Antonio Garcia's Posts - Firebelly Design

Our City of Neighborhoods

antonio@firebellydesign.com (Antonio Garcia) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:29:02 -0800

Traditionally cut along ethnic divides and railways, Chicago’s 77 “community areas” are typically so different and disconnected from each other that understanding and relating them can be a complex and challenging maneuver. Firebelly knows this firsthand, working for both Humboldt Park and Wicker Park Bucktown.

Thanks to a new tool on our friend Justin Massa‘s nonprofit site MoveSmart.org, Chicago’s neighborhoods are getting easier to research, explore and understand. The site’s Neighborhood Finder provides Chicagoans with interactive maps and data so they can search the City’s neighborhoods in smarter, more innovative ways. MoveSmart.org’s methodologies are a positive and powerful step to helping natives and newcomers overcome the stereotypes, ignorance and prejudice held by so many regarding communities outside their own. If you dig their approach, support ’em!

Grant Minds Think Alike

antonio@firebellydesign.com (Antonio Garcia) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:38:06 -0800

Three years ago Firebelly hosted an AIGA Small Talk and it was there I met one of the event’s volunteer coordinators Emily Rawitsch. She and I stayed connected through AIGA stuff but lost touch after she moved down to Florida. That’s why I was super stoked to bump into her this summer when I visited AIGA Jacksonville to speak. As it turns out, Emily started her own studio and was actively working with some colleagues to establish their very own design grant.

The We Inspire Grant functions similarly to Firebelly’s but includes a dedicated photography component and involves the creativity + strategy of 3 agencies. I’m super excited for her and the lucky grantee(s). I hope more and more studios find ways to engage nonprofits and help those organizations communicate better though a holistic and sustainable framework (beyond one-off pro bono jobs). I’m inspired, Emily! Keep it up.