Day 1
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October 12
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Day 1 ✱ October 12 ✱
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM @ The Urban Hive
730 I St, Sacramento, CA 95814
The Brick Reset: Rebuilding Creative Focus Through Play
Creative professionals are constantly expected to generate ideas, solve problems, respond to feedback, and produce on demand. But creativity also needs room to breathe.
In this hands-on workshop, author and creative operations professional Charleen Jones invites participants to step away from their screens and reconnect with their creative instincts through LEGO® bricks. Using approachable building, sorting, and reflection exercises inspired by her book, Brick by Brick: Rebuilding Through Play, participants will explore how tactile play can help quiet mental clutter, restore focus, and make it easier to approach ideas from a new perspective.
No building experience or artistic skill is required. Participants will leave with a practical creative-reset exercise they can repeat at home or at work, and permission to make space for play in their creative process.
Charleen Jones
Another Jones
2:00 - 4:00 PM @ Geery Theater
2130 L St, Sacramento, CA 95816
Explore creativity through playful and reflective participatory activities inspired by applied improvisation. This interactive workshop invites designers, artists, makers, and creative professionals to step away from the pressure to perform and reconnect with curiosity and one another. Through a series of activities, small-group conversations, and guided reflection, participants will experience how play can deepen relationships and spark fresh perspectives.
Rediscover Play: Creativity Through Connection
Bernie Baktashian
Haus of Comedy
5:30 - 8:00 PM @ The Masonic Temple
2130 L St, Sacramento, CA 95816
Adobe Create Now
Join the design community at Adobe Create Now to connect with fellow local creators, explore new ways to collaborate, and enhance your creative process. Discover the latest features, and get pro tips for Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe Firefly, Adobe Express, and more. Enjoy appetizers, drinks, and a chance to win a Creative Cloud membership.
Jordan Dené Ellis
Adobe
Day 2
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October 13
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Day 2 ✱ October 13 ✱
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM @ The Urban Hive
730 I St, Sacramento, CA 95814
Adobe Firefly Workshop
Join us as part of Design Week Sacramento at this hands-on workshop, we'll spend our time building a brand from scratch together using a shared Adobe Firefly Board. You'll see how Firefly Boards help teams move from brief to exploration, collaboration, and creative direction faster, all in real time. AI isn't making the design. It's helping surface ideas, accelerate exploration, and remove friction so you can spend more time making creative decisions.
Working through a shared exercise, you'll experience firsthand how Firefly Boards can transform the creative process while keeping the designer firmly in the driver's seat.
PLEASE BRING A LAPTOP IN ORDER TO FULLY PARTICIPATE.
Jordan Dené Ellis
Adobe
2:00 - 4:00 PM @ The Urban Hive
730 I St, Sacramento, CA 95814
How well do you really know your audience? This Design Week, join AMASV and Capitol Creative Alliance for a hands-on Lunch & Learn built to help marketers and designers rediscover the customer journey.
We’re moving past surface-level demographics to intimately explore user personas, campaign fundamentals, and the real-world workflows that connect them. Through an interactive case study presentation and a fast-paced group sprint, you’ll learn how to break out of silos, manage big projects as a solo creator, and ethically integrate AI tools like Custom GPTs to scale your campaign variations without losing your creative soul. Bring your appetite, your curiosity, and your laptop—you’ll leave with a tangible marketing toolkit you can implement on day one.
Design Smarter: Connecting Audience, Strategy, Design & AI
Jenn Clark
AMA Sacramento Valley
5:30 - 8:00 PM @ Urban Roots
1322 V St, Sacramento, CA 95818
Common Knowledge: The Power of Active Listening
oin us for a CCA X Common Knowledge collab with guest Cole Cuchna. A podcaster, composer, and Sacramento native, Cole brings us the power of listening, a bar lecture about the incredible ability that audio has to transform the world around us. Cole hosts the award winning music podcast, Dissect, which was named one of the best podcasts of 2018 by the New York Times and TIME. This lecture will take a deep dive into a variety of music examples, including Sacramento artists, to explore the transformative power of listening more deeply.
CCA members get $10 off this event by using code: CCA10
Cole Cuchna
Host, Dissect Podcast
Day 3
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October 14
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Day 3 ✱ October 14 ✱
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM @ The Atelier
2118 19th Street, Sacramento, CA 95816
Stuffie Art Workshop
Transmogrify a stuffed animal from the thrift store into a best friend that can hold your darkest emotions. We’ll paint on fabric, sew expressive marks, and construct from reclaimed materials while we explore our values, limitations, and body horrors.
Liz Awesome
Liz Awesome Art, LLC
2:00 - 4:00 PM
140 Commerce Circle, Sacramento, CA 95815
Behind the Scenes: Broadway Sacramento Production Center Tour
Join us for an in-person tour of Broadway Sacramento's Production Center.
It's a rare chance to go behind the scenes of Broadway At Music Circus and see how our design team brings each show to life. Technical Director Christian Johnson and Costume Director Gabriella Nance will lead guests through the production and costume shops, with opportunities to ask questions about props, sets, and wardrobe.
