This lecture series invites new and established voices to share their stories, knowledge, and ideas with the community. This spring, we spotlight community-driven creative spaces and multidisciplinary design practices, highlighting how these groups foster collaboration, social impact, and cultural dialogue within their communities and beyond.

Join us as we explore the role of design in building and sustaining community, and how hybrid creative practices are shaping the future of creative work.

Type Electives Virtual Lecture Series:

The Chicago Graphic Design Club: Community with ♥

Christian Solorzano will be speaking about building creative community as an act of generosity—how the Chicago Graphic Design Club became a platform for connection, abundance, and legacy-making.

An educator at DePaul University and founder of Opal Studio, Christian founded the Chicago Graphic Design Club during the pandemic when established organizations went silent. What began as frustration became infrastructure for the Underscore podcast, Faculty publication, Point, and ongoing collaborations—each a space for the creative community to connect, collaborate, and reverberate.

Drawing from six years of breaking conventional rules around metrics, promotion, and transactional interactions, Christian will share what happens when you prioritize relationships over reach and trust over predetermined outcomes. He'll discuss his drive to flatten hierarchy, create safe space for vulnerability, and the transgressive act of building something without asking for permission—fostering a creative ecosystem where relationships are the real metric of success, and why building community is both an act of resistance and humanity's breath.

This session will feature a short presentation, followed by a conversation moderated by Type Electives and an open Q&A for attendees.

Send us your questions through our Instagram @typeelectives

The event will be hosted online via Zoom.

We look forward to having you with us!

Christian Solorzano

Christian Solorzano is a designer, educator, and community builder based in Chicago who founded the Chicago Graphic Design Club in 2020 as infrastructure for connection—building the Underscore podcast, Faculty publication, and launching his studio, Opal in 2026. He teaches design at DePaul University, approaching his work with a contemplative practice that revolts against conforming and trusts the process even when he doesn't know where it's going. Christian also writes, photographs, and works as a product designer at a consulting firm.

Instagram: @xnslrzn, @chicagographicdesignclub