grant Andres of Group 7even. After a couple of branding projects, I was asked to interview for the Creative Director position that had opened up within their agency. A year later I felt that I was better suited working as a freelancer.
I have over 11 years of industry experience, eight of which have been focused on brand design. I have had the pleasure of working with many brands such as Radisson, Illinois Institute of Art Alumni Association, The Global Leadership Summit, City of Valparaiso, White Lodging, Big Machines, United Way, Purdue North Central, Opportunity Enterprises, Edward Don and Company, and Chuck Kent to name a few.
Thank you for stopping by and hope to hear from you soon.
- Chase Talon