JASON KUNESH
former design director, city of chicago
Pronouns: He/Him
Jason Kunesh is the former Design Director for the City of Chicago where his role focused on making the City work more effectively and efficiently for residents, visitors, and businesses by building awareness and usage of digital information and services. In his role, Jason led user-centered design for city services like 311 and the Chicago Design System. Before working with the city, Jason co-founded startups Public Good and Fuzzy Math, and worked at Obama for America, Orbitz, and the School of the Art Institute.
Accessibility design
Chicago is America's third largest city, home to 2.7M+ residents. As Design Director for the city, Jason he spearheaded the Chicago Design System, a new brand mark and identity for Chicago, which launched in March 2020 just weeks before lockdown. The Design System is an inclusive, accessible, equitable, and cost saving solution for both municipal communications and public use, to show civic pride. Learn more about the system in this video and download the custom Big Shoulders font (designed by House of Pretty) on Google fonts.
Pandemic project
Only days after launching Chicago’s new Design System, Jason was tasked with overseeing the creation of the city’s COVID microsite online. Chicagoans speak over 100 languages and 300,000+ residents experience some type of accessibility challenge. Throughout 2020, Jason took these parameters into account as he led the real-time development and deployment of digital technology systems, services, and communications to inform city residents about the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the first large-scale application of Chicago’s new design system.
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