Filmed on October 8, 2015, at the 2015 AIGA Design Conference.
At an agency, design is the product. So how do you build a design culture, find wins, and continue to evolve creatively when your company’s primary focus is something totally different? Like selling burritos, for example? In this video, Tou shares the ins, outs, ups, and downs of building an in-house design team.
Anna Tou attended Concordia College in Minnesota, pursuing a degree in business, but found her passion when she took an elective graphic design course. Soon after, she took the plunge to pursue a second degree at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where she received her B.F.A. in 2005. After graduation, Tou worked at Noise 13, Sequence, and fuseproject on brands such as Myspace, Disney, Jawbone, and Chipotle.
As a design director at Sequence leading the Chipotle account, she developed a true passion for the burrito chain’s mission and brand, which led her to move to New York in 2011 to spearhead Chipotle’s in-house design efforts. Tou now leads a small, dedicated team of designers, a copywriter, and agency partners to create Chipotle’s marketing touch points across their global footprint.
