Small Talk II with Killswitch Collective
Review by Aggie Toppins

Small Talk II took place on March 16 at the Ashland Avenue office of the Killswitch Collective. The evening's presentation was lead by co-owners Meredith Martin and Ben Finch.

Meredith and Ben were classmates at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago when they began taking on freelance projects together. Upon graduation they had a large enough client base to build a business. The Killswitch Collective was thus born in 2004. Today, the company is a full-service design studio specializing in print and interactive design. "We make beautiful, functional web sites that evolve with our clients long after we're gone," said Finch.

The presentation began with a slide show of case studies that spanned a full range of mediums. Killswitch Collective projects are often multi-faceted. For example, an assignment that started as a collateral system for an event at a St. Louis-based architectural firm lead to signage for that event as well. Killswitch was later awarded the company's holiday card project which they chose to make into a digital experience. On a philanthropic note, Killswitch designed a site for a non-profit initiative called ArtThread. It was an interactive gallery where physically disabled and people suffering from illnesses could exchange their artwork in a sort of ongoing visual conversation. Killswitch is also technologically innovative. They successfully revolutionized interactive banner ad campaigns for Nike ID and blazed a path for cable networks, such as MTV, BET and VH1, to do online casting for shows.

During a Q & A session, someone from the audience asked what characteristics Killswitch looks for in new hires. Ben Finch responded bluntly, "We don't even look at designers that just do one thing. As a small business, we can't afford to hire print designers. I keep telling people to learn web design. Learn flash."

Moving forward, Killswitch hopes to publish a book about the first five years of their business.