About Chelsea Ennis
Creative Director, studioID Design at Industry Dive
Chelsea Ennis is a creative director who's worked with brands like Target, Home Depot, Twitter, and IBM. She got her start at digital agency Group SJR where she developed graphics, websites and interactives. Eventually, she joined Industry Dive where she helped build up a formidable design team that works with brands to tell better stories.
Over her career her skills spread the gamut, from design project management, leading and scaling creative teams and marrying the design strategy with business needs. All of which shaped her into the creative director that she is today.
Chelsea Ennis
Industry Dive x Chelsea Ennis: Scaling Impactful Design
Episode Summary
This one’s for all the creatives and marketers out there who’ve ever had people think that all they do is “arts and crafts.” As we know, it’s so much more. Design departments can no longer be underestimated as they touch nearly every aspect of a business. As brand touch points continue to multiply exponentially, each moment needs to be thought through on a visual and emotional level. Industry Dive’s creative director, Chelsea Ennis, has helped grow the design department to prove, with no uncertainty, how valuable creative output can really be. In this episode, we talk with Chelsea about what it took to scale the design department, prove that it was worth the effort, and how she led her fast-growing team throughout the process.
Key Takeaways:
Design teams are most effective when they’re involved in a project from the beginning - not just as the last step of the process
Design proves its value in dollars, not just in pretty things
How to lead a team through chaos: The more you give to your team the more they’ll be motivated to produce better work
Lessons on fueling your mental strength by training outside of work