2011 AIGA Medalist: Robert Vogele

While studying advertising and graphic design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1949, Vogele was invited by Ralph Eckerstrom to work at the University of Illinois Press art department. In 1951, they attended the first International Design Conference in Aspen, which proved to be a pivotal experience for Vogele. The conference theme was “Design as a Function of Management,” and it profoundly impacted him and the way he would think about and practice design throughout his career.

In 1956, after serving in the Korean War, he went to work at Latham, Tyler and Jensen (LTJ), a well-established industrial design firm in Chicago. Mentored by Dick Latham, Vogele learned about the importance of strategic design thinking. In his new role as the director of graphics, packaging and corporate identity, Vogele was allowed to be part of the strategy sessions with clients on the front end, asking questions, researching problems and following up with strategic solutions. At that time, it was practically unheard of for graphic designers to meet directly with the decision makers on the client side, but because Vogele was part of a larger industrial design collective he was given access. He saw a huge divide in the way that business and design functioned, and he was determined to close that gap.

In 1958, he left LTJ to start Robert Vogele Design, later called RVI, and in 1961 created a “communication clinic,” with three separate business units operating within RVI. In this capacity, his firm was able to offer full-service design capabilities—from advertising and packaging and branding, to industrial design—to small and mid-sized companies that would not otherwise be able to afford all those services. This collaborative atmosphere enhanced the client’s experience and was an early example of what a multidisciplinary design agency could be.

Designers managed their own clients and business units, while Vogele looked at the bigger business of design. He recognized talent and leadership qualities in the people he hired—often before they saw it in themselves. Bart Crosby, who worked at RVI, says, “He hired designers with the ability to run their own business so he could focus on the finances and plan ahead. He didn’t often involve himself in day-to-day design activities.” 

IBM hired the agency in 1969, essentially to create an advertising plan to lease office space in its new and half-vacant building at One IBM Plaza. Vogele saw that as a waste of time and instead hired an outside agency to do a study on the market. Using the research—which showed an overbuilt real estate market and a less desirable location some distance from the financial district—Vogele developed a business plan. He proposed that IBM offer potential renters a turnkey deal where IBM would amortize all the build-out expenses—design and furnish the spaces—and add it to the rent. It was a risky proposal, but Vogele pushed IBM’s lawyers to find a way to underwrite tenant build-outs. He presented his plan to three levels of IBM management at three different times—a “horrible experience,” as he recalls—and got approval at each level. His plan paid off tenfold, well exceeding the expected lease income within the client’s targeted time goal.

“It was the first time we [designers] were given the business problem and we had to come up with a recommendation and manage the plan,” says Vogele. “If you can’t create the business criteria, you won’t understand the assignment, and your solution won’t work.”

His passion for design and the role it could play in business was a major reason he became so involved in local and national design organizations that helped establish Chicago as a design capital. In 1975, he formed the Design Foundation with Patrick Whitney to promote the role and value of design. Whitney’s primary role in the foundation was to run the Icograda Congress to explore and develop other programs to promote design. The resulting conference, “Design that Works!,” was chaired by Vogele, and it was a huge success with more than 800 attendees from 37 countries participating. Vogele was also instrumental in establishing the first Chicago chapter of AIGA, with Crosby, and served on its board of directors. 

“Bob was very creative, and restless and impatient with the design field. He had a bigger picture for design. Even though he ran the most successful corporate design office at the time, he still had higher aspirations for the field,” says Whitney.

In 1982, Vogele wanted to start a new kind of design agency. Along with his son Bruce and Ted Stoik, they formed the Communication Design Group, which became Vogele, Stoik Associates, Inc., after Bruce left, and eventually VSA Partners in 1990, when Dana Arnett joined the firm. Vogele again hired great talent to lead the design consultancy, while he took more of a hands-off approach when it came to the creative aspects of the firm.