The offspring of an architect and a painter, Fritz Klaetke was genetically predestined to be a graphic designer. He grew up in Detroit and founded the firm in 1988 while still a student at the University of Michigan. Since that time, Fritz’s work has received every major award in the industry and has also has been exhibited at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and is included in the permanent collection at the Cooper-Hewitt, Natonal Design Museum in New York City. Fritz is a featured speaker both locally and nationally, and a critic and lecturer at schools including the Art Institute of Boston, College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Massachusetts College of Art, Northeastern University, and Yale University. Fritz has served as a juror for competitions sponsored by AIGA, Communication Arts, and the Advertising and Design Club of Canada.

Susan Battista leads audience insight and messaging initiatives at Visual Dialogue, where she leverages research to help ensure our work stands out from the competition and motivates the target audience. Prior to joining the firm, Susan founded market research firm Topic 101 which focused on providing insights from Gen Y and Millennials to Fortune 500 companies. Susan is a a skilled moderator who, when conducting interviews, focus groups, online studies, or observational studies, can get just about anyone to say what’s really on their mind. Susan has led strategic marketing initiatives at organizations as diverse as Boston Public Health Commission, Harvard University, Maui Jim Sunglasses, and UNICEF. A graduate of Syracuse University, Susan previously held senior marketing positions in the advertising and financial services industries.

As a multi-disciplinary designer, Kristen loves to create solutions in all areas of design from identities to websites to print publication, and experiential design. She is a born and bred New Englander and graduate of Syracuse University where she earned a degree in Communications Design. Kristen has spent five years with the Visual Dialogue team; her work has been featured in publications such as Communication Arts, Graphis, and Fast Company. When she’s not at her desk pushing pixels, you can find Kristen digging through crates at her local record store.

Will is a designer and illustrator who enjoys working with a broad range of mediums (and softwares). Graduating from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, he earned his BFA in Communication Design, it’s here he found his love for developing identity systems, print media, websites, and animation. His illustration work has been shown in multiple local galleries, including the MassArt Auction. When he’s not scouring the internet for good recipes to cook, you can find Will biking around the city or binding books.

Luke enjoys the intersection of design and technology. His work in education gave him an appreciation for clean, straightforward code and web systems that are easy for clients to understand. His Sketchup mock-ups are similarly inspired by an appreciation for design and education. After 7 years of service in the US Army, he earned a Master’s from Harvard Extension School in Digital Media and Instructional Design. Luke joined the Visual Dialogue team in 2014.