Exhibitions
Nick Adam is a Chicago-based design leader at Span. He creates identity systems that strengthen public life, elevate experience, and build value for ambitious brands and institutions.
Nick Adam, Design Director Associate Partner, Span
Chicago, South Side, 47th Street
Questions Leaders Ask Before Branding or Rebranding:
How does brand create lasting value?
Brand creates value when it helps people recognize, trust, and choose something.
At Firebelly, I led the design of Divvy’s identity, helping introduce bike sharing as a visible part of everyday Chicago. The system has endured through enormous expansion, millions of trips, a change in operators, and more than $127 million in committed investment and public revenue.
At Span, I led the strategy, naming, and design direction for First Lady, elevating a respected architecture cruise into a distinctive hospitality brand and one of the country’s highest-ranked visitor experiences.
The measure should follow the job the brand was designed to do.
When is a rebrand worth the investment?
A rebrand is worth considering when an organization has changed but its public expression has not. The work may involve strategy, naming, messaging, and a new brand identity system. The goal is not simply to change how the organization looks, but to bring its identity into line with what it has become and where it is going.
When I led the naming of Help Stop Hate at Span, the existing name, Illinois v. Hate, framed the service around conflict. The new name made its promise of care and action clear. In its first week after launch, Help Stop Hate received five times as many reports as the previous six-month pilot.
The first question is not whether the brand looks old. It is what the current brand is preventing.
How do you protect the trust and recognition an organization already has?
By finding the equity before changing the expression, and involving the people responsible for its future throughout the process.
I bring board members and organizational leaders into the work early, establish what must be protected, and connect design decisions to the ambitions and concerns they have shared. That approach builds understanding, earns broad approval, and often turns board members into advocates for the new identity.
At Span, I led the Nature Museum identity, elevating the name audiences already used while preserving its relationship to the Chicago Academy of Sciences.
The work is distinguishing what is merely familiar from what remains valuable. A strong rebrand respects history, earns trust, and gives an organization a clearer way forward.
How do I choose the right branding partner?
Look beyond taste.
Ask who will lead the work, how they diagnose the problem, how decisions are made, and whether the system will remain useful after launch.
Across two decades in design, I have spent more than 15 years working directly with owners, executives, communications leaders, and boards. At Span, I work alongside a senior team across strategy, identity, digital experience, motion, and environments.
We are a good fit for leaders who value candor, strong ideas, and a system their organization can actually use.
A beautiful presentation is not the same as a useful brand.
South Side Sanctuary — Visual Identity Escaramuza — Exhibition Design 2024 Chicago Lowrider Festival — Exhibition Design Nature Museum — Visual Brand Identity
It is currently the
Services
Book Design
Brand Identity Design
Campaign Design
Environmental Design
Exhibition Design
Interactive Design
Naming
Package Design
Design Research
Visualization
Press
Print, 2024
Brand New, 2024
Crain’s, 2024
GD USA, 2024
Wired, 2023
Fast Company, 2023
The Dieline, 2023
Creative Boom, 2022
Smithsonian Magazine, 2022
The Economist, 2022
Ad Age, June 22nd 2022
Interviews
Creative Boom, May 2024
Creative Boom, April 2024
New City, 2023
Print, Daily Heller, 2023
Communication Arts, 2022
Print, Daily Heller, 2022
Underscore Podcast, 2022
Additional press here
Awards
AIGA 365, 2025
Society of Typographic Arts, STA100, 2025 (2×)
AIGA 365, 2024
Society of Typographic Arts, STA100, 2023 (2×)
Anthem Awards for Sustainability & Climate, 2023
AIGA 365, 2022
Society of Typographic Arts, STA100, 2022 (2×)
Communication Arts, Interactive Short List, 2022
Society of Typographic Arts, STA100, 2021 (5×)
AIGA, 50 Books 50 Covers, 2021
Tokyo Type Directors Award, 2021 (2×)
Society of Typographic Arts, STA100, 2020 (2×)
Communication Arts, Typography, 2020
Society of Typographic Arts, STA100, 2019 (2×)
The Design Kids, Top Students and Graduates, 2017
Society of Typographic Arts, STA100, 2017 (4×)
Print Magazine, Regional Annual, 2016 (2×)
Society of Typographic Arts, STA100, 2016 (2×)
Type Directors Club, TDC61, 2015
Core77, Design Awards, Professional Notable, 2014
Under Consideration, FPO Awards, 2014
Fast Company, Innovation by Design, Finalist, 2014
Additional awards here
Institutions
AIGA Design Archives
Art Institute of Chicago Museum
Chicago Design Archive
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Design of Dissent Collection at SVA
Design Museum of Chicago
Milton Glaser Design Center and Archives at SVA
Newberry Library
Manuscript Library at Columbia University
RISD Fleet Library Thesis Collection
Ryerson and Burnham Libraries
Additional honors here
Brand Identity Design
Nick Adam, Design Director
and Associate Partner at Span
New business inquiries
Nick(at)Span.Studio
Chicago, South Side
Kenwood Neighborhood
Copyright © 2025
Enjoy the day.
