Welcome to HOW Design Live 2024!
HOW Design Live is an industry-leading gathering of 1,000+ graphic designers and other creative professionals. It’s where designers in all disciplines and at all levels of experience come to learn from the brightest minds in the creative field. It’s where they discover new ideas, new sources of inspiration, new skills and new connections. And it’s where they can get face to face with brand leaders, design heroes and the minds shaping the industry tomorrow.
Programmed primarily for design, marketing and creative professionals, with a focus on in-house designers in major corporate brands and design firms, we focus on providing inspiration as well as education in design & creativity, leadership, branding, marketing, career growth and technology to creatives in various stages of their career. HOW is a place where creatives connect with their like-minded community of design-thinkers, entrepreneurs, designers, marketers and creative leaders to develop relationships that last long after their event experience.
HOW Design Live is a 3 day annual event for the past 34 years and in 2024 we are leaning into our name more than ever with an increased focus on “HOW-To” across all session types and formats. It’s how we began almost 35 years ago as an event launch from HOW Magazine and it’s who we are as an event: a space that encourages education and community.
Schedule: Monday, Sep 23rd
Time Event
7:00-6:30 Registration
8:15-9:45
9:00-9:10
9:10-9:45
9:50-10:30
10:30-10:50
10:50-11:10
11:15-12:00
12:00-1:30
1:30-2:15
1:30-2:15
1:30-2:15
2:30-3:15
2:30-3:15
2:30-3:15
HOW Connection: Welcome & Ice Breaker
Opening Remarks- Welcome to HOW Design Live!
HOW to Unleash Your Inner Baddass
Zero Waste Creatives: Protect Your Own Little Earth
Caffeine Break
Reignite Your Energy
Explore Your Profound Power to Unit, Communicate, and Inspire Lunch
Bridging the Gap: Explaining and Justifying Your Type Design Decisions
Loosen Up with Experimental Hand Lettering
Unleashing Creativity: The Synergy of AI and Design
Creating Vector Art: A Systematic Creative Process
Lil Ideas, Big Impact
Unleashing the Power of Neurodesign in Creativity
Time Event
3:30-4:15
3:30-4:15
3:30-4:15
4:15-4:45
5:00-5:45
6:00-7:30
6:00-7:30
6:00-7:30
6:10-6:40
6:50-7:20
AI and Creativity: Balancing AI’s role as a tool with human crativity and originality
Always in All Ways
Creative Boot Camp
Caffeine Break
9 Insane AI Use Cases Every Business Leader Needs to Learn
HOW Community Connection
Rock That Creative Job
Speed Coaching
Color Through a Trend Lens
Level-up Your Lettering
Tuesday, Sep 24th
8:00-5:30
8:15-8:45
9:00-9:30
9:35-10:05
10:10-11:00
Registration Open
Table Talks
Design for Community
Even Fuel From Fear is Fuel
Creative Brak Brought to You By Sylvamo
Time
10:45-11:00
Honoring Your Creative Spirit: A Journey of choosing myself and the doors it has opened
11:05-11:20
11:25-12:00 12:10-12:40
12:15-1:30
12:50-1:20 1:30-2:15 1:30-2:15
1:30-2:15
2:30-3:15
2:30-3:15
2:30-3:15
Spark Session
Debbie Millman in Conversation with Rick Griffith - Design Matters Live
Color Through a Trend Lens with Hallmark Trends Strategist, Melissa Donoho
Lunch (On Your Own)
Level-up Your Lettering with Hallmark Artist, Cyrena Dotts
2024-25 Logo Trend Report - The Goodm The Bsf, and WTF
Branding to Scooping: The Working Assembly take on Creativity and Commerce
The Tight 5 Formula: Say Less, Do More Using A Comedian’s Approach To Connect, Engage and Persuade Your Audience
Harnessing Your Team’s Creativity: Elevate Ideation with Fun and Collaboration
Timelessness>Trendiness; How Brands Can Reclaim Their Heritage
Voice of the CEO: Face Your Fears, Find Your Strength, and Make $hit Happen
3:15-3:30
3:30-4:15
3:30-4:15
3:30-4:15
4:30-5:15
4:30-5:15
4:30-5:15
8:30-10:30
Caffeine Break
Finding My Center
Getting To Next: Strategic Career Planning
WTF is a Brand World & How to Create One
Assembling Tomorrow: Where do Artificial Intelligence and Synthetic Biology Fit?
Master Your Customer’s Love Languages
Stop Vacuum Strategies: How to Ask The Right Questions and Give Your Audiences A Seat At The Table
HOW Party: HOWies ROCK ParTEE!