Each tour is limited to 12 guests to keep the experience intimate. We'll run multiple tours throughout the event, with a total capacity of 24 guests. Each tour will last 1 hour.
Parking is available in the lot outside the building, with additional street parking nearby. Close-toed shoes are required.
Broadway Sacramento
5:30 - 8:00 PM @ Camellia Coffee Roasters
1200 R St Ste 130, Sacramento, CA 95811
The Creative Behind Camellia
Join us for a talk with local design legend Ben Della Rosa and Camellia Coffee Roasters Co-Founder/Owner/CEO Ryan Harden, and learn more about the design process behind Camellia’s iconic branding.
Ben Della Rosa
Graphic Designer
Day 4
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October 15
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Day 4 ✱ October 15 ✱
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM @ The Urban Hive
730 I St, Sacramento, CA 95814
Podcast Repair Shop: Diagnose, Simplify, and Strengthen Your Show
Feel like your podcast has hit a wall? You're not alone, and you're not stuck. Join Johnny Flores of Flores Podcast Productions for Podcast Repair Shop, where we'll start with an open conversation about where shows commonly get stuck (audience, concept, structure, pacing, production, sustainability), then get hands-on with real fixes for your specific challenges. Bring your questions, leave with a plan.
Johnny Flores
Flores Podcast Productions
2:00 - 4:00 PM @ The Urban Hive
730 I St, Sacramento, CA 95814
Mastering the Gig Economy with Golden 1 Credit Union
Shay Sharma
Golden 1 Credit Union
If you do gig work, you know how tricky it can get on the money management side of things. In this jam packed presentation you’ll learn how to take control of your financials and get actionable steps for simplifying healthcare, retirement, taxes, budgeting, savings, and more.
Tap In Design Trivia Night
Good conversations. Real connections. A little friendly friction.
Design Week Sacramento is about celebrating the people behind the work, and for this special gathering, Tap In Creative Club is bringing the local creative community together for a night of team trivia.
Tap In presents a fast-paced design trivia night built for Sacramento's creative community to connect and compete. Test your knowledge across branding, typography, studio culture, software shortcuts, and color theory in a relaxed, casual environment. Whether you are a seasoned art director or a student, join us to talk shop, flex your design history chops, and meet local peers.
How it works:
Come as you are: Come with a full team, bring a friend, or show up solo. We’ll help pair everyone up seamlessly so you leave having made a few new genuine connections.
Grab a drink, bring your curiosity, and let’s see where the night leads.
Tap In Creative Club
Day 5
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October 16
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Day 5 ✱ October 16 ✱
8:00 AM @ The Urban Hive
730 I St, Sacramento, CA 95814
CreativeMornings
Details coming soon!
CreativeMornings
2:00 - 4:00 PM @ WeidnerCA
5001 24th St, Sacramento, CA 95822
WeidnerCA Design-Build HQ Tour
From Paper + Pixels to the Built Environment. At WeidnerCA, we’re a design firm that builds. We transform brands, stories, and ideas from paper and pixels into physical experiences people can see, touch, navigate, and inhabit. Join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of our studio and fabrication facility to see how design moves from early concept through prototyping and fabrication into the built environment. Come see what happens between “What if?” and “We built it.”
WeidnerCA
5:30 - 8:00 PM @ Futures Explored
2533 R St, Sacramento, CA 95816
Film Night
Life is Short is a community driven short film series that brings people together through film, music, conversation, and creative experiences. The series is for filmmakers, creatives, curious people, and anyone who enjoys discovering new stories and talking about the ideas they spark. Each event creates space to not only watch films, but connect with others, explore different perspectives, and build community through storytelling.
Jordan Brown
Day 6
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October 17
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Day 6 ✱ October 17 ✱
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM @ Honey
1900 29th St, Sacramento, CA 95816
Design Week Sacramento Brand Jam - Day 1
New this year, we are partnering with AAF Sacramento, So Good Agency, and Chris Thomas to transform our conference into a Design Week Sacramento Brand Jam, where we recruit local creative professionals to employ their time and talents towards fulfilling the design and marketing challenges of one deserving nonprofit in our community.
Our Brand Jam was developed out of FREEThink, a nationally recognized and awarded public service initiative created and run by AAF Sacramento.
AAF Sacramento, Chris Thomas, Sabrina Modelle
Day 7
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October 18
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Day 7 ✱ October 18 ✱
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM @ Honey
1900 29th St, Sacramento, CA 95816
Design Week Sacramento Brand Jam - Day 2
New this year, we are partnering with AAF Sacramento, So Good Agency, and Chris Thomas to transform our conference into a Design Week Sacramento Brand Jam, where we recruit local creative professionals to employ their time and talents towards fulfilling the design and marketing challenges of one deserving nonprofit in our community.
Our Brand Jam was developed out of FREEThink, a nationally recognized and awarded public service initiative created and run by AAF Sacramento.
AAF Sacramento, Chris Thomas, Sabrina Modelle