Creative Leadership

Amber Sawaya, Team Builder, Creative Mentor, and Design Leader

For more than 15 years, I’ve led award-winning creative teams. I’ve grown several teams from the ground up using my network and by participating in graduate portfolio reviews for the AIGA. The people I hired in 2003 and 2006 still have those roles, and in my last stint in agency management, we celebrated four first home buys, two first babies, two dream car purchases, and one house paid off. That’s 🏠🏠🏠🏠🐣🐣🚙🚙🏡 in less than five years. These are the important milestones that a good job and a healthy career facilitate.

Amber Sawaya and a group of masked designers engage with a digital project at the 2021 AIGA 100 Show, viewing content on phones and interacting around a display featuring a golden geometric pattern. — *Amber Sawaya (left) and other members of her agency at the AIGA 100 Show c. 2022*

Creative Leadership Philosphy

Designers and developers are a specific breed of employee. They do best with the right amount of information, time, and space to solve problems. They need to be motivated and in a good frame of mind to do ground-breaking work. Some creatives do better with the whole picture, some do better focusing on their piece of the machine.

In order to uncover these motivations, we do a Meaningful Core Value Exercise and share across the team. Knowing what makes each other tick helps us work together more effectively and motivate each other with the right rewards.

I believe that designers and developers do incredible work together. The best solutions come from both groups discussing problems together, not the developers being mandated with designs shipped over, and not the designers being told to put a blue button in the top left corner. For years, I’ve pushed designers to be Code Conversational so they can interact and speak with developers using the right language.

Three people in masks and gloves sit on a bench reading and feeding penguins. One person holds open a children’s book featuring cartoon penguins, while the others offer food to a group of Gentoo penguins gathered in front of them. — *Reading our children’s book to penguins during a behind-the-scenes encounter—part of the creative process for developing the Procare mascot, Tucker the penguin.*

What Makes Great Creative Leadership

Over many years of hiring and leading designers, developers, and admin staff I’ve learned a few things about how to coach, guide, and grow careers. These are some of the core practices I’ve developed:

Two Minute Lessons – These are weekly, short briefs on stuff people should know. Focusing on consistent, teachable moments in digestible formats helps with client satisfaction and product delivery. I’ve prepared dozens of lessons, including: CYA: How to document a project; Project research documents; How to talk about design; The pacing of sharing work; and many more.
Showing and Discussing Work – There is a talent to the pacing of showing work and discussing it to elicit the best feedback. Talking through ideas—especially rough ones—leads to smarter, better outcomes.
Client and Coworker Management – Teaching creatives how to set expectations, navigate feedback (all feedback is welcome, but not all feedback is actionable), and how to protect the integrity of the work while improving relationships.
Portfolio and Career Management – A working creative can have a very long career when they think beyond the current project. Absolutely nobody wants to work on their portfolio or keep it up to date, which is why one of my best-performing articles is called I don’t know who needs to hear this, but: update your portfolio. From reviewing AIGA portfolios to coaching freelancers on how to set rates and ask for money, I’m invested in helping creatives have more rewarding and lucrative careers.

I believe that creative leadership isn’t just about delivering award-winning work. It’s about building environments where people respectfully thrive, collaborate deeply, and grow as creatives.