Wednesday, Sep 25th
8:00-5:30
9:00-9:45
9:00-9:30
9:00-9:45
10:00-10:45 10:00-10:45
Registration Open
How to Position Yourself Inside of Your Company - and Why “What You Do” Has Very Little To Do With It
Things Will Never Be The Same Again
Turning Challenge into Change
Fueling Fandoms: Give ‘Em Something to Talk About
Reframe Your Mindset in 9 minutes
Time Event
10:00-10:45
10:45-11:15
11:15-12:00
11:15-12:00
11:15-12:00 12:00-1:30
12:10-12:40
12:50-1:20
1:30-2:15
1:30-2:15 1:30-2:15
2:30-2:45 2:50-3:20
3:20-3:30
Shelf Life: A Journey Through a Packaged World
Caffeine Break
Adobe Illustrator Essential Tools, Tips, and Tricks
Designing Your Career
Test to Learn, Not to Win: How to Use Data to Drive Design and Effectiveness
Lunch (On Your Own)
Color Through a Trend Lens with Hallmark Trends Strategist, Melissa Donoho
Level-up Your Lettering with Hallmark Artist, Cyrena Dotts
BREAKTHROUGH: A Hands-On Workshop for Crushing the Critic and Unleashing Your Creativity
It’s Time to Rethink Branded Entertainment
Not Another Roundtable About How The Agency Model is Broken
Spark Session with Dru Cutler - Creative Song Exercise
Slowing Down, Downshifting and Exit Ramps From One Hell of a Run in Graphic Design
HOW Wrap Up
2024 Speakers
Aaron Draplin
Draplin Design Co
Aaron Draplin of the Draplin Design Co. lives and works in Portland, Oregon. He makes stuff for rock bands, comedians, restaurants, festivals and leftie politicians. He’s traveled the world telling his story, with over 500 speaking fiascos under his belt. He co-created Field Notes memo books with Jim Coudal, selling their products worldwide. His eight Skillshare classes are raging along, teaching design enthusiasts of all ages. He recently launched DDC Fonts showcasing his three typefaces. His first book titled “Pretty Much Everything” came out on May 17, 2016 on Abrams Books, and incredibly is in its 12th printing. The DDC merch roster is up to 350 products! You’ll see them at DDC merch tables from coast to coast or in his online shop. He owes it all to his parents.
Andrea Sullivan
President -
vYve by Vayner
Andrea Sullivan is a top marketer, professor, board member, philanthropist, C-Suite whisperer, and now an entrepreneur within Vayner. She was recently appointed President of vYve by Vayner—a high-performance acceleration program designed to help people reach their full potential. With over six years of experience working with Gary Vaynerchuk as the CMO of VaynerX and over 15 years as the Global CMO at Interbrand, Andrea knows all about the journey from aspiration to achievement.
Carissa Carter Standford Unisversity
Carissa Carter is a designer, geoscientist, and the academic director at the Stanford school. She guides the development of the d.school’s pedagogy, leads its instructors, and shapes its class offerings. She’s the author of The Secret Language of Maps: How to Tell Visual Stories with Data, and the co-author of Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future. Carissa teaches design courses on emerging technologies, climate change, and data visualization. Her work on designing with machine learning and blockchain has earned multiple design awards, including Fast Company Innovation and Core 77 Design awards.
Rachel Zeolla
Creative Director - NBCU-
Rachel Mae Zeolla is an award-winning Creative Director for NBCUniversal across entertainment and lifestyle brands for Television & Streaming. Working in television marketing for over a decade, Rachel has seen the significant change in the industry towards social, digital, and streaming. She continues to be excited by finding ways to innovate marketing storytelling beyond the traditional linear experience. Some of her previous projects include: Chucky, Sharknado, Suits, The Magicians, Wynonna Earp, & various NBCUniversal DEI Initiatives.
Scott Doorley
Standford University
Scott Doorley is a writer, designer, and the creative director at the Stanford d.school. He has overseen everything from books to workspaces to digital products and initiatives focused on the future of learning and design. He co-wrote two books: Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future and also Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration. His work has been featured in museums from San Jose to Helsinki and in publications such as Architecture + Urbanism and the New York
Terri Trespicio
Brand Advisor and Breakthrough
Facilitator
Terri Trespicio is an author, speaker, brand advisor, and workshop leader whose TEDx talk, “Stop Searching for Your Passion,” has been viewed more than 8 million times. Her book is Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You (Atria 2021). Terri helps people achieve creative breakthroughs through a range of programs and workshops designed to unlock your creative genius and fuel your stand out ideas. An award-winning writer and keynote speaker, she’s also former magazine editor at Martha Stewart, and her writing has been featured in HuffPost Personal, Marie Claire, Jezebel, Business Insider, Oprah magazine, and others. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Emerson College and lives in New York City. Learn more at
Chris Leavell
Executive Product - Cinco Media
Chris Leavell is an Emmy Nominated TV producer with more than 100 shows to his credit. He started his career working on sitcoms with his first job on Saved By The Bell. Several years later he shifted to producing, writing, and directing documentary and non-fiction television. He was the executive producer of one of the most successful true crimes series that ran for nine seasons on Discovery Channel, and has developed and produced shows in nearly every genre and for every major network. He now focuses his energy on brand storytelling - developing opportunities for companies to hook and engage customers and grow new audiences through entertaining content while achieving brand goals.
Rick Griffith
Designer/Founder - MATTER
Rick Griffith is a designer, collagist, letterpress printer, occasional writer, and bookseller, his ambidextrous practice (with Debra Johnson) is located in Denver CO, where their studio and bookstore co-exist, collaborate, and cross pollinate. As a point of differentiation and necessity the work they do in knowledge peddling and activism crosses the boundary of retail and studio practice and becomes something quite different.
Cyrena Dotts
Senior Designer - Hallmark
Cyrena Dotts is a Senior Designer at Hallmark Cards, where she blends leadership with her design expertise to create cutting-edge digital solutions for modern consumers. With extensive experience in digital design, art direction, hand lettering, and illustration, Cyrena crafts products that resonate with a wide audience. Her deep knowledge and creativity propel her to push digital boundaries and drive on-trend innovation at Hallmark.
Grabriela Namie
Art Director - YouTube Music
Gabriela Namie is a Brazilian designer and art director based in Brooklyn, New York. She spent the last 15 years using systematic creative thinking to craft visuals, helping brands come to life.
She currently works at Google as YouTube Music’s art director. She is both a hands-on designer and a visual advisor. Previously, Gabriela worked at Sagmeister & Walsh in New York, co-founded Studio Barca in São Paulo, won The One Club Young Guns in 2021, and hosted several talks and workshops at MICA, The One Club, WIX Playground, LAD Fest, Forward Festivals, etc.