Real World Skills for Creatives: Flying Solo
Julian Brown RGD, ON THE CHASE! Motion Design, Michelle Hopgood RGD, Hopgood Creative, Karl Chen RGD, Key Vision Design and Mairin Deery RGD, hannahHR | Freelance/Fractional
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A 4-Part Panel Series for Emerging Designers
Ready to navigate your design career with confidence? Whether you're fresh out of school, pivoting careers, or exploring new professional paths, this intimate panel series connects you directly with seasoned design professionals who've walked the walk. Over four focused sessions, you'll get the unfiltered insights, practical advice, and honest answers you need to make informed decisions about your design future—from landing your first role to building lasting career success.
Each session features candid conversations with industry veterans who'll share their real-world experiences, tackle your toughest questions (even and especially about AI), and help you understand what it really takes to thrive in today's evolving design landscape.
Friday, October 24 – Flying Solo
Topics: Setting rates and billing • Building client pipelines • Marketing yourself • Managing scope and feedback • AI as a solo tool
Thinking about striking out on your own? Learn from successful solo designers who'll share the real talk on building and sustaining a freelance practice. From pricing strategies and client acquisition to handling scope creep and difficult feedback, and AI use in their creative practices, get the insider knowledge you need to build a thriving independent career while maintaining your creative integrity.
Julian Brown RGD
ON THE CHASE! Motion Design
Julian Brown is ON THE CHASE! Julian creates ‘motion-first’ brands and content for smart clients (Sport Chek, University of Toronto, Cineplex, World Wildlife Fund). His motion design & branding projects have been awarded by Graphis, The Webbys, Adobe and many more. Julian is a speaker on motion design, running a solo studio, and, sometimes, telling people why their offices f*cking suck. He serves as a VP on the Board of Directors for RGD, Canada’s largest design association. Julian is a York/Sheridan Toronto alumni, a world traveller, and this one time he starred alongside his dog in a TV ad for pet food. It was adorable.
Michelle Hopgood RGD
Hopgood Creative
Michelle is Founder, Creative Designer and Information Specialist at Hopgood Creative. She helps researchers, academics and thinkers use the power of design to explain complex ideas. With over 15 years of experience in design, information, knowledge and information management, Michelle brings a unique perspective to clients and business. Michelle was a Design Educator at Seneca College teaching information design. She holds a diploma from Sault College, a Bachelor of Design from OCAD University, and a Master of Information from the University of Toronto. Michelle was a recipient of RGD’s In-House Design Awards 2016 and a speaker at DesignThinkers TO 2019. She has an unshakeable commitment to making complex ideas beautiful to help her clients get media attention, teach courses and reach a wide audience.
Karl Chen RGD
Key Vision Design
Karl is an accomplished, award winning freelance designer, creative director and educator who strongly advocates for the idea that good design can help drive business success and address real-world challenges. During his tenure as Creative Director at Mosaic, Karl skilfully guided his team to deliver exceptional multidisciplinary design solutions for major global brands across various industries. With over 15 years of agency experience, Karl now applies his expertise to assist an exclusive roster of clients in achieving their design objectives through his creative studio: Keyvis.co Karl's current client list include: McDonalds, Amazon, Cadbury, Coca Cola, ABI/Labatt, Pinterest, Microsoft, Lowes, and M&Ms In addition, he is a professor at Seneca Polytechnic teaching interactive media, served as a guest speaker at the U of W Stratford School of Interaction Design & Business and as a judge and portfolio reviewer for the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario. Karl is also a certified RGD (Registered Graphic Designer) in the province of Ontario.
Mairin Deery RGD
hannahHR | Freelance/Fractional
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