Today we’d like to introduce you to Don Zegler.
Don – we’d love to hear your story.
I am the Principal and Owner of Big Design in Chicago. Big Design partners with our clients to create brand experiences that are so dynamic that they define categories and establish customer loyalty. Our mission is achieved through outstanding storytelling presented across expertly curated digital and print touchpoints.
I started Big Design when I turned thirty. I had been fired from one of Chicago’s hottest design firms. It was the first time in my life I had ever been fired. The firm had a reputation for being a “meat grinder” of creative talent. I worked on some inspiring projects, made some long-lasting connections and learned a great deal in what turned out to be my short time there.
I began the process of looking for another full-time gig. I made the rounds of all the top design firms in the city and realized that at each interview I was asking more questions of the firm’s owners then they were asking of me. Questions about how they ran their firms, how they were awarded assignments and how they made decisions on marketing, office space and the like. It slowly became clear that the most rewarding path forward would be to strike out on my own…that and the fact that no immediate offers were forthcoming. So without a single client prospect and the pressure of a new mortgage on a 100-year-old home, I took a leap of faith in my own abilities and started Big Design.
With the help of an endlessly supportive wife and the solicitation of friends and by reaching out to everyone on my contact list, work began to slowly trickle in. Those were very difficult times, not knowing if Big Design would be a success, and not having an option of anything else on which to fall back.
Eventually, connections were made with several commercial real estate marketing executives. A vendor introduced me to the American Bar Association and an acquaintance to a not-for-profit organization. For years, every day was a struggle to complete existing assignments, search for new clients, invoice projects, chase collections on past assignments and keep all of the equipment and software up to date. Fear mixed with creative passion is a substantial motivating force. I have never had a day where I thought “Well, I have finally made it. Time to take it easy.”
Things are ever-changing. My initial home studio eventually became a nursery with the birth of our first child. I rented a storefront office just 6 blocks from the house. The new workspace allowed for the hiring of freelancers to help out when multiple assignments had overlapping deadlines. The office also allowed for greater focus on growing the business and establishing a professional persona as well as functioning as a place for a monthly poker game with neighborhood dads. The proximity of the office also proved vital after the birth of our triplets. The long hours and crazy schedules of the creative world served me well during the first few years helping to raise our four children and run a business.
Big Design continued to grow thanks to work in several key areas: commercial real estate; associations and not-for-profits; and most recently, small businesses/entrepreneurs and higher education. The business is now headquartered in a loftspace within the Ravenswood creative corridor in Lakeview. The challenge to acquire new clients is ongoing and becomes more difficult as longtime clients age out of their fields. Big Design is an extremely rewarding creative endeavor and has afforded me a rich quality of life. Being able to establish my own schedule gives me the opportunity to be there for my family when needed including as a coach, a Cub Scout leader, a chauffeur and a tutor.
In addition to Big Design, at the beginning of what ended up being the Chicago Cubs World Championship 2016 season, I launched a passion project. I designed a poster commemorating 100 seasons of Chicago Cubs baseball played in Wrigley Field. Not many people know that the Chicago Cubs baseball club was formed in 1870, but did not play their first game in the Friendly Confines until 1916.
The poster commemorates each season’s win/loss record, all postseason appearances and notable achievements since the Cubs first game at 1060 W. Addison on Thursday, April 20, 1916. The poster is offset printed in 3 colors on heavyweight archival paper by a family run printing company in Jefferson Park on Chicago’s northwest side. I printed them in a limited edition and sell them online at www.100seasonsposter.com as well as local retailers like Judy Maxwell Home in Old Town, RepChi in Jefferson Park and Foursided at their three locations. Sales have been good and this side hustle has provided me a distinct chance to meet many great people.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Big Design has been fortunate to have had many great relationships with a variety of clients with whom we enjoy working and who afford us the opportunity to do great work. Big Design understands you are only as good as your last at bat and we believe in hitting home runs. Frustration arises when you work hard developing and maintaining a quality relationship only to lose the account when your connection is replaced or moves on and the new guy has never seen you play.
On more than one occasion I have called a longtime client to coordinate the start of a regularly occurring project only to be informed that my contact no longer works at the firm. The marketing director’s replacement has no idea of who I am or what projects and services Big Design has provided in the past. I worked hard in each case to re-establish the relationship, but often the replacement has an existing vendor with whom they prefer to work. Those kinds of days are a shock, losing a quarter to a third of your business without warning can be very discouraging. But losing clients is the nature of the business, and I make certain the Big Design name is constantly in front of prospective clients through regularly scheduled email broadcasts and networking. Failure is never an option.
Please tell us about Big Design.
Big Design is passionate about transcending creative expectations. Big Design is a full service design-centric agency that offers a 360° approach to the telling of each client’s unique story. To achieve this 360° brand marketing, Big Design offers graphic design, website design and development, and print and digital marketing creation. Big Design helps our clients define their individual voice. We begin each project with a decisive conversation where we distill the specific personality each client possesses…the personality that will connect with their intended audience and develop a narrative that will build loyalty and drive customer conversations.
Being a client of Big Design means peace of mind. Our clients receive proactive solutions to all their marketing requirements. Our experience gives us the advantage of anticipating problems and avoiding them before they develop. We establish realistic production schedules and provide accurate budgets and pride ourselves on delivering each project at deadline and on budget – or make the client aware of any deviations. We arrive at creative solutions quickly and execute them flawlessly in a timely fashion. Our client’s most difficult task is often selecting which of our initial creative concepts they prefer most.
As the owner of Big Design, my proudest moment is the realization that we have been able to establish the kind of trust with clients, employees and vendors that after 25 years in business Big Design has earned a reputation for superior creativity, high quality and professional integrity.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Running any business is a constant learning process. Staying up on trends and learning new software and digital marketing practices is what makes being in a creative business so exciting. Networking within Chicago’s vast and vibrant creative community is the energy that reinvigorates the creative process. Each lesson that I have learned has supplied the knowledge that allows me to better serve my clients. I would do hundreds of things differently, but I think those lessons have made me a better designer, project manager and business owner.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3759 N. Ravenswood Ave., Suite 233, Chicago, IL60613
- Website: www.bigdesignchicago.com
- Phone: 773 604-8577
- Email: dzegler@bigdesignchicago.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigdesignchicago/
- Twitter: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/3978554/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.ca/biz/big-design-chicago
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/100seasonsposter/
Image Credit:
Portrait by Carlo Navarro – carlonavarro.com
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