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ABOUT US

Jen Bowe & Laura Swalec Plum Three Partners
Partners JEN BOWE & LAURA SWALEC

We launched PlumThree in 2005, but have worked together for over 10 years. We both come from big company backgrounds–not agency—so we know what it’s like to be on your side of the table. We work smart and efficiently, with your best interests at heart. We love what we do and we welcome the opportunity to prove our worth!

We are a certified Female Business Enterprise and qualify for Small Business Set-Asides under the Illinois Procurement Code.


See Jen’s Full Bio >       See Laura’s Full Bio >





 PlumThree.com 630 434 0033


Jennifer Bowe
Partner, PlumThree

Primary Roles: Creative direction, graphic design, marketing and branding strategy, message and copy development, project management.

Jennifer Bowe co-founded PlumThree in 2005 after working as Vice President and Creative Director for an agency for seven years. She has over 18 years experience in graphic design and marketing communications.

As a partner in PlumThree, she is responsible for creative direction, graphic design, marketing and branding strategy, message/copy development, and project management. She has helped a variety of clients from individuals and small startups that need to establish a brand identity to large companies and institutions that need to reinforce their brand while developing and executing large campaigns.

Bowe and partner Laura Swalec met while working at the startup marketing communications firm, where they developed a strong professional and personal relationship. Together, they managed and worked for many technology startup companies, helping with ground-level projects such as company naming, tagline development, and marketing strategies. Their higher-level work involved campaigns such as media plan development, brochure and sales literature design, direct mail campaigns and tradeshow development. Bowe and Swalec decided to combine their experiences and form PlumThree, a firm that would provide smart design and communications for clients on a tight budget. Bowe and Swalec have maintained strong client and vendor relationships based on mutual respect, enthusiasm for the work and quality deliverables.

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Previously, Bowe worked in the computer software industry gaining experience as art director for DemoShield Software Corporation. She managed and directed projects such as software packaging, sales collateral, corporate ID, and interactive demos and interface design. Before joining the DemoShield team, she worked as a graphic designer for Wolfram Research, makers of Mathematical software. Working for the in-house publications department she gained experience in larger design and marketing campaigns. She managed the yearly advertising campaign and placements, conceptualized and created outreach promotional materials for the president’s speaking tour, designed and produced training materials for the training department, and created software manuals for multiple products, including foreign language versions.

Bowe won several awards and recognition for design while at Wolfram, including: Society for Technical Communications, Graphic Design, USA, Shopping Bag Design 2, Computer Graphics III. Bowe also gained experience at her design position at Channel Marketing, a Chicago-based communications agency. She worked on projects such as logo design, advertising, catalogs, and direct mail for a variety of clients in the restaurant, real estate and plumbing supply industries.

Bowe received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Design Platform and Proficiency:
Over 18 years experience in graphic design. Mac based and complete mastery of the following applications: Adobe Creative Suite (PhotoShop, InDesign, Illustrator), Quark and PageMaker. Jen also works cross platform and is proficient on the PC as well as the Mac in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

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Achievements:

  • Development of creative agency design department and standards
  • Art directed web/demo design staff
  • Variety of awards for graphic design, including:
    • Society for Technical Communications
    • Graphic Design, USA
    • Shopping Bag Design 2
    • Computer Graphics III

Laura Swalec
Managing Partner, PlumThree

Primary Roles: Business and relationship development and management, strategic marketing planning, media relations, account and project management, message and copy development, vendor management.

Founding PlumThree was Laura Swalec’s opportunity to pair her ten years of business experience with her seven years of marketing agency experience. Her entrepreneurial spirit was fed by the desire to team up with her long-time business associate and friend, Jennifer Bowe, to provide design and marketing communications. Since the company’s inception in 2005, Swalec has worked to build strong, long-term client relationships grounded in efficiency, trust and quality output.

Swalec’s responsibilities with PlumThree include business and relationship development and management; strategic marketing planning; media buying, negotiation and relations; account and project management; auditing existing client efforts; message/copy development; meeting planning; and print management.

She met her business partner, Jennifer, in 1998 as they worked side by side for seven years at an advertising agency and marketing communications firm. Swalec was Director of Business Development, where she was responsible for defining processes and staff development to help the agency grow. She worked to bring in new clients, manage accounts and operate the business.

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While on the business side, she spent three years as Director of Marketing for Goeken Group. Her achievements included developing and implementing successful marketing plans; providing a focused strategic vision for the family of companies; managing agency/vendor relationships; developing distribution channels targeting business to business, retail, mass merchants, industrial and consumer market; and implementing direct mail, advertising, direct response catalog, telemarketing, packaging, point of purchase, trade show and other critical marketing initiatives.

Prior to this, she spent five years with the American Medical Association. She worked for a for-profit subsidiary as the Manager of Sales and Marketing. She was involved in extensive new product launches including defining market requirements and entry plans. For nearly 20 years, she has been developing and implementing business and marketing plans. She helped provide focused vision and leadership to the areas of sales, marketing and product development. She’s established and managed marketing budgets of all sizes and planned and directed a multitude of marketing initiatives.

Swalec earned an MBA from Loyola University as well graduated with distinction from Lewis University with a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and Business Administration.


PRINT ADVERTISING     •     BROCHURES     •     WEBSITE DESIGN     •     POSTCARDS
LOGOS & CORPORATE ID   •   SIGNS   •   TRADESHOW MATERIALS   •   DIRECT MAIL
MEDIA PLANNING     •     PRESS RELATIONS     •     COPYWRITING     •      PRINTING

© 2009 PlumThree Graphic Design, Marketing Communications & Printing › Freelance and Full Service Advertising Services › Chicago, Oakbrook, Downers Grove. theplums@plumthree.com