• Best Practices for Graphic Designers: Packaging
  • 30 October 2012

Rockport Publishers would like to celebrate your winning design style in the latest volume of the best in package design. Send photos of your best package designs no later than November 12, 2012. Winners will be featured in Best Practices for Graphic Designers: Packaging, a full-color, 192-page book brimming with great design and written by Chicago award-winning design firm, Grip. Slated for publication in the fall of 2013, this volume will present the best in packaging.

ELIGIBILITY

Any package design created within the last two years. Designs that have been published in other Rockport books are not eligible. There is no entry fee and, because of that, Rockport cannot provide free copies of the book to those whose work is chosen. However, they do offer a 50% discount on copies of the book.

ENTERING

Please send digital submissions. (Click here for submission details.) There is no entry fee and you may submit as many entries as you like, but be sure to complete a separate form for each entry. The information you provide will be used in a caption to accompany your submission should it be selected, so write legibly, be as complete as possible, and double check all spelling. Incomplete or illegible forms will be disqualified.

DEADLINE

Postmark your entry by November 12, 2012.

Please complete and upload a Grant of Rights form for each project entered. Submissions will not be considered if unaccompanied by Grant of Rights forms.

  • Welcome Jenn McHale
  • 29 October 2012

We're so happy to welcome Jenn as the newest member of the Grip crew. Since you probably haven't had the chance to meet her yet, here are three things you should know about Jenn. One: do not challenge her to an avocado eating competition because you will lose. Two: if she had fulfilled her childhood dreams, she'd be a lawyer — with crimped hair. Three: her biggest pet peeve is the grammatical misuse of your/you're, to/too/two, and its/it's/its', which is equal parts awesome and nerdy, and proves she'll fit right in at Grip. We are thrilled she's joined the team and when you have the chance, please say hello to Jenn, our new designer.

  • 7th Annual Eating Competition: PB&J!
  • 27 July 2012

Thanks to all of you who came to our annual over-indulgance party. We particularly loved chasing those PB&J sandwiches with ice-cold PBR. That's called keepin' it classy. Speaking of, be sure to check out the photo booth images from the festivities including some of our awesome clients in mustaches, pink wigs, and tattoos. Congrats to our big winners! And to the rest of you? start practicing for next year!

  • Welcome Jennie!
  • 03 May 2012

Please meet our latest and greatest intern: Jennie Li. She was quick to fit in since she’s quite a budding foodie, but she does have one fatal flaw: she makes us wait to eat while she photographs our food so she can immediately instagram photos of it that 465 people like in 3.5 minutes. We didn’t think anyone could tweet as much about food as, well, Kevin. But she’s giving him a run for his money in 140 characters and we’re proud of her for that. So far, she’s been helping us on projects for Ox-Bow and Arcadia, showing off her delightful illustration skills. We’re happy to welcome her to the team.

  • Welcome Rob!
  • 11 January 2012

Rob is our first intern of 2012 and he is going to be a tough act to follow. Not only is he fulfilling his dream of bringing back the ever-fashionable ZZ Top beard (he is part lumberjack, after all), he’s been helping us kick off the busy year by lending his skills on everything from photography to illustration to web design & programming. He’s a multi-talented young designer, as you can see by his site, where he showcases some lovely work and also admits to loving cats. We’re happy to have him join the Grip team.

  • Chicago Design Archive 2011
  • 07 October 2011

We were thrilled to find out that our packaging work for Death’s Door Spirits was selected for the 2011 Chicago Design Archive, a prestigious and renowned collection of work, facilitated by the fine folks at the Society of Typographic Arts. This year’s panel of judges looked at hundreds of entries and carefully selected the work to be included in the archive, and we are proud to be among those chosen for this honor. We thought what better way to toast this lovely news than with some delicious cocktails with, say... Death’s Door Gin, perhaps? We’re full-circle like that. Thanks, STA, for including us, and one of our favorite clients, in the Design Archive.

  • Volunteer Day
  • 30 September 2011

What better way to spend a beautiful still-feels-like-summer Friday than with our friends from Rule 29 and Faust? Together, we donated our time, painting skills, organizational prowess, and weed-pulling muscle to Turning Point, a domestic violence agency and shelter for women & children. It was a heart-warming day, and time well-spent for such a worthy organization. Thanks to Jennifer at Turning Point for helping us set up such a great experience — and thanks to Rule 29 and Faust for being our do-gooder buddies that always inspire and entertain!

  • 6th Annual Eating Competition: Egg Roll Overload!
  • 02 August 2011

Two of our perennial champions came through again... Dave Pabellon and Chad Peterson both ate TWENTY (yes, you read that correctly) egg rolls in 5 minutes. We didn’t know whether to cheer or gag a little. In the end, we’re just happy to report that over 350 egg rolls were consumed at our 6th Annual Eating Competition. Now that this year’s winners have been crowned, we’re starting to imagine the fun that is in store for next year... how would you like to prove your mind-over-gag-reflex prowess? Pie? Ramen noodles? PB&J with the crusts cut off? Let us know your food of choice.