Have a project? Let’s work on it at Span.
Over
2003–2025
Design Director and Associate Partner, Span
Principal, Span
Associate Principal, Thirst (3st)
Instructor, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
Graduate Teaching Assistant, RISD
Strategic Director, Firebelly
Art Director and Designer, Publications International Limited (PIL)
Designer, Ala Carte Entertainment (ACE)
Junior Designer, Illinois Institute of Art (ILIA)
Mentorship
Member at Large, Chicago Design Archive
Design Director, Special Project for Design Museum of Chicago (DMoC)
Designer and Laborer, Creative Grounds at Overton
Design Director, Daylight
Design Director, Special Project for Design Museum of Chicago (DMoC)
Designer and Laborer, Creative Grounds at Overton
Design Director, Daylight
Facilitator, Camp Firebelly
Volunteer, Reason to Give
Volunteer, Reason to Give
Academic
Engagements
DePaul University, Guest Capstone Advisor
NC State College of Design, Expert Advisor
RISD, Visiting Critic
RISD, Instructor
Engagements
DePaul University, Guest Capstone Advisor
NC State College of Design, Expert Advisor
RISD, Visiting Critic
RISD, Instructor
RISD, Graduate Teaching Assistant
SAIC, Expert Advisor
School of Design at UIC, Guest Mentor
School of Visual Arts (SVA), Expert Advisor
Sam Fox, Guest Critic
Western Michigan University, Visiting Critic
SAIC, Expert Advisor
School of Design at UIC, Guest Mentor
School of Visual Arts (SVA), Expert Advisor
Sam Fox, Guest Critic
Western Michigan University, Visiting Critic
Mentors
Dawn Hancock (Firebelly)
Rick Valicenti (Thirst)
Bethany Johns (RISD)
Doug Scott (RISD, Yale, WGBH)
Membership
Caxton Club
Society of Typographic Arts
Typographic Circle
Design Museum of Chicago
Education
Masters of Fine Art (MFA) in Graphic Design
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Visual Communication
The Illinois Institute of Art (ILIA)
Have a project? Let’s work on it at Span.
No where near the end
Conferences and Workshops
Chicago Humanities, Documenting Lowrider Culture and Community (‘24)
Institute of Design, Design as Activism Symposium (‘24)
Chicago Design Archive, 20th Anniversary (‘23)
AIGA Salt Lake City, The 100 Show, Judge (‘23)
Design Museum of Chicago, Workshop Facilitator (‘23)
MIAD, Great Ideas of Humanity, Panelist (‘22)
First Round, Underconsidoration — Noodles Identity (‘19)
Typeforce 10, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Publicness (‘19)
Additional conferences and workshops here
Chicago Humanities, Documenting Lowrider Culture and Community (‘24)
Institute of Design, Design as Activism Symposium (‘24)
Chicago Design Archive, 20th Anniversary (‘23)
AIGA Salt Lake City, The 100 Show, Judge (‘23)
Design Museum of Chicago, Workshop Facilitator (‘23)
MIAD, Great Ideas of Humanity, Panelist (‘22)
First Round, Underconsidoration — Noodles Identity (‘19)
Typeforce 10, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Publicness (‘19)
Additional conferences and workshops here
Academic Lectures
DePaul University, Guest Lecturer, Capstone Advisor (‘24)
DAAP School of Design, Guest Lecturer (‘21)
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Guest Lecturer (‘21)
McHenry community college, Panelist (‘21)
College of Creative Studies (CCS), Guest Lecturer (‘21)
SAIC, Guest Lecturer (‘21)
MICA, Guest Lecturer (‘20)
San Fransisco University, Guest Lecturer (‘20)
Western Michigan University, Guest Lecturer (‘20)
Additional lectures here
DePaul University, Guest Lecturer, Capstone Advisor (‘24)
DAAP School of Design, Guest Lecturer (‘21)
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Guest Lecturer (‘21)
McHenry community college, Panelist (‘21)
College of Creative Studies (CCS), Guest Lecturer (‘21)
SAIC, Guest Lecturer (‘21)
MICA, Guest Lecturer (‘20)
San Fransisco University, Guest Lecturer (‘20)
Western Michigan University, Guest Lecturer (‘20)
Additional lectures here
Kind Words 2, You Are Beautiful Gallery (‘23)
Great Ideas of Humanity, Chicago Cultural Center (‘23)
Field Days, Design Museum of Chicago (‘23)You Are | I Am, You Are Beautiful Gallery (‘23)
Free and Open, Design Museum of Chicago (‘22)
Kind Words, You Are Beautiful Gallery (‘22)
Great Ideas of Humanity, Brooks Stevens Gallery (‘21)
Successful Failures, Chicago Cultural Center (‘21)
Additional exhibitions here
Nick Adam is a graphic designer focused on the power of identity. With the teams and clients he collaborates, he designs brand identities, interactive touch points, spaces, and processes that shift culture, build value, and create advocates.
Nick Adam, Chicago Design Director, © 2025
Chicago, South Side, 47th Street
I
Enjoy the day