The yearly local design conference took place last weekend at the beautiful University of San Diego. This year, they had an amazing lineup of design-oriented speakers. It really makes an impact to hear the best of the design world gathered in one place, sharing their passion, strategy, and sometimes incredible success stories. I’ve been an attendee for about 7 years. This year Hailey and I attended from the office. I call it my “once a year inspiration and creativity boost.”
Some of the highlight speakers for me this year were: Wayne White — Artist, Art Director, Illustrator and Puppeteer (waynewhiteart.com). He is mostly known for the set and puppet designs for the show Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. I loved his humble and amazing personality. Also Eric Thoelke — President and Executive Creative Director, TOKY (www.toky.com). It was very interesting to hear the introspective analysis of his firm and how they switched into creating design with a purpose by approaching and working for clients with whom they knew their work would make an impact. Lastly, was Josh Higgins — Design Director for President Obama’s 2012 Campaign (joshhiggins.com). Josh’s humble and sweet personality made his presentation very special. To top that, he is from San Diego! It was great to see behind the scenes of how a political campaign is created from the design point of view. You can check out the rest of the speakers at y-conference.com/y18 — Arcelia