  • Grip + HOW Design Conference
  • 30 June 2011

We had a great time at the HOW Design Conference this year and feel inspired by the work being done in our ever-growing industry. Thanks to all of the folks who came to our sessions; Kevin gave two presentations and we heard great responses from so many of you–again, thanks design friends! We’ve always been proud to be a part of the Chicago design community, and we were happy to welcome out-of-towners into that fold as well (you know who you are!). Check out our recap of the conference if you want the inside scoop; it’s posted on BlackBox.

  • GRIP SHORT
  • 30 May 2011

We were lucky enough to have the mega-talented Gabriel Anaya as our Marwen Art at Work Intern last summer, and he lead the charge of creating this new stop-motion video, featuring some of our favorite projects and clients. Our friend Mitchell Owens, musician extraordinaire, wrote a custom song for the short as well. Hats off to our talented young friends!

  • HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRIP
  • 14 April 2011

It’s that time of year again... Today marks our 12th year in business. We made ourselves a giant cake, lit twelve candles, closed our eyes tight, took a deep breath, and wished for another dozen years that have been as fun, challenging and rewarding as the past twelve. We also took a moment to write down twelve lessons we’ve learned along the way and shared them via our newsletter — in case you missed it, we also posted them on Blackbox. Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes, friends!

  • BLACKBOX LAUNCH!
  • 03 March 2011

BlackBox is our new interview series — it is a place where clients and friends sit down with us for an unscripted ten minute chat. Our intent is to capture some of the insight we gain on the way to creating a successful project. Occasionally funny, sometimes a bit nerdy, and always informative — it is a transparent conversation not about the what, but the why and how. Check it out, and follow Blackbox on Twitter too.

  • OUR STUDIO IN DESIGN BUREAU
  • 22 February 2011

Check out our studio in the pages of Design Bureau — the March/April issue features a spread on our home away from home and all the fun, quirky things that make it our own. They even included a photo of Ted, our invincible beta fish... remember in high school when you had to “take care” of an egg for a week without breaking or damaging it as some sort of (warped) lesson in childcare? Well, we think our intern taking care of a beta fish is just as effective. (No, we don’t think our clients like fish food, you’re missing the point.) Thanks, Design Bureau, for visiting our studio and highlighting the things that make it feel like home to us. One thing though... you mention that we have a full kitchen because we “like to eat”. We kinda feel like you just called us out as the third grade fat kid. Still, we loved the article — thanks, DB!

  • WELCOME DREW ROPER
  • 10 January 2011

We’re happy to usher in our latest and greatest intern: all the way from the University of Missouri, welcome Drew Roper! Drew impressed us immediately with his thoughtful design, charming packaging work, and way-cool screenprinting skills. We’re somewhat less thrilled about his love of the St Louis Cardinals, but we are happy he’s here anyway... at least until baseball season starts.

  • SEEK CONFERENCE
  • 22 November 2010

This past weekend, Kevin had the opportunity to speak at the SEEK Conference, a one-day design conference that is organized by the ambitious design students of Northern Illinois University. Kevin spoke about the differences between designing for academia and the real world, preparing for interviews, and where design is heading in the future. He’s already been receiving rave reviews from students, such as “Your talk was enlightening and entertaining” as well as, “I took away a lot of very useful information”, and our personal favorite “Thanks for keeping it real, bro.”

  • CORN EATIN’ COMPETITION
  • 23 July 2010

This year’s eating competition featured all things corn and fierce rivalries of past champions. Plus, corndogs, corn-hole, candy corn... we sure do love a good theme. After a few Washington Island Ice Teas, corndogs actually taste good — who knew? The top prizes were awarded to CeCe and Jackie from the Chicago Children's Choir, after a long and worthy battle. Check out the photos and revel in the corniness (couldn’t resist that one). Thanks to all of our friends for coming out and enjoying some sweet corn with us. We’re now officially taking suggestions for next year’s competition!

  • Marwen Art-At-Work
  • 01 July 2010

    • Grip is thrilled to participate for the 4th year in Marwen’s Art-At-Work program. For eight weeks this summer, we are treated to the creative and inspiring talents of Gabriel Anaya, one of Marwen’s accomplished art students. He’ll be working with us to create a new stop-motion video. And hopefully, he’ll school us on the latest lingo that all the kids are sayin’ these days. Cool will reign again at Grip, thanks to Gabriel.

    • grip welcomes brandon
    • 03 May 2010

    If greased lightning is fast, then Brandon is a monster-sized bolt sent directly from design heaven. Seriously, this guy can crank out thoughtful design, answer your calls AND ride our beach cruiser at warp speed to grab Italian Ice (really, really, fast — for real). We are very proud to have him around. Stop by the studio sometime to say hello, place an Italian Ice order and set your stopwatch.

  • Time to get braces? Grip Turns 11.
  • 14 April 2010

    • You’re probably thinking we’ll be really awkward and shy this year, now that we’re 11 years old, but we’ve always been mature for our age. We celebrated in style, thanks to the unseasonably beautiful weather — delicious lunch around an outdoor table and a very timely meeting with an up-and-coming spirits company where we just had to try the products (read: delicious cocktails). Thanks for all the birthday wishes, Grip friends!

