Lauren Serota on Getting Parent Support Making Career Choices

In Chapter 1 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "Where Has Your Family Been Most Supportive in Your Career Development?" Serota shares how her parents creative a trusting yet objective home environment and why that helped her learn to make better decisions.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Lauren Serota on Honing Career Skills Working in Australia

In Chapter 2 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "How Has International Work Experience Contributed to Your Professional Development?" Working on several projects for an Australian client gives Serota a firsthand look into the nuances of current issues in Australian culture and linguistics, in particular the tension between Westerners and indigenous people. She shares how her work and her teaching - via an alumni working at the Australian Centre for Social Innovation - play into what she learns working on international projects.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Lauren Serota on 3 Ways to Make Work Meaningful

In Chapter 3 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?" Serota shares three ways what she does is meaningful. First, with her creative consultative work at frog, she finds meaning in helping companies evolve and grow. Second, the interpersonal connections she makes as a teacher and engaging students as they build careers. Thirdly, she finds work meaningful in simply gaining knowledge and becoming wiser.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Lauren Serota on What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder

In Chapter 4 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?" Serota notes the challenge of taking on management responsibilities after getting promoted from her hands-on interaction design and design research role to an associate creative director job. Specifically, she finds challenging to not do the work and instead to delegate the work and empower those doing it. After teaching design for three years and getting public speaking experience, she finds it easier to think on her feet and adapt to different situations.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Lauren Serota on Rethinking Career Goals After Three Years at a Job

In Chapter 5 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "How Are Your Aspirations Changing As Your Experience Grows?" Now in her third-year working at frog design, Serota shares how her career aspirations are becoming less about individual recognition and more about sharing knowledge to improve how others learn and live. She reflects to a time when her goals were more narcissistic and how her goals have progressively shifted from self to serving others.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

Lauren Serota on the Give and Take of Learning and Teaching Design

In Chapter 6 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "How Are Your Responsibilities Changing As You Gain Work Experience?" After three years working at frog design, Serota finds she is ready to transition from learning from job experience to teaching others what she has learned on the job. This coincides with growing creative leader responsibilities at work, continuing teaching responsibilities at her school, and new ways to make an impact in the design community.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

Lauren Serota on What It Means to Be a Creative Leader

In Chapter 7 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?" Serota leads by being able to ingest multiple perspectives, synthesize them and create a point of view that unites a team around a common vision. New in her role as assistant creative director, Serota finds teammates seeking her creative leadership at an individual task or tactical level.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

Lauren Serota on How to Build Relationship Rapport and Trust

In Chapter 8 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?" Serota shares how she has learned to build rapport, as trust is called in research terms, with others through being honest and inquisitive. She shares how defining what trust means depends on the context of a relationship. She uses trust-building examples from her fiancee personal relationship and ones from work.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

Lauren Serota on Building Creative Direction Communication Skills

In Chapter 9 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "How Are You Learning to Communicate More Effectively?" Serota finds more exposure to the world and to people helps her understand how to communicate differently to different people. In her job role, she is responsible for giving creative direction to designers. She notes how designer personalities differ and how she finds it helpful tailoring feedback - conceptual to tactical - when working with them. She notes how she carries this awareness into her work presenting in meetings and facilitating in classrooms.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

Lauren Serota on Sharing Leadership Responsibility

In Chapter 10 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What Skills Are You Working on Right Now to Become Better at Your Job?" As she grows as a creative leader, Serota finds herself in more complex team structures where leadership responsibility is shared. She works to improve how she collaborates with co-leaders on projects where she is not the sole leader or creative leader.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

Lauren Serota on Learning to Be a More Productive Communicator

In Chapter 11 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "At This Point in Your Life, Where Are You Seeking Advice and Coaching?" As she goes through a job transition from individual contributor to manager, Serota seeks feedback to be a better communicator and collaborator working with other leaders on the job. She finds this skill transferable to her personal relationships in addition to those at work.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

Lauren Serota on How to Be Confident Without Being Stubborn

In Chapter 12 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What Role Does Confidence Play in the Work That You Do?" As a creative leader working in design, Serota learns the importance of having a defensible, researched point of view to give her confidence at work. She notes the difference between this kind of confidence and more emotional displays that can be read as arrogance or stubbornness.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

Lauren Serota on the Why Trust is the Key to Project Collaboration

In Chapter 13 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What Have You Found to Be the Keys to Creating Successful Project Collaborations?" Serota finds building trust essential to creating successful creative team project collaborations in her work at frog design. She learns to both understand team expectations and communicate her own expectations to motivate her team and create an inclusive environment where each team member has a stake in the project.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

Lauren Serota on Getting Organized at Work

In Chapter 14 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What Do You Find are the Keys to Managing a Busy Schedule and Getting Things Done?" Serota shares how she uses an array of tools and approaches to organize her life and stay as productive as possible. She replaces voice memos with Evernote to record her thoughts and makes post-it do to lists and checklists to stay on top of tasks. She organizes email by separating read and unread and works through the unread emails first.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Lauren Serota on Building Skills to Be a Better Teacher

In Chapter 15 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "How Are You Becoming a Better Teacher?" As an instructor at the Austin Center for Design, Serota evolves her teaching style and course design as she gains experience. She brings in anecdotes from her studies and work to give students a foundation until they can gain their own experiences and build their own base. She works with faculty to continuously improve courses based on best practice research. In class, Serota deconstructs complex concepts into simpler pieces that allow students to stay focused and hone understanding of the core concepts.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Lauren Serota on Teaching Students Design Thinking

In Chapter 16 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What Does It Mean to Teach Someone to Think Like a Designer?" Serota notes there is a nature versus nurture element of teaching students design thinking techniques. As a teacher, Serota tries to find student learning styles and adapt her teaching to those who grasp creative and design thinking and those who struggle to grasp them.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Lauren Serota on Surprising Teaching Career Benefits

In Chapter 17 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "How Has Teaching Opened New Opportunities in Your Career?" Each graduating student becomes an ambassador not only for the school but also for each faculty member. This creates a feedback loop Serota uses to learn from alumni and build her reputation as a teacher willing to learn and share to new audiences. This opens new opportunities for her such as giving a design talk in Monterrey, Mexico.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Lauren Serota on Using Reflection to Understand How Others See You

In Chapter 18 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What Role Has Reflection Played in Shaping Your Personal Growth?" Serota finds reflection helps her avoid getting caught in her own head and pushes her to examine her actions from the perspective of others. This underscores an important lesson she has learned: the value of regularly asking for and receiving feedback on her actions and work.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).