Amazon Web Services
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D4SI
The Design for Strategic Innovation (D4SI) team at AWS supports all the teams under the Global Executive Marketing teams, including the Executive Briefing Center (EBC) and the Executive Visioning (EV) Team.
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Role
As a visual designer, I championed design cohesion within the diverse landscape of teams. I ensured that customer-facing assets met executive-level standards while aligning with AWS Brand guidelines. Despite the scale of the organization, comprising over five teams, the focus was to maintain consistent and impactful design throughout every facet of our work.
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And More!
I collaborated closely with the EV team, gaining valuable insights into the world of visual illustration. This experience provided me with a deeper understanding of workshop dynamics, the roles of illustrators and strategic leads, as well as effective customer communication through visuals.
Please note: Due to the sensitive nature of our discussions, names,
faces, and photos may be changed to maintain confidentiality.
The Executive Visioning (EV) Team
The Executive Program team is a program that brings leaders from AWS and Amazon together with AWS customer executives to define a joint vision for growth over 3-5 years. These workshops result in a series of actionable outcomes with clear next steps and owners by creating an environment for focusing on both durable and future customer needs.
Since 2018, EV has conducted over 400 workshops, with a growing pace of around 100 workshops annually in both 2021 and 2022. During this period, D4SI created approximately 150 reports, while I produced about one-third of those reports.
What Makes these Workshops Unique?
During these workshops, a graphic facilitator, also called “Illustrators”, capture these conversations live, enabling participants. These illustrations, other assets, and copy are handed off to D4SI, to create a report summarizing the workshop experiences.
From Fully Digital…
As the workshops evolved, the design of the reports did too. When joining the team in 2020, all workshops were held virtually due to the COVID-19 lock down. The reports during that time were all digital and D4SI heavily leveraged the illustrations taken during the workshop.
I developed an Adobe Creative Cloud library for my design team to use as a way to store spotlight illustrations as page fillers. By having this resource, it saved our team around two hours each report because we were able to easily pull from the library instead of going to past reports and looking for illustrations by the same. I worked with Illustrators to develop color palettes to ensure all writing was accessible.
Photo from Unsplash
…To In-Person
In-person workshops had illustrations physically on the walls. I held workshops for the EV team on best practices for taking photos. D4SI edited the photos to ensure that the illustrations were legible and accessible. I also shadowed many of the “room builds” for each workshop, this consisted of lining the walls with paper, pre-populating drawings and titles of each workshop session around the room. I contributed to implementing a streamlined workflow, reducing the room setup time by two-thirds to one hour.
During the workshop itself, I was able to review the process and create templates for the team to use so it was quick and easy to move the conversation along and something they can use repeatedly for each workshop.
Cross-Team Training
I collaborated closely with the EV team, gaining valuable insights into the world of graphic facilitation. This experience provided me with a deeper understanding of workshop dynamics, the roles of illustrators and strategic leads, as well as effective customer communication through visuals.
Learning Different “Fonts”
Writing quickly and clearly is a huge component of this practice. I practiced defining my own hand-written “H1”, “H2”, and “body” styles, by doing so ensured efficiency and visual hierarchy to my captures, enhancing clarity and organization the conversation.
Listening and Capturing
The most nerve-wrecking part of this discipline for me (other than spelling someone’s name wrong) was the challenge of accurately capturing information. For me, the key was learning to record what was said in their words, rather than relying on my interpretations. It was a crucial shift that significantly improved the accuracy and reliability of my work.
Organizing the Conversation
I developed flexible templates that served as a foundation. These templates were designed to be adaptable, allowing me to adjust based on the flow of the conversation
Whether organizing information in lists, categorizing into buckets, or adopting a narrative structure like a journey motif or a circus tent, the versatility of these templates provided a dynamic framework tailored to the unique nature of each discussion.
Iconography
One aspect of being a graphic facilitator involves complementing words with illustrations to reinforce ideas. These visual cues not only reinforced the verbal content but also allowed for swift and impactful capture of ideas during fast-paced discussions. I developed a repertoire of quick-draw icons, ready to stand alongside key words and phrases in my back pocket.
The session consisted of a pre-recorded video of my talk while I illustrated, showcasing graphic facilitation, and then a live Q&A. The event reached over 250 viewers, providing a platform to share actionable strategies for enhancing design processes.
The session, titled “Design Breakfast: Conflux Edition”, revisits past Design Breakfast speakers to discuss how design thinking has transformed and what’s next. I shared how how graphic facilitation has enabled me to find a clearer and more concise organization of my thoughts. While working wiht others, I am able to better communication ideas, see the overarching goals, and strategize steps to achieve them.
Amazon Design Linkedin
I was showcased as a featured designer on the Amazon Design LinkedIn page in July 2023. During our conversation, I shared how I got started with graphic facilitation and went on to discuss various ways to “Recharge Your Creativity”. I also drew an illustration to accompany my insights.
Conflux 2023: Strategic Craft
I was invited to be a panelist for Conflux 2023, the annual summit for design and creative excellence, produced for creatives by creatives across Amazon. This years theme, Strategic Craft, highlights the potential of design not only as a force for positive transformation but also as a strategic business advantage.
Mom, Get the Camera
Design Breakfast
In August 2021, I spoke at Design Breakfast, a bi-monthly talk series presented by the Amazon design community. My session, titled "How Visual Illustration Enhances Design, Planning, and Accessibility," delved into tips I learned from graphic facilitating, emphasizing how these insights can be integrated into everyday design work, and the significance of keeping accessibility top of mind.
How Can We Scale?
As the workshops evolve year after year, I worked closely with the Senior EV Strategist on how we can continue the momentum of the workshop once it has ended. I experimented with creating a zine or an accordion book featuring workshop illustrations, providing attendees with a tangible and concise overview to take home
This ongoing iteration reflects a commitment to continuous improvement, ensuring the post-workshop experience remains engaging and valuable.
Photo from UnsplashCustomer Impact
Below are some customer stories!
