Design Your Career

Most design education prepares you to make the work — not to navigate the very different worlds where the work actually gets made.

Design Your Career is a candid tour of the three places designers build their careers: agencies, in-house teams, and freelance work.

Drawing on his own experience across all three, speaker Brett Valls will walk through the cultural realities, daily rhythms and unspoken expectations of each — plus the three habits that separate designers who thrive in any environment from those who burn out. First delivered at AIGA Cincinnati Design Week in 2022.

Moderated and facilitated by AMA Cincinnati Design Community Co-Leads Colleen Riddell & Emily Babel

Event Notes:

• This is an in-person event.
• All are welcome at our community meetings. You do not have to be an AMA member to attend.
• Lunch will be provided.

Brett Valls is an award-winning art director and designer who has spent 16 years helping brands show up everywhere — on social, in motion, on camera, on screen, and on the shelf.

Today he serves as AVP, Art Director at Walker & Dunlop, one of the country's largest commercial real estate finance firms, where he leads a creative team producing motion graphics, social content, podcast production, and live event design. He joined as a Senior UI/UX Designer before stepping into his current art direction role with a specialty in motion graphics and a passion for helping younger designers find their footing in their creative careers.

Across his career, Brett has shaped creative for brands including Pfizer, Luxottica, Mercy Health, Eckrich, Nathan's Famous, and EyeMed. He previously served as Associate Creative Director at Oodle and as an Adjunct Professor at his alma mater, the University of Cincinnati's Division of Media Production at CCM.

Outside of work, he is a husband, a father, and an enthusiastic home baker of sourdough and artisanal pizza.

As an industry-leading marketing and creative consultancy, the team at Creatives on Call are strategic problem-solvers, specializing in helping businesses solve their marketing, communications and design challenges. They empower our clients to meet their business objectives by working with them to identify their unique needs, and deploying skilled teams and specialists to help them achieve their goals.

With the input of those who attend the soft launch, the AMA Cincinnati Design Community will endeavor to host and facilitate regular meetings that discuss the current design landscape, job market, software, tools, trends, and more. We look forward to supporting you in the future.

AMA Cincinnati is built on community. No matter where you are in your career or what area of marketing you specialize in, AMA brings marketers together to build relationships, solve marketplace challenges, and create invaluable networks. We provide opportunities for marketers and related professionals across industries, businesses, functions, and career levels to learn, teach, job search, recruit, network, promote, contribute, and practice.

Learn more at AMACincinnati.org

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