Many of us fell in love with paper at a very young age.

The infinite combinations of textures and colors combined with that fresh pulpy smell has conjured up many a glorious mountain of ideas that would eventually get each of us lost in a seas of paper. While our complimenting materials would vary; colored pencils, paint, pastels, pen and ink, scissors, glitter; it always began with the paper. The unending stream of projects those beautiful fibers inspired filled our parents’ homes, our bedroom walls, and inspired many a career where paper and its wonder could be present everyday.

It’s this kind of childhood wonder Neenah Paper has always conjured up for us. Getting new sample books and promotions always carries a little bit of magic with it, sparking ideas of what could be. So when we received an invitation to be transported back to this place of wonder and inspiration with a trip to the Neenah Paper Mill, we jumped at it. Read the rest of the entry >

The new year is always a good time to freshen up, make resolutions, start something different and of course introduce new team members! With great excitement we would like to introduce the newest Rule29er, Allison Tylek!

Allison comes to us from the great state of Indiana. A recent graduate of Indiana University (Go Hoosiers!), she received her BFA in graphic design and minor in psychology. Getting to know her over the past couple months, what really stood out to us about Allison was her easy going personality and her mad illustration skills, both of which we hope you all get to experience as she becomes a part of the everyday activity at R29.

Whenever we meet someone new, we usually have lots of questions, which I’m sure you all have for our new designer. So to help us all get to know Allison a little better, we went ahead and asked the very important things we know are on everyone’s minds…

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This past Friday the Grip/Faust/R29 trifecta got together for the 3rd Annual Volunteer Day! This year the activities took place at the Rebuilding Exchange in downtown Chicago. This fantastic non-for-profit salvages building materials from landfills and makes them accessible for reuse through their retail warehouse. They also provide education and job training, spreading their message of sustainable deconstruction practices and reuse.  To learn more about this great organization, check out their website or visit them on Facebook. If you are wanting to visit them, their new space opens to the public early November.

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Being able to partner with an organization on the ground floor, dreaming with them about what could be, and then helping it come to fruition is what we love most about the work we get to do. This type of partnership doesn’t come along every day, so we are honored that we have been able to do just that with Life In Abundance in the five years we have worked together. What began as a redesign of their strategy and identity, has turned into the connecting and creation of all of their communication materials, as well as the filming and producing of two documentaries. Our relationship has also prompted the team at Rule29 to take a new look at how we approach the work we do with our other clients. Working with the underprivileged of Africa and those who walk along side them, has made us realize the world is a very large place, full of incredibly unique people who each have their very own story to tell. We have come to realize that this is true of each person and each company we have the privilege to work along side. It has become our passion to help them find the best ways to articulate their story well.
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Is passion really the defining factor to a great career? Does the possibility of a good career still exist in an ever evolving, technology and idea focused culture? Is velcro really a failure? Economist Larry Smith delivers an engaging talk about why many of us aren’t pursing our passions and why we can’t afford not to.

What are you passionate about?
What stops you from pursuing it?