Design Executive Council
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Securing design’s seat at the table by building community for design execs
Design Executive Council, or DXC, is the world's leading membership community for senior design executives.
Our members include Fortune 100 CDOs, SVPs, and VPs—all leaders in their industries and the field of design. Collectively, they manage tens of thousands of people and millions in annual budget, but perhaps their biggest impact comes in the form of their creative leadership over the products and brands billions of people use every day.
As part of the founding team, I contribute to everything from brand to product strategy to operations and more. In particular, I lead many projects in product and business strategy, operations and member management, brand creative direction, and member experience, alongside a highly talented team of design leaders.
Design Executive Council, or DXC, is the world's leading membership community for senior design executives.
Our members include Fortune 100 CDOs, SVPs, and VPs—all leaders in their industries and the field of design. Collectively, they manage tens of thousands of people and millions in annual budget, but perhaps their biggest impact comes in the form of their creative leadership over the products and brands billions of people use every day.
As part of the founding team, I contribute to everything from brand to product strategy to operations and more. In particular, I lead many projects in product and business strategy, operations and member management, brand creative direction, and member experience, alongside a highly talented team of design leaders.
A quick note about financial product case studies
The designs below are concepts that include fake data for illustrative purposes. The names and numbers in these designs are completely made up at random and do not reflect any person, company, or group’s past, present, or future plans. Even where a group or person's name may bear similarity to a real-life group or person, the numbers and other data associated with it are random. Any similarity to real life events are purely coincidental. Nothing contained herein is or should be construed as investment advice, legal advice, solicitation or encouragement to conduct any financial transaction, or an ad for any current or future offering of any token or security.
Design executives have huge impact, but they're also routinely overlooked
Design Executive Council (DXC), is a first-of-its-kind membership community for senior design executives from the world’s top companies. These execs wield huge influence over the way the world is designed while simultaneously finding themselves in the unique position of being the first in their roles, defining for the organization—and the world—what design can and should be.
DXC was founded by Gordon Ching in 2021, whose research into design executive success through a Master’s program in Design Management at SCAD was the foundation from which DXC was conceived. I then joined him on the core team to turn DXC from research to reality as a fully-realized membership program.
As a membership community, brand is at the center of the DXC experience
At the heart of DXC lies our unwavering belief in the transformative power of design, which is why cultivating a distinct and impactful brand is paramount. Our community thrives on the symbiotic relationship between design and branding, with each aspect reinforcing the other to create a strong, cohesive identity. Recognizing the significance of this bond, DXC has meticulously crafted a brand that embodies our core values of innovation, collaboration, and continuous growth. The result is a visually compelling and memorable representation of our community, serving as a beacon for design enthusiasts worldwide. Our brand not only reflects our passion for design but also acts as a catalyst, inspiring our members to push the boundaries of creativity and harness the full potential of their skills. Through this synergetic approach, DXC proudly stands as a testament to the indispensable role of design in forging a powerful and influential brand.
We partnered with the incredible Tiffany Yuan to set the stage for this exceptional member experience.
We created an extensive moodboard to capture how the organization should look and feel, referencing luxury, fashion, creativity, CPG, and more to explore and redefine the concept of what it means to be a welcoming space for creative leaders.
We landed on the concept of an "X" as the logo (this was before Elon's rebrand of Twitter)—X marks the spot, X for the "x-factor" that an incredible leader can bring to a team, and of course, for "executive", the attribute we hope DXC will develop in designers as they increase their influence as leaders in their companies and the world.
It was important that the "X" be dimensional and dynamic; its shape here makes it feel a bit 3D and the box of negative space at its center was exciting as a graphical element:
Color was a focal point of our brand vision. We were drawn to the energy and intensity of reds and oranges—they felt unapologetically opinionated in a landscape of generic, corporate membership programs. Simultaneously, dark green and muted earth tones were attractive for the zen and design minimalism they brought to mind. The fusion of these two elements proved a powerful aspect of the DXC brand story.
