Chicago International Poster Biennial: 2008

In their Chicago studio, surrounded by thick stacks of posters, the founding partners of the firm Legendre+Ruitter explain they intend for the CIPB–the first competition of its kind in the U.S.–to do more than honor the best posters of the year. Where so many design events stay in the insular design world, CIPB is engaging the public. In a city whose rich graphic design history is often eclipsed by the shadow of its architecture, the poster craft is getting down to the street level.

This fall, one hundred sixty-seven finalist posters–including a gold medalist, two silvers and two sponsored prizes—will hang in an outdoor exhibition at Daley Bicentennial Plaza, the space adjacent to Millennium Park. In the plaza, the exhibition will mingle among the Sunday strollers and type-A businesspeople, the babies and the bicyclists—just as posters are meant to do.

Tiffany Meyers/Step