About Small Talks
Small Talks offer attendees the opportunity to learn about business practices, view work, and experience environments at local businesses. We try to bring new relevant content to the community we'd like to give other firms the chance to present their company to our audience.
About Morningstar
Morningstar is an investment research company offering mutual fund, ETF, and stock analysis, ratings, and data, and portfolio tools. Morningstar considers design and designers as part of our strategic foundation, alongside our technology and research peers. Design plays an integral part in building products, visualizing data, and expressing our brand. We use elegant design to communicate complex ideas about investing.
Speakers and panelists for the event:
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Philip Burton
Design Consultant, Morningstar
Professor & Chair, Graphic Design, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Design
Philip Burton is Professor and Founding Chair of the School of Design in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 2003 and awarded the Julius Adams Stratton Prize for Intercultural Achievement by the Friends of Switzerland/Boston in 2016. In addition to maintaining a freelance practice, he has been a design consultant to Morningstar since 1992.
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Courey Gruszauskas
UX Designer and Content Strategist, Workplace Products, Retirement Manager
Courey is UX designer and content strategist, which are all fancy ways of saying that she helps people make decisions, accomplish tasks, and live better lives through learning. Both her BA in creative writing and her MS in LIS have helped her throughout all aspects of her career, from building Groupon's editorial voice to creating software users love at Morningstar, Inc. She loves card sorting, the neurosis of copy editing, and a really good lipstick.
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Phil Parcellano
Associate Visual Designer, Product
Phil graduated from the University of Illinois/Chicago with a degree in Anthropology and Graphic Design. He enjoys the challenge of combining user behavior and visual design to create the a seamless experience for users. Outside of work he enjoys the great outdoors, and endurance sports.
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Clifton Schaller
Associate UX Designer, Product
Individual Investor and Behavioral Insights
Clifton graduated from the University of Bologna (Italy) with a masters in Economics. He likes to combine behavioral economics and product strategy to nudge our users to their desired outcomes. Outside of work he can be found making fresh pasta, forging a canoe in upper Michigan or playing hockey.
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Jason Ackley
Head of Creative Design, Global Marketing
Jason was first introduced to typography in his high-school printmaking class, learning to operate a Miehle 2-color press to produce the student newsletter. After receiving his BFA from The University of Illinois/Chicago, Jason started his career at the internal creative agency of Andersen Worldwide & Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). He later joined Morningstar, where he's built his design career for the past 18 years. Jason has received recognition by the AIGA and the STA, including work entered into the permanent Chicago Design Archive.
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Marissa Monson
Senior Content Manager, Digital
Marketing/Content Strategy
Marissa started her career as a reporter. Now, she applies those content skills to user experience design. She's still energized by getting people the information they need to make important decisions.
Agenda
6:00 – 6:45 PM Networking and refreshments
6:15 – 6:30 PM Office tour (optional)
6:30 – 6:45 PM Networking and refreshments
6:45 – 7:15 PM Morningstar design history
7:15 – 7:30 PM Short panel presentation on brand, design thinking, content and design
7:30 – 8:00 PM Q&A
8:00 – 8:30 PM Networking and refreshments
Ticket Pricing
$10 student members
$20 members
$40 non members
Code of Conduct
By registering to attend this event, you agree to abide by AIGA Chicago Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct may be found here.
Hashtags & Handles
#SmallTalks
#AIGAChicago
@AIGAChicago
Join AIGA today and save $20 on your #SmallTalks ticket.
Special thanks to Seth Collins and Katie Ingersoll, AIGA Chicago Event Chairs, for organizing this event, to Remy Glock of Ogilvy485 for the artwork, and to Digital People for sponsoring this event.
