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When not at work, Ken Czech is playing paradiddles across the drums for a Woodstock-era cover band. 51����’re talking tie-dye shirts, bell-bottoms, groovy glasses, the works.  

At work, his job is a confluence of his past jobs and his life’s passions.

Ken’s a designer for our Enhanced Graphics Solutions team, creating corrugated point-of-purchase displays for major brands.  

“At 16, I worked in a supermarket,” he said. “I was always assigned to construct the temporary in-store displays. As I design today, I think ‘Can 16-year-old me put this together and how hard will it be to rebuild once a customer inevitably knocks it over?’”

In his early teens, he was an album-cover-art fanatic.

“In those days, artists had a front row seat to the music industry through album cover designs. I was hooked,” he said.

For the rock and illustration enthusiast, art school was the natural choice.

Upon graduation, he worked on semi-permanent product displays, helping companies showcase their latest offerings. His ideas were always drawn by hand. Back then, there was no other way to do it.

Call me old school, but it’s still my favorite way to design. All of our designers kind of have a niche they fill. Collectively, we’re able to deliver for our customers, time and time again.

Outside of work, Czech and his sketchpad stroll the downtown streets with the Chicago Urban Sketcher’s Club. He loves being inspired by what he sees.

His artistic abilities help him personify IP’s Our Customer Promise, which says we do the right things for our customers, at every moment, in every experience.  

Groovy, indeed.