Panel - Fireside Chat on Design Trends: Past, Present & Future

For our final meetup of 2014, please join designer & entrepreneur Alex Hsiao and a panel of creative trendsetters for an evening of stimulating discussion on the world of design.

We'll cover design trends, process, inspirations, mobile, tools of the trade, design management, design industry as a whole, future of design, popular culture, trending YouTube videos, and much more.

This will be a fast-paced, free-flowing event where our panelists will tackle your most burning questions. Grab some popcorn, it's gonna be a hell of a show!

Confirmed Panelists

• Chris Lester, Creative Director & Co-Founder, Chief

• Matt Schleyer, Creative Director, Celerity

• Tim Cripps, Sr. Art Director of HUGE

• Andres Quesada, Director of Design / Creative Director, Gannett Digital

• Brian Farrell, Associate Creative Director, AKQA

Moderator

• Alex Hsiao, Entrepreneur & Designer, Sr. Art Director, Celerity

Sponsor

Celerity (http://www.celerity.com) has graciously offered to sponsor food for this event. Thanks!

Panelist Bios

CHRIS LESTER, Co-Founder, CHIEF

Building transformative brands that capture the imagination and build loyalty is Chris’s passion and the driving force behind his work. He has been instrumental in highly successful national and global engagements—whether it's branding a nation or a retail chain, Chris brings his unique leadership, vision, and passion to helping organizations unlock their potential and position themselves for success. He has lead high profile branding initiatives for clients such as Disney, Hilton, Sandals Resorts, Newman's Own Foundation and Hyundai.

His belief that brands must be simple to be understood, believed in to motivate, governed to stay true, and trustworthy to be worthwhile governs every aspect of his work and has been central to his success.

Chris is a frequent guest and branding expert on FoxNews, has been featured on the cover of USA Today, speaks at numerous industry events, and guest lectures at Howard University School of Business.

MATT SCHLEYER, Creative Director, Celerity

Matt Schleyer is a User Experience professional with over 20 years of experience in the “digital” space and a passion for finding the “right” solution. After graduating from the acclaimed Communication Arts program at Virginia Commonwealth University he went to work with Magnet Interactive (which became AKQA) where he ultimately became the Creative Director. In his nearly 10 years there, and along side an amazing team, he helped to shape brands like Mercedes Benz, Nike, Radisson, Harley Davidson, MCI, Nissan and Kellogg’s.

Matt then went on to start his own agency, Velocity Media, in Charlotte NC. He worked with smaller clients with a focus on Visual Identity and Brand Strategy in an aim to help them realize their potential and render their brands successfully across an array of delivery platforms. In 2008, Matt returned to the DC area as the Creative Director for NavigationArts. In his 5 years there, he built-out and managed an award winning team of creative talent and worked to create compelling solutions for clients like DC United, The Smithsonian, PBS, Breitbart News, The National Aquarium, Marriott, and The Phillips Collection.

In early 2014, Matt joined Celerity as the Creative Director where he leads the User Experience practice. He is building a team of talented Visual Designers and Information Architects that are working with brands like, Gannett, National Geographic, Red Cross, and Verisign to craft highly usable digital solutions.

TIM CRIPPS, Sr. Art Director, HUGE

Tim has over 16 years of experience developing interactive experiences, creating identities, and supporting brands for a variety of non-profit and private sector clients. As an art director at Huge, Tim leads the visual direction for clients including the Erie Insurance, National Highway Transportation Administration, and the new rideshare start-up, Ride. Prior to joining Huge, Tim created award-winning work for the ACLU, The Humane Society of the United States, International Rescue Committee, Knight Foundation, and Unicef at Threespot.

Tim holds degrees from Rochester Institute of Technology and Maryland Institute College of Art. He previously served on the executive board of AIGA DC and lives in Arlington, VA with his wife, two energetic sons and their neurotic dog.

ANDRES QUESADA, Director of Design / Creative Director, Gannett Digital

Andres Quesada moved into the role of Director of Design/Creative Director for Gannett Digital after helping lead internal design efforts for the USAtoday.com digital relaunch in 2012. He heads up a talented team of designers while overseeing the product vision, encompassing both mobile and desktop platforms for all 120 Gannett properties.

Before coming to Gannett Digital, Andres played an integral design role at a variety of startups and software companies including AOL. His passion for clean and usable design, focusing on user-first driven thinking, encourages him and his team to craft experiences for the next generation of mobile and desktop products.

BRIAN FARRELL, Associate Creative Director, AKQA

Brian’s background is a hybrid of traditional branding and digital storytelling. As Associate Creative Director at AKQA, he oversees the strategy, development, design and execution of creative concepts. Brian has re-envisioned dozens of brands in the digital space including Verizon, Barclaycard, Norwegian Cruise Line, American Airlines, Dodge Chrysler, Coca-Cola and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Prior to stepping two feet in to the digital space, he honed his branding and storytelling chops working with luxury hotel and hospitality brands such as The Standard NY, The Mark Hotel, 56 Leonard Tribeca, and Wynn Las Vegas.

ALEX HSIAO, Entrepreneur & Designer, Sr. Art Director, Celerity

An entrepreneur & award winning designer with extensive experience in creative direction, user experience, and interaction design. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, CNET, Communication Arts, and PC Mag's top 100 web sites.

Prior to joining Celerity as Sr. Art Director in 2014. Alex founded Perphic, an independent design consultancy that shapes brand & product experiences with promising startups and Fortune 500s. Brands touched: Netflix, Gannett, AP, Discovery, National Geographic Channel, Verizon, COX, Cricket, American Red Cross, Intuit, TurboTax, and Quicken. Back in the day he was Art Director at Aol, leading a bicoastal team of designers and agency partners. Providing design direction to numerous R&D initiatives, consumer applications and services reaching over 100MM users.