    • STA Archive10 — Live Forever
    • 25 March 2010

    The Society of Typographic Arts is getting ready for Archive10 — and we’ve been busy crafting the materials to support this amazing program. If you’re not on STA’s mailing list, you’ll miss out on our Call for Entries and your chance to enter work, get involved, and attend the Archive10 events. Check out the STA and sign up: www.sta-chicago.org Learn more about the Archive: www.chicagodesignarchive.org

    • Open Heart Magic’s Tricks are for Kids Event
    • 12 Mar 2010

    We’ve been fortunate to do pro-bono work with Open Heart Magic over the past year in support of their amazing efforts to provide entertaining therapy to children who are hospitalized — and the fruits of our labor were unveiled at the recent benefit to an audience of OHM friends and patrons. The sneak peak at the website was just a sample of what’s to come; the site launches in May. We’ll keep you posted.

    • Ox-Bow Winter Benefit & Art Auction
    • 25 Feb 2010

    One of the benefits of having Ox-Bow as a client is attending the benefits. Every year, we work on the materials and invitation package for the event, and then RSVP “yes”. It’s inspiring to see the work being produced by the talented students at Ox-Bow; in fact, we’ve been inspired to purchase a few pieces for our studio. We try to bid early on the pieces we covet the most, and by that we mean before the third cocktail. Congratulations to all of our friends at Ox-Bow, celebrating 100 years!

    • grip welcomes ashley
    • 25 Jan 2010

    Ashley Lewis joins us as the latest and greatest in the prestigious role of intern here at Grip. Aside from being well on her way to design superstardom, she’s already taught us a lot about what’s cool in the world of Twittering and some seriously sweet dance moves. After all, before getting lured by the seductively sublime job that is the Grip Intern, she almost went pro in Show Choir Performance. We’re not kidding...

    • this ain’t no disco
    • 14 Oct 2009

    Our beloved home-away-from-home is featured on This Ain’t No Disco — check it out and vote, if you please. And, yes, that’s Kelly’s mom who is singing our praises in the comment section. Biased much? No chance. See the Grip studio and cast your vote: thisaintnodisco.com

    • twick or tweet
    • 12 Oct 2009

    Grip finally caves to peer pressure and gets Twitter-ing. Follow us? We have long been leaders in social networking. Usually at a bar or restaurant. That said, given Kevin’s penchant for hyperbole, everyone here at the studio found it a hilariously cruel and unusual punishment to limit him to 140 characters.

    • sta archives
    • 27 Aug 2009

    Kelly Kaminski is part of a panel of judges selecting work for the STA Archive. The panel of judges for the STA Archive represents the finest our profession has to offer... we would normally insert a joke here about what the committee was smoking when selecting Kelly, but we’d be (mostly) joking. All of us at Grip are fortunate to spend our days working alongside her, at least until she grabs the last beer. Happens regularly.

    • who’s the quickest pickle?
    • 31 July 2009

    How many pickles does it take to win Grip‘s 4th Annual Pickle Eating Competition? Armed with a barrel of pickles, we set out to find the outer limits of physical tolerance. Do not underestimate the strength of will required to win this event. Fortunately, several brave souls stepped up to the plate and took top honors: Larry “Larold” Kozial was the overall winner, downing 11.5 pickles (gross), followed by our own Josh Blaylock (10 pickles) and Kelly Kaminski (8.5 pickles). Taking the trophies home in the Quickest Pickle division: Chad Peterson, Jeremy Bokor and Dave Pabellon, who all polished off a county-fair-sized pickle faster than you can say “who in their right mind picked pickles for an eating competition?” (we blame Molly). Send us your ideas for next year’s competition (nothing pickled — don’t even think about it).

    • epic
    • 19 May 2009

    Grip is thoroughly enjoying being host to the EPIC team and doing pro-bono work for Organic School Project. We have been fortunate enough to be blessed with this beautiful space to work in and just couldn’t keep it all to ourselves. Enter, EPIC, a local philanthropic group that pairs talented teams of creative professionals with select nonprofit clients whose missions focus on education, children and families. It is truly a pleasure to help these fine folks craft their story and reach more of the constituents they serve.

    • happy birthday, grip!
    • 14 April 2009

    Happy Birthday, Grip! Ten years deserves a very happy Happy Hour. Ten years old. Whew. For an important reminder as to why this milestone means more than most, read Outliers and note the 10,000 hour rule about how long it takes to achieve genius. Spoiler: Ten Years. Check out our gallery from the party and if you feel like celebrating, we are dragging this one out all year — just stop on by.

    • cut & paste chicago
    • 04 April 2009

    Kevin McConkey judges Cut & Paste Chicago at the Congress Theater. One part design and one part real-time competition, Kevin takes on yet another judging panel and comes away impressed. As much a cultural phenomenon as exhibition of design talent, if you have yet to see a Cut & Paste live, you owe it to yourself to go. Or do what we all do and watch the recaps on YouTube.