Partner & Design Director

John Pobojewski

John Pobojewski is a partner and design director at Span. Pobojewski focuses on intermedia and the blending of brand, interactive, sound, motion, and environments.

In 2022 and in 2024, John was named one of Newcity Magazine’s Design 50 in recognition of those who shape Chicago’s design community. He was also listed as one of GDUSA’s 2024 Responsible Designers. In 2016, he was one of five designers profiled by Communication Arts in their 2016 feature “New Currents in Chicago Design.” In 2007, he was named one of Print Magazine’s ”New Visual Artists: 20 under 30.” John has also received professional recognition from the Type Directors Club, the Society of Typographic Arts, the Chicago Design Archive, AIGA, and SEGD.

From 2003–2019, he was a designer and later partner at Thirst, and his work with the studio has appeared in many design publications including Graphis, ID Magazine, IdN Magazine, and is currently part of the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Letterform Archive, and others.

John has presented at numerous conferences including SALT Istanbul, the SEGD Conference, the Mas Context Analog Conference, AIGA National Convention, Processing Conference Chicago, and TEDx. He also lectures at colleges and universities around the U.S.

As an intermedia artist, John has been part of several group exhibitions including Mark Applebaum’s Metaphysics of Notation project at Stanford University, All Together Now at the Design Museum of Chicago, as well as six annual Typeforce exhibitions. His digital projections for Chicago Repertory Ballet’s production of Macbeth brought “a contemporary look” and were “especially potent” according the Chicago Tribune.

John is a graduate of Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication and a Bachelor of Music in Performance. He lives in the Chicago area with his wife and daughter.