Aimee Hucek

Personal Pronouns

she, her

Describe what you do for work and how your experience with it has been.

I am the principal of my own graphic design firm in the Chicago area and I specialize in all forms of print communications, from business cards to billboards. For the last 20 years, I have also had my designs chosen for the Museum of Modern Art's holiday card collection. I love my job because it involves problem-solving and creating unique solutions so it never gets repetitive or boring.

How did you get your job?

I started my own design firm in 1996.

How long ago did you graduate from MCAD?

10+ years

Where are you originally from and how did you hear about MCAD?

I am originally from Rochelle, Illinois. I moved to the Twin Cities area in 1980 and learned about MCAD then.

What was your major and how did you choose it?

My major was in Visual Communications. I had a BA in Sociology from DePauw University and was interested in social interaction and communication. I was also interested in graphic design and communicating visually so I decided to seek an additional degree from MCAD.

Who was your favorite faculty member and why?

I had a number of great instructors at MCAD and it's hard to choose just one. Bill Stumpf and Patrick Whitney challenged me to think of things in new ways. Russ Mrozek introduced me to Christopher Alexander's Timeless Way of Building and A Pattern Language. I had a great photography class from Linda Gammell and a visual communications class with Hazel Gamec. My typography class with Robert Jensen was one of my most influential classes, doing type studies and letterpress.

Describe your internship(s).

I was also highly influenced by an internship I had while a student at Seitz Graphic Directions, which became Seitz Yamamoto Moss, in Minneapolis. Peter Seitz was a design instructor at MCAD and taught me so much about the graphic design process, from thumbnail sketches to presentations to the creation of final artwork. Peter was originally from Germany and brought with him a Bauhaus influence. Hideki Yamamoto had also been a student at MCAD and was originally from Japan. Hideki's work was beautiful, with an eye towards simplicity and creativity. He used to sharpen his pencil by hand with an x-acto knife, which took about 10 minutes, and when it was completed, it was like a work of art! Miranda Moss had also been an instructor at MCAD, and had an intuitive sense of color and a lyrical quality to her design work. While at SYM, I learned to work collaboratively, strengthened by each other's unique backgrounds. I still collaborate on projects with Brenda Dane Sussna, a fellow MCAD graduate who also worked at SYM.

Did MCAD prepare you for life after graduation? In what way?

MCAD did a great job of preparing me for life after graduation. It gave me the skills necessary to develop a design career, working for established design firms and then eventually establishing my own firm.

Your biggest takeaway from MCAD?

MCAD taught me to look at things in new ways.

What inspires you/your work?

I do a lot of traveling which helps me to see things in new ways.