About HOW Design Live

HOW Design Live is the biggest annual gathering of creative professionals, anywhere. The 2015 event, May 4 – 8 in Chicago, is your chance to explore the biggest ideas, meet your design heroes, and learn from the smartest minds—all in one five-day design extravaganza.

You’ll learn from innovative thinkers for inspiring keynotes, hands-on workshops and nuts-and-bolts sessions. You’ll also find unrivalled networking opportunities, from early-morning Netwalking to Breakfast Roundtables and the legendary Closing Party. Along the way, you’ll find yourself a part of the welcoming design community that makes HOW Design Live the career-boosting, creativity-expanding and even life-changing experience it is.

HOW Design Live’s programming is divided into five conferences:

HOW Design Conference

From technology to your career to creativity, every single session at HOW Design Conference will inspire you to become a better, more successful designer. Bridgid Agricola and the rest of the HOW team are putting together a program that covers everything from interactive design to typography, brainstorming, trend spotting, branding and more.

Plus, you’ll be spending those days with thousands of the most interesting, creative people on the planet: your fellow attendees. Get ready to love your job more than ever.

The Dieline Conference

Successful brand managers and designers understand the value of starting with the package first. At The Dieline Conference 2015, you’ll discover how to gain recognition and respect by articulating what your design means to a brand.

The Dieline’s Andrew Gibbs is gathering forward-thinking designers from major brands to share case studies, discuss hot topics like interactive and sustainable package design and help you communicate to your brand target, every time.

HOW Leadership Conference

Hear bold and visionary presentations from some of the most innovative thinkers of our time at the HOW Leadership Conference, presented in partnership with Sterling Brands’ Debbie Millman.

Whether you’re a CMO, a Creative Director, or you’re just managing your own to-do list, the ideas you’ll encounter here—from the creative talent shaping the future of design, the authors that are shaping culture, business and branding, your design heroes—will challenge, enlighten and motivate you to be an agent for positive change in your world.

In-House Management Conference

Lead your in-house creative team to their most inspired work. In this program curated by Merck’s veteran in-house manager Andy Epstein, you’ll learn how to build your team, inspire them, get the best work out of them and even sell that work up the corporate ladder.

And as you absorb insights on breakthrough thinking, organizational best practices, building “creative superteams” and more, you’ll be inspired to learn what you and your team can achieve.

Creative Freelancer Business Conference

Just because you're self-employed doesn't mean you have to go it alone. Whether you're working solo, running a small agency, or are summoning the courage to start your own creative business, you'll find all the resources you need at the Creative Freelancer Business Conference.

Marketing Mentor founder Ilise Benun and CFBC's small business and freelancing experts will help you set realistic goals for your business's future—and give you the confidence to achieve them.

You’ll learn how to create a business action plan, find out what buyers are really looking for, pick up winning sales strategies, price and negotiate with confidence, and get new business from clients who recognize your value—all so that you can concentrate on the creative work you love.

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Your Big Ticket gets you an all-access pass to any session, any workshop and any networking event at any of the five conferences, plus hand-outs and MP3 recordings of most sessions so that you can relive and share nearly all HOW Design Live content after you get back to the office.

If you can’t spend five days with us, choose a one- or two-day registration and attend any event you wish during that time period. Whatever registration option you choose, you’ll design a completely customized conference experience that gives you exactly what you need.