Jack Weiss

People

Website

Member Since

January 1978

As Principal of Jack Weiss Associates since 1977, Jack has designed and directed over 100 major signage projects for retail, corporate, institutional, and municipal clients throughout the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Signage clients include the Illinois Holocaust Museum; Prairie Crossing, Grayslake IL; Optima, Inc., Glencoe IL; Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago IL; Holy Cross Hospital, Chicago IL; City of Evanston IL; Holy Family Medical Center, Des Plaines IL; Mather Lifeways, Evanston IL; and the Village of Arlington Heights IL.
Jack’s professional career spans over 65 years. He began as an illustrator technician in the U.S. Air Force in 1957. From 1964 through 1967, he held staff designer positions at Low’s Incorporated, Chicago, and at the architectural firm of Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo Associates, Hamden CT. He was vice president of the design firm Blake & Weiss for ten years prior to forming Jack Weiss Associates.
As a staff designer for Kevin Roche, Jack developed design details for signage in the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, New York; the Jefferson Memorial Arch, St. Louis; and the Oakland (CA) Museum. While at Blake & Weiss, he designed signage programs for The Morton Arboretum, Lisle IL; Walden, Schaumburg IL; Court of Flags, Orlando FL; and Dyche Stadium, Northwestern University, Evanston IL.
Jack is a fellow and past president of The Society of Typographic Arts, a founding member and director emeritus of the Chicago Design Archive, former chairman of the 27 Chicago Designers and member of the Society for Experiential Graphic Design.
He is a founding member and director emeritus of Design Evanston, past chairman of the City of Evanston Sign Review & Appeals Board and past vice chair of the City’s Preservation Commission. In 2014 Jack was given the Mayor’s Award for the Arts for his long commitment as a designer in the Evanston arts community.
Jack has served on the design faculties of Columbia College Chicago and the Institute of Design, IIT, Chicago.
He studied at the Corcoran School of Art, Washington DC, and received a BS in Visual Design from the Institute of Design, IIT. He earned a BFA and MFA in Graphic Design from the School of Art & Architecture at Yale University. He was honored as a Life Master by IIT in 1992.

Practice Area

Wayfinding

Focus Area

Graphic, Signage

Industry

Healthcare, Museums, Urban + Civic