Span

We are proud to share that Span’s design directors, , , and , have been included in this year’s Design 50.

Design in Chicago moves between disciplines, neighborhoods, communities, and scales. This recognition is a reminder of what makes Chicago design powerful: It is collaborative, practical, and ambitious. It shows up in culture, public life, institutions, neighborhoods, and the systems people use every day.

Deep thanks to , , Zach, , , and Nick Butcher, whose rigor, energy, and care elevate the work what it is.

Congratulations to everyone included. It means a great deal to be included alongside people whose work transforms this city we love. Thank you to Newcity.

Heading into the weekend with a good one for you: our John Pobojewski is the latest guest on The Design Of Podcast from Rule29 Creative.

The conversation touches something we believe deeply at Span: design is not just what you make for clients. The practice itself is a design assignment—shaped, refined, and rethought over time.

As John puts it: “The business is also a design assignment. You’re constantly improving it and thinking about ways in which you can revise it. It’s not precious; it is in and of itself a living thing.”

A thoughtful listen on creativity, leadership, and building work that can adapt, endure, and matter.

Some institutions help make a city known to itself.

For more than fifty years, the Reader has done that work with fearless reporting, curiosity, and a point of view you can spot across the street.

Span was honored to have and trust us with the evolution of the identity for the Reader’s next chapter.

For this work, we started where the Reader started.
In the archives.

We studied decades of mastheads, retypes, and small typographic decisions that shaped one of Chicago’s most recognizable marks, which has enlivened the city’s landscape for generations.

The centerpiece of our work is a careful redraw of the original Reader wordmark. Letter by letter. Optically refined. Corrected for balance. Rebuilt to live everywhere the Reader lives now, across print, digital, social, street boxes, and merch, while staying true to its history.

Thank you to the Chicago Reader for the years that built this legacy. Special thanks to for the collaboration, and to for the behind-the-scenes photos.

More soon. A full case study is on the way.