Circles Conference 2013 by Kaleb

Photo by Kaleb Nimz

This year I was fortunate to be able to attend the Circles Conference for work and have the privilege to drive down with one of the speakers and a few others from work. The Circles Conference is:

 "A place to learn from world-changing thinkers and innovators for the creative community."

During the two days I was able to hear from amazing creatives across multiple disciplines on several topics ranging from leadership to design. In this post I want highlight some of the key takeaways from my favorite speakers. Every speaker had a ton of great points, but I would have a post the length of a novel if I wrote about everything. Here is a short briefing.

Photos from http://circlesconference.com

Right out of the gate the speakers were dropping gems of wisdom; it was very refreshing to sit back, take it all in, and learn from their experiences. The first speaker that really caught my attention was Josh Hensley, Partner and Creative Director at ENVOY. He made several great points, but what stood out was his workflow. I have listed the steps below that he goes through on every project.

1. Process

2. Communicate

3. Adapt

4. Simplify

5. Iterate

6. Build better relationships

I really enjoyed what he said about number five speaking on iteration, "Work in cycles, not all at once, big pictures come all at once."

Photos from http://circlesconference.com

Next was Lotta Nieminen, Illustrator and Designer. She has developed an amazing illustration style and is a outstanding designer. Lotta spoke on several of her own experiences regarding process, burnout, and the age old designer problem of saying "YES" to everything. Here is a list of the top five points that really stuck with me.

1. Don't get stuck repeating your own work. 

2. Let the work lead instead of trying to control it.

3. Failing at projects is the only way to succeed at them.

4. Projects are not just another to-do on your list to mark off. Care about your projects.

5. Stop saying YES to everything!

Photos from http://circlesconference.com

Moving on to Day 2 of the Conference we heard from Meagan Gilger who is a designer, blogger and founder of Wild Measure.

I don't know where to begin on the amount of notes I took during her presentation. Meagan created some simple yet beautiful slides that she hand rendered and mentioned that the rest will be for sale as prints on her blog. Below is my favorite takeaway from her presentation, make sure to check out her sight Wild Measure to see what she is up too.  

Live. Create. Tell a Story. Repeat.

Photos from http://circlesconference.com

Terry Storch is a good friend and one of the guys I attended the conference with, it has been a HUGE blessing in my life to have him as a mentor and friend. The title of Terry's talk was, "Leadership: Your Creative Block." His talk was the most relevant to my life and just what I needed to hear. I'm only posting a couple takeaways because I'm also going to post his slides from the talk. Terry Storch // Leadership: Your Creative Block Here are my top three takeaways from Terry's talk.

1. Stay true to your strengths.

2. Be the model of leadership you want to see in others.

3. Leaders invest in others, encourage and empower others.

Photos from http://circlesconference.com

Last but not least was Matt Stevens, he spoke on his journey as a designer and illustrator, you can check out his work at The Design Office of Matt Stevens. Matt's work speaks for itself, he has been creating for the past 20 odd years and is just now getting the recognition that he deserves. His talk full of wisdom and inspiration, but he summed it up in one key phase that I am going to keep posted up by my computer.

Work hard & be passionate about what you do!

That concludes my recap of Circles Conference 2013. Definitely check out the other speakers and their work! I hope I can make it back next year and hope you all will be inspired to check out the cool things going on at their site.