Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Starr.
Stephen started Stephen B. Starr Design, Inc. in January 1991 after thirteen years of employment with design firms in Chicago. Stephen developed clients in the areas of healthcare, professional associations, banking, closely held businesses and nonprofit organizations. In 1995, he became enamored with the opportunities to communicate via the internet and has since been an enthusiastic advocate of digital media as an integral part of a communications plan.
Areas of expertise include website and internet application design and development, branding/logo/identity creation, print design for advertising, marketing and communications and strategic editorial branding and content creation.
Has it been a smooth road?
I was fortunate to be asked to be the design supplier for a major healthcare company in the first month after starting my business. This connection leads to a portfolio that fits well with some of the major healthcare and pharmaceutical companies in Chicagoland.
Any business has struggles. A challenge for me was staffing up to the point where I became a manager and not a designer. Though, I have always enjoyed the people I have worked with, I am grateful creative professionals have moved fairly organically into working offsite in ad-hoc teams, assembled for projects that require particular expertise. This has enabled me to remain in a creative role and still allowed me to work with some of the finest people in the creative business sector.
I am continuously challenged to allow a free flow of information between design, visual arts, theater, literature and spiritual innovation. I think all these disciplines need to be in conversation and I am enriched by engagement with other innovators.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Stephen B. Starr Design story. Tell us more about the business.
I consider creative expression to be a fundamental way to express life on our planet. I am interested in helping my clients to articulate their mission or vision or to sell a product in a way that creates ever-expanding connections — with members, with supporters, with consumers, with the world around them.
I am known for my acuity with digital design and for agility with language. I have often been inspired visually by words, so instead of being an “ipsum lorem” designer, I often write copy as I design, putting myself in my client’s shoes. The writing habit has often placed me in collaboration with content creators and marketers. When I began to label my writing skills as “editorial branding,” it was understood as a core skill.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Communications via the internet move at warp speed. Technology is in the business of improvement — more, better, faster, easier. As speed overtakes quality, I believe accessibility to information that enhances the experience of being human will be the future of internet communication.
Tools for using the internet will become nearly universal and will become a standard part of the education and commerce lexicon. Programming will become de-mystified and invisible to most users by well-designed user interface. Programmers who gear their online products for “citizen coders” will move center stage. The design will be key in helping people of all ages and abilities to interact with the daily tasks of life on the planet.
I think North American design and business concerns will engage more broadly with other countries and cultures and opportunity will more widely spread. I think surviving and thriving on our planet will require human’s engaging with one another to solve some of our biggest challenges.
Pricing:
- Costs for “editorial branding” are billed at an hourly rate of $90/hr
Contact Info:
- Address: 2120 Madison Place
Evanston, IL 60202 - Website: stephenbstarrdesign.com
- Phone: 847-461-8648
- Email: steve@stephenbstarrdesign.com
- Instagram: stephenbstarr
- Other: LinkedIn – stephenbstarr
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