About
Span is a studio crossing the boundaries of communication design in all mediums.
Our work is focused on challenging expectations with wit, logic, and a playful spirit. Blending typographic discipline with fearless expression, we elevate the role of the visual message in both culture and community. Span takes the long view — in every gesture and every project.
We see our design practice as a research and development lab both for our clients’ needs and for our own inquiry. We strive to discover innovative ways to increase impact in the art of communication through imagination and experimentation. We experiment with new models for sustainability that weave together equality, inclusiveness, and environmentalism as an ethos for success in both our work and our studio.
Span has been featured by the international media including The Economist, Smithsonian Magazine, US News and World Report, and the Associated Press. The studio has also received recognition from the design profession in Communication Arts, Brand New, the Society of Typographic Arts, and the Type Directors Club among others.
Services
Communities
Awards
- Anthem Awards for Sustainability, Environment & Climate
- STA 100 2022
- AIGA 365 2021
- Communication Arts 2023, Interactive Shortlist
- STA 100 2021
- Docomomo Modernism in America Award of Excellence
- AIGA 50 Books | 50 Covers
- Tokyo TDC Annual 2021
- STA 100 2020
- Communication Arts Typography Annual 11
- Tokyo TDC Exhibition 2020
- 49th Annual UCDA Design Competition
- STA 100 2019
- STA 100 2018
- Sappi Printer of the Year Award 2018
- 48th Annual UCDA Design Competition
- STA 100 2017
- 47th Annual UCDA Design Competition
- Graphis Poster Annual 2018
- STA 100 2016
- Communication Arts Typography Annual 2017
- 46th Annual UCDA Design Competition
Team
Co-founders John Pobojewski and Bud Rodecker have 25 years of shared experience shaping brand strategy and design for high-profile clients in the design, cultural, and civic communities. They are joined by a team of uniquely talented designers, photographers, 3D animators, illustrators, programmers, musicians, typographers, and educators. We believe this diverse set of viewpoints energizes our thinking, drives originality, and makes our work better.
Partners
John Pobojewski, Partner & Design Director
John Pobojewski is a partner and design director at Span. Pobojewski focuses on intermedia and the blending of brand, interactive, sound, motion, and environments.
Bud Rodecker, Partner & Design Director
Bud Rodecker is a partner and design director at Span and an adjunct professor at DePaul University. His work explores the space between logical constraints and formal play, and balances form with meaning. He strives to cut to the core, simply and with a playful spirit.
Studio
Nick Adam, Design Principal
Nick Adam is a strategic, values-driven design principal at Span. Nick’s work focuses on the power of identity, through which typographic details and formal maneuvers embrace qualities that are true to the entities he collaborates with.
Zach Minnich, Senior Designer
Zach Minnich is a senior designer forging a lifetime of practice and describes the on-going work as a search for his voice through a collection of studies.
Alyssa Arnesen, Senior Designer
Alyssa Arnesen is a senior designer from metro Detroit who centers her practice on typography, materiality and storytelling.
Avery Branen, Designer and Illustrator
Avery Branen is a thoughtful designer and illustrator from Portland Oregon that is driven to continuously learn and improve her craft.
Valeria Bernal, Designer
Valeria Bernal is a designer, born in Acapulco, MX and raised in the Quad Cities, who explores expanding visual expression through experimentation and playing with new mediums, while blending this with traditional design approaches.
Cheryl Kao, Designer
Cheryl Kao is a designer from the Bay Area, California. Her practice focuses on brand identity, editorial design, and digital design.
Marisa Cruz, Designer
Marisa Cruz is a designer driven to explore the relationships between culture, community, and language, and how design can facilitate conversation within those spaces.
Collaborators
Donna Speigel, Strategy & Copywriting
Through immersion with her clients, Donna Speigel develops a foundational brand strategy, an essential tool that drives not only the marketing campaigns and messaging she creates, but holistic decision making throughout the organization to keep it consistently on brand. For more than 15 years, Donna was the “voice” of both the Crate and Barrel and CB2 lifestyle brands, and prior to that, a V.P., Creative Director at the Leo Burnett Company.
Lauren Viera, Copywriting
Lauren Viera has spent the past 25 years telling life stories and brand stories, and has built a career around translating the human experience into an engaging read. A journalist by training and storyteller by heart, she uses curiosity and research to bring concepts to life, obsessing over details to deepen the lasting impact of an idea, while streamlining voice and tone for consistency.
Lyndon Valicenti, Systemic Design
Lyndon Valicenti, founding principal of Daylight, has over 15 years of cross-sector experience leading strategy, policy, and research initiatives on social and environmental issues from climate resilience to equitable community development. Lyndon is a skilled facilitator and has led inclusive design and strategy processes for numerous partners during critical moments of transformation.
Ryan Gann AIA NOMA, Community Engagement and Design Research
Ryan helps clients become better versions of themselves through design, culture, and prosperity. This work expands beyond architecture and often sits at the intersection of engagement and facilitation, elevating voices through design. Ryan’s professional portfolio spans architecture, urban planning, and experimental design investigations that enhance communities.