INtrospective: Retrospective
This year we hosted our first ever In-house Design Conference. It was held on Saturday, September 19th at the Cleveland State University downtown. We hosted two local in-house designers Kelly McCrone from Sherwin Williams and Matt Dillion from Progressive. Our keynote speaker was Alex Center from the Coca-Cola Company. He shared with us his top 10 things he’s learned by being an in-house designer as well as a bit about his childhood growing up in Ocean City and love for the font Quatro. Outside of our workshops and keynote speaker we also hosted a panel of in-house designers Yolanda Kelly from the Cleveland Sewer District and Nolan Beck from Kent State University. Both shared some great insights into their positions as in-house designers and the struggles they face every day. One of the more valuable takeaways I got from the panel discussion was to track your high point and low point of the day. This shows you both your successes and failures. It’s valuable to see trends of what makes you happy and sad and things you might be able to do to fix it.
The event was well attended with approximately 50 in-house designers representing northeast Ohio’s top companies. Here is what one attendee said when asked about their experience:
“I really enjoyed this conference! The information was really inspiring and helpful in reinvigorating my passion for design and marketing. Great job!”
Emerge: Speed Dating Event
Creative connections were in the air at the Emerge Mentoring Speed Dating event! Thirty area professionals and students from University of Akron, Cleveland State University, and Kent State University gathered on September 30th to meet and share their thoughts on design, work, and life. One mentor commented, “Thank you so much for providing this opportunity to connect with such wonderful, passionate design students.”
The Fall 2015 Emerge Mentoring Session is still open! If you’re interested in serving as a mentor or are an area student looking to find one, download and complete the application form and send to Sarah Rutherford at education@cleveland.aiga.org.
