About Me
1. Who are You?
My name is Rob Loukotka, and I’m a graphic & web designer in Chicago, IL. I currently co-own a creative design studio called Collision Labs in downtown Chicago. I was raised in Ann Arbor, MI, went to school in New York City, and now my professional design life is here in Chicago. Professionally, I design websites and brand identities for awesome clients. Personally, I’m interested in photography, visual effects, motion graphics, and throwing paint on canvas.
2. What is Fringe Focus?
Fringe Focus is my design blog, portfolio, t-shirt store, and all around digital playground for the stuff I like to do. It’s an aggregator of everything awesome that I design or discover. But mostly, it’s a blog focused on design techniques, trends, and inspiration.
3. Why is this called ‘Fringe Focus’?
Have you seen my last name? It’s unspellable, and unpronouncable. Sadly, Loukotka ( Loo-kut-kuh ) is simply too complicated of a name for anyone to remember or care about. So I adopted the name Fringe Focus to cover any and all aspects of my design life. Plus, I think I address a wide array of ideas that traditional design sites ignore, so focusing on the ‘fringe’ seems appropriate. Plus it’s alliterated, so… there’s that.
4. You own a company?
Yep. I actually co-own a company with my amazingly awesome design partner, Lisa Bun. It’s my full-time job, designing websites, managing projects, and having fun. You can check us out at www.CollisionLabs.com. Or if you’ve ever in Chicago, hit me up, and check out our office!
5. What’s some cool stuff you’ve done?
I’ve been published in two books about Photoshop, designed t-shirts for two NBA teams, had one of my logos get sculpted in ice, sold ridiculous abstract paintings to people on eBay, and I used to help a sculptor carve birds out of wood.
6. Anything cooler than that?
YES. Over the course of two Halloween seasons, my best friend and I constructed exact replicas of Daft Punk’s helmets. It involved a couple months of sculpting, sanding, and building our own vaccuum-form machine. Plus, looking like Daft Punk gives me an excuse to wear black leather pants.
7. Can I interview you or invite you to discuss design somewhere?
Most definitely! Just hit me up on my Contact page.
8. Can I hire you to work on a design project?
Certainly. I’m always up for listening to new ideas, and seeing how I can help. If you have an interesting project, hit me up at Collision, or if you just want to talk about business: Contact Me.
