Indy Design Week (IDW) is a citywide festival and nonprofit that connects, amplifies, and supports the Indianapolis design community.
For one week each year, designers across disciplines come together for talks, workshops, and events across the city. But IDW is more than a week of programming; it’s a reminder that design is alive and well in Indianapolis.
When I graduated from Purdue University in 2023 with a B.S. in UX Design, I quickly realized how much I missed the creative community I had in school. I didn’t realize how much that daily dose of creative energy fueled me until it was gone.
After graduation, most of that community moved across the country. I moved back to central Indiana and started searching for something that couldbring me that same creative energy. That’s when I found Indy Design Week.
My first IDW experience showed me that the design community I’d been looking for was right in my own backyard. I heard from local creatives doing incredible work, connected with designers from all sorts of backgrounds, and attended workshops that still influence how I think about design today.
It was energizing. It was welcoming. And it felt like something I wanted to help build and not just attend.
The next year, I wanted to give back, so I applied to volunteer. Working under the Director of Tech, I used my skills to build the 2025 website around the theme HUES.
I also had the opportunity to host an IDW event at Counterpart, where I shared my work on Colorchase, a digital platform that enables people with cognitive disorders and their loved ones to create memories and express their emotions through color.
Fast forward to this year (2026), and I now serve as Director of Tech. What started as a Google search turned into leadership in the very community I was looking for.
People sometimes ask why I would choose to do design work after a full day of… doing design work.
But it doesn’t feel redundant.
At Counterpart, I’m focused on using my design skills to find creative solutions to complex problems. There are real constraints (business needs, timelines, stakeholders), so I balance my creativity and analytical thinking. At Indy Design Week, the problems are different. The scope is clearer, which means I get to experiment more, try new things, make small mistakes, and learn from them.
And that experimentation carries back into the work I do at Counterpart.
I’ve found that the two roles feed each other. The structure and strategy I practice at work make me a better leader at IDW. The creative freedom I get at IDW makes me more energized and curious at work.
Indy Design Week gave me a sense of community at a time when I really needed it. Volunteering feels like my way of giving back, and in the process, it’s made me a stronger designer.
Most importantly, both spaces reinforce the same belief: great design starts with people.
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