Five Dot Design • Blog

As some may have read on my Facebook status last week, after 7 years of waiting, wishing and hoping, I was able to heed the advice of one of my Graphic Design professors (Kathy Kargl) and attend the HOW Design Conference (lovingly packaged in the HOW Design Live week, along with InHOWse Managers Conference, Creative Freelance Conference and The Dieline). Over the next few blog posts, I’ll be recapping what I was able to take away from the sessions I attended, along with my own thoughts on their presentations and how I can apply their thinking to my business.

Sounds kinda nerdy, huh? It is a bit. We kept saying it was amazing how one set of revolving doors and a lanyard could determine your cool status in a matter of seconds. Inside the doors, a lanyard with your HOW Design Live badge made you out to be pretty effing cool- you were an attendee at one of the top design conferences… and then the minute you went thru that revolving door and out into the world, you were just a loser wearing a lanyard. I have to admit I was a loser in a lanyard more times than I preferred.

After all the sessions were said and done, I found 3 main messages that seemed to be a constant amongst the speakers, whether spoken or implied.

1.  Keep conversations going. Design is an extension of a conversation that then leads to more conversations. Find a trusted circle of creative minds that can keep the conversation going and add new information to the mix.

2. In the words of Mig Reyes, “Make shit.” Spend 15 minutes a day just making something- anything. In letting our minds think creatively in whatever way we choose, we find solutions to past, present and future design problems. Passion projects are a chance for us to create something we WANT to create and we tend to show our true colors (and often our best work) in these projects.

3. Keep trying and when you finally think you have it, try one more thing. Push your mind to think past what you feel is the “right” solution to a design problem. Ask one more question when talking with a client- a question that reveals more about who the client is and not what the project is about.

So hopefully over the next handful of blog posts, not only will you have an idea why this conference was so important for me to attend, but I hope that you’ll learn something as well. The best way I can describe what I felt leaving Chicago this morning is that… I don’t feel like I’ve come back to take over the world, but instead I’ve come back equipped with the right information, the right resources and a plan being thoughtfully put in place to take over the world.

Next up… Email Marketing + Design

Want to see what Five Dot Design can create for you?
PORTFOLIO ::  CONTACT ::  FACEBOOK ::   WEBSITE