katie jain

After growing up near Seattle WA, Katie Jain moved to San Francisco to study design at the California College of Arts & Crafts. She graduated at the top of her class and launched her career at Templin Brink Design, where she created award-winning retail, branding and packaging programs for clients such as Apple, MTV, Peace Cereal, PepsiCo and Lee Jeans. Last spring, she co-founded Hatch Design with Joel Templin. In their first year, Jain and the Hatch team have created innovative ad campaigns and packaging for clients including American Eagle Outfitters, Apple, Coca-Cola, Hilton, JanSport, Specialty's Cafe & Bakery and Starbucks Coffee. Jain brings big-picture thinking, attention to detail and a great design sense to her firm. She is an active member of the San Francisco design community and participates in AIGA San Francisco.

Is graphic design a growth industry? If I learned one thing this year in founding Hatch, it is that if you have a focus within this field, then there is room to grow.

We have an incredibly talented team of designers on staff, all with a shared vision that the best design is hands-on and human. We focus on that in all our client work and hold every business decision up to it. We're even starting our own product line with the same emphasis. (Hatch is going to make stuff! Look for our first product launch this fall.)

With this kind of focus, it's great to see the opportunities unfold before us. Clients are on board with the personal connection we create with consumers. Our employees enjoy the creative opportunities that our clients and our own product line bring. All the right elements are in place, and I think we'll just keep growing.

Do graphic designers have a special responsibility to promote a green society? As the gatekeeper between ideas and production, I think designers are faced with as many or more green choices than the average professional, which gives us a special role in solving the problem. As a firm, we're approaching it as we approach the rest of our work: we're just trying to do better. Many of our clients are not ready to embrace the level of sustainability we'd like right away—but using better paper, better ink, better packaging materials are all commendable, if small, first steps.

ONE THING I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IS my husband, Sugam. And a 1930's San Francisco bus route sign I picked up at an antique shop, which is hanging proudly in my dining room. Don't make me pick between the two.

FAVORITE MOVIES

Ratatouille
The Usual Suspects
Amélie

FAVORITE BOOKS

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollon
The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution by Alice Waters
Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life by Charley Harper and Todd Oldham

FAVORITE SONGS

"The Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel
Anything that Frank Sinatra sang or Chopin composed

FAVORITE FINE ARTISTS

Frida Khalo
Eva Hess
I just discovered Olafur Eliasson in San Francisco. He is my current favorite.

FAVORITE TV SHOWS

Mad Men
The Sopranos
Grey's Anatomy - embarrassingly, I can't get enough

BOOKMARKED WEBSITES

nytimes.com
my bank account
qbn.com
designobserver.com
designspongeonline.com