Dialogues: Dawn Hancock

Since starting Firebelly Design in 1999, Dawn Hancock has been an advocate of socially responsible design. This is reflective in both her professional work and her company’s commitment to the community.

In past interviews and lectures she has often times referred to her studio as a family, rather than simply coworkers. This simple truth, connected with the fact that she has had a great number of long-term clients, speaks to the friendly, almost inviting nature, of her work.

Out of their Humboldt Park studio, Firebelly completes a variety of projects including but not limited to brand strategy and design for coffee roasters like Dollop and Halfwit, but also more robust design solutions for local communities and organizations including the city of Berwyn, the Divvy Bike Share program in Chicago, and Harris Theater.

Outside of the studio’s more client driven work, Dawn has made a point to give back by creating non-profit based efforts that include the yearly Typeforce exhibit, the Firebelly Foundation, Camp Firebelly, and nonprofit focused Reason to Give.

It goes without saying that she is a true practitioner of a “practice what your preach” methodology to running a studio and, frankly, many could learn from this approach to crafting an office.

Dawn holds a BFA in Visual Communication from Northern Illinois University and was named one of The 11 Most Generous Designers by Fast Company.

Interview published in July, 2016.

Besides this conversation with Stephen, you can also watch Dawn’s talk from the MAS Context Spring Talks 2014 series.

Intro Song

“Strella, Sing a Singsong to the Moon” by Studio Noir is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.