The Company We Keep
We're all friends here
May 13, 2025 – by Makenzie Beyer
You Are the Company You Keep… One of our favorite parts about our mission, Good Design for Good Reason, is that it inherently creates a web of friends and colleagues who think, imagine, and impact their communities in similarly inspiring ways.
Rarely is it a surprise when we see former clients and collaborators cross paths with each other – it’s more of a pleasant affirmation that we’re doing something right.
It All Comes Back to Colossal
Toward the end of 2023, Firebelly partnered with Colossal to freshen up their brand identity. As long-time fans of each other’s work, both organizations were over the moon about the opportunity to collaborate and transform Colossal’s online magazine into something that would propel them forward over the next decade.
Our journey with Colossal has been a long and winding one, and it thankfully shows no sign of slowing down. You might recall the work we did for Joy Machine earlier this year, helping the folks at Colossal brand their new gallery initiative in Chicago. We also can’t forget to mention the other familiar faces and friends we’ve encountered along the way – namely, Liz Flores. Her work was recently on display at Joy Machine’s opening show.
“One thing we love about Liz’s work is how tenderly she portrays her figures and, in the case of “The Gateway,” that she puts so much power very literally in their hands.”
— Grace Ebert, co-founder of Joy Machine
Keep The Good Times Rolling
Around the same time as our partnership with Colossal, we were developing a brand identity for Good Chaos, an impact organization committed to creating opportunities for artists. As part of their initial launch, Good Chaos was seeking a trio of Chicago-based artists to design distinct logos for the organization and create interactive and joy-filled digital experiences on the Good Chaos website.
In his artist research, Firebelly’s Senior Director of Design Will Miller came across Liz’s work on the Colossal site and Shop — and felt she fit the criteria perfectly for Good Chaos’ launch initiative. She was added to the artist short-list and was ultimately selected by the Good Chaos team to participate, and her designs are currently on display at goodchaos.com
“Liz’s work instantly dazzled my eyes and lit up my design brain. She’d clearly been collaborating with numerous folks and knew how a process like this could go. Her pieces were layered and engaging. My eyes followed the edges bouncing from color to color. The longer you looked the more you were rewarded.“
— Will Miller, Senior Director of Design at Firebelly
All about Liz
Liz Flores is a painter and muralist based in Chicago, Illinois. Her work aims to express her interests in community, womanhood and Latinidad through lines, shapes and abstract figures that pull from the female body. Her work, like Firebelly’s, is human-centered and focuses distinctly on storytelling and community impact.
We were fortunate enough to run into Liz Flores in person at the Colossal launch party back last September, and again in January at Joy Machine’s official opening night.
We’re proud to keep this kind of company here at Firebelly. Be sure to keep up with all the good work these folks do by subscribing to their newsletters and checking out their websites.