Team

Kathy Fredrickson

Partner
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MA, arts administration
Middlebury College, BA, English and studio art, cum laude

As a child, Kathy aspired to be a veterinarian, until she learned that vets, just like people doctors, need to study chemistry. She opted for a liberal arts education, preferring to spend her college years reading and making art. Her career is really just an attempt to extend that experience indefinitely. She is a partner at Studio Blue, where her primary responsibilities include strategic planning for projects; research, writing, creative direction (reading and making art); and new business development. Kathy is able to draw on her personal and professional experiences to allow for risk-taking while balancing the strategic needs of clients. Her conceptual voice, sense of humor and strategic leadership is heard in nearly all the studio's work. Kathy's non-profit management experience includes the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she worked on developing and producing the museum's in-house branded product line. Prior to joining the company in March 1994, she was the associate director of publications at the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the former president of Chicago chapter of the AIGA, the professional association for design, and served the national board as chapter presidents’ liaison. She lives in Evanston with her husband, Tom, son, Jack, and dogs, Devo and Lulu, whose advanced ages allow her to practice animal medicine on a regular basis.

Contact Kathy at kathy@studioblue.us

Maggie Lewis

Partner
Northwestern University, MS, learning and organizational change
Iowa State University, BA, journalism and mass communication

In design, Maggie has found a way to embrace her curiosity for learning and fostering understanding. She employs principles of learning and strategic change to help leverage the leadership role design plays in organizations. Combining theory and practice, Maggie helps organizations think differently about who they are and where they are going. At Studio Blue she leads design teams in definition of strategic opportunity and works with all levels of client organizations to ensure that design is a strategic component in pursuit of mission. For fifteen years she has led integrated teams to develop and implement brand strategies, identity systems and corporate communication programs. Maggie began her career as the marketing and public relations manager at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. She has led brand identity and marketing efforts for Steppenwolf, The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, The Chicago History Museum (2006 new visual and verbal voice), Augustana College, Target, and Bosch Tools. She has served on the board of AIGA Chicago and recently earned her MS in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University.

Contact Maggie at maggie@studioblue.us

Cheryl Towler Weese

Partner
Yale University, MFA, graphic design
Wesleyan University, BA, studio art and art history, cum laude

Cheryl began her design discipleship at age nine, when she learned to proofread galleys at her parents' weekly newspaper. She completed college in fits and starts, preferring to study or work in a new country each year. This love of culture and language is integral to her design sensibility, and she strives to develop a new visual language with each new engagement. She is a partner at Studio Blue, which she founded in 1993. Her primary responsibilities include serving as creative director, designing and mentoring other designers; long-range fiscal and operational planning; and presenting the studio's design to the public. Cheryl's influence on the studio's work shows in her contextual approach as well as her intrepid demand for craft and innovation. She has served on the national board of the AIGA, the professional association for design; taught and lectured on design at numerous universities, at local and national conferences, and for the College Art Association; and juried a number of design competitions, including AIGA’s 50 Books/50 Covers competition, which she chaired in 2004 and 2005.

Contact Cheryl at cheryl@studioblue.us

Lauren Boegen

Project Manager
The George Washington University, MA, museum studies
Illinois Wesleyan University, BA, history and American studies, magna cum laude

When Lauren changed her undergraduate major from biology to history, her parents-both teachers-made her promise she would never become a teacher. This was fine with Lauren, but she didn't give much thought to what she actually would do. Eventually, she realized that in museums, she could combine her passion for the arts and her desire to focus on new ideas every day. After working for the Smithsonian and the National Park Service, Lauren relocated to Chicago and decided to focus her attention on design. She is taking classes at Columbia College and learning by osmosis at Studio Blue. Lauren's responsibilities at the studio include client communication, interacting closely with the project teams, and assisting in everyday operations.

Contact Lauren at lauren@studioblue.us

Chrissi Cowhey

Senior Designer
Rhode Island School of Design, MFA, graphic design
Middlebury College, BA, English and studio art, cum laude

The opportunity to join Studio Blue brought Chrissi full circle in two fundamental ways—geographically, it brought her back home to Chicago after several years on west and east coasts; and it brought her back “home” to the work that is her first love: designing for arts and nonprofit institutions. Since her earliest memories of making, Chrissi has alternated between fine art and the written word, finally finding a way to happily combine the two in graphic design. She has found these roots to serve her well, bringing a consistently conceptual approach to her work at Abrams Books, Two Twelve Associates, The RISD Museum, Liska + Associates New York, and with various nonprofit and arts-related freelance clients.

Contact Chrissi at chrissi@studioblue.us

Silja Hillmann

Junior Designer
Folkwang University Essen, Germany, Diploma Degree (Master equivalent), Communication Design

Silja is beginning a twelve month “apprenticeship” at Studio Blue in November 2009. Silja has a strong passion for typography and conceptually sound design and is eager to learn from experienced designers to develop and refine her visual communication voice. During a design internship in Australia and a year at a Swedish university, working in a different cultural context has proven to be an inspiring and very enriching creative experience.

Contact Silja at silja@studioblue.us

Claire Williams

Senior Designer
Parsons College of Design, AAS, graphic design
Vassar College, BA, art history and French

Raised by parents who worked for the United Nations, Claire's humanitarian interests were formed early in life. She loves to design for clients who have community and educational interests at heart, and the search for work with this focus led her to Studio Blue. Her career experience began with five years in New York book publishing, where she designed covers for the trade paperback imprint Vintage Books. During that time she also ran a freelance business that focused on local branding projects and music packaging. Love and marriage then took her to Chicago, where she spent her first three years working on large-scale corporate communications campaigns and annual reports for VSA Partners. At Studio Blue Claire's role is to manage junior staff, and to create design that solves strategic problems with beautiful visual solutions. She currently serves on the board of AIGA Chicago.

Contact Claire at claire@studioblue.us