010: Frances Yllana of AIGA Dallas/Fort Worth

Because when teams flourish, great design follows. Let's welcome Frances Yllana. Hello. Hi.

And AIGA Dallas Fort Worth wasn't super, it wasn't attended a lot but they only had like one or two events a year. And so I reached out to the board and was like, hey do you guys want somebody to do communications or anything for you? And they're like yeah we actually do need that so I was I became their communications director and so that was one of the ways that I pretty much, I think became relevant was because I had to type all the things and everything and so I managed all the social and yeah. Basically, all the social. And then in the same year, one of the the president rolled off.

And so, vice president seat was open. So I jumped into the VP's seat and still did communications because we were small. Dallas was, I think, that point, maybe a board was, like, five people, and we had membership of like maybe 70. And in that first year, me and Gus Granger, he was the president, helped kind of build up the chapter a bit more. So we went from like two events a year to maybe two events a month and we grew the board and we went from I think maybe like I said earlier 70 to like 150 members because one of the things that we did, the strategy was the other organization offered one thing and we made sure not to cross over.

They would bring a speaker in every month from outside of Dallas and we would bring speakers up from Dallas. So people who should be in front and who could inspire people, like in person and so that's the type of programming that we had and then it wasn't the first year but the next year I was brought to the retreat and then it's all uphill and kind of not clear, but fuzzy in some areas, but like it's just been the best decision that I ever made in my twenties because it didn't just open you to all the leadership. Right? It made you feel like you could be like one of them. And so you're like, Starry, like, Oh my gosh, there's this person and this person.

And then they just like, Hey Frances. And like, Oh my God, they know my name. And it was just so cheesy. Like whenever that first year, was just like, know, I was like, This person's in my I think Matt Munoz was one of those that was like, he knows who I am. And so it was just kind of really awesome to have that community around you, and you had people to compare yourself to that are outside of your community.

So you're seeing I love I love Dallas Design but you're seeing more things than you see in your local community. So I was seeing and meeting people who you know just by some of the things that they were doing and some of the leadership stuff at their leadership retreats like made me into the director manager person that I had today because I was getting leadership training at each one of those retreats. And so was president, ended up being president And then after that, joined, I went to the rally. So I was trying for the years. It's it was all one chunk.

So there wasn't any gaps. Then I joined, Design for Democracy and that's, and I was brought on with, Jen and, worked with Karen and so we worked on a project together and then ended up being co chair Design for Democracy and then they had the PPC role open and I was like just throw my name in there and I got it and so I was like okay and then went from PPC during COVID and George Floyd was whenever I was PPC. So I was like, what a time to lead, you know. It was again, of those things that I think prepared me for everything that's happened since, right? Because you're like, oh no, I've dealt with crisis, you know.

You see a lot of things that are relevant to you and their relevance to other people and so you have like a better view, right? So I heard all the voices within AIGA and they kind of represented what was happening in the country, right? Then my term ended and they asked me to join the board and so I filled someone else's seat and then December 2023 I rolled off and I was just like, I'm just going to take a break and it has been everything not to volunteer like, oh, there's, hey, there's this board position open again and I'm like, don't do it, don't do it, you've already signed up, you already have another project right now. I just really miss those conversations, you know, and like it was 2011 to 2023, so that's like ten or eleven years and it's all come full circle. Sometimes like there'll be things that I learned at the beginning or aspirations I had at that time in my life that I'm like, oh I did it and it's just this beautiful ecosystem really, that makes designers better designers and also better people.

A quick question, what is PPC? Oh, President's Council Chair. You start as IPCC, so incoming President's Council Chair. You serve one term as, incoming and you serve that with the current president's council chair. When it was started, it was, you are going to pretty much manage communications and encourage the presidents.

And by the time I got into the PCC seat, like it was everybody. There's just things that the presidents have to do and they also need to be able to like talk to each other and like talk about what the common problems were and the things that, you know, just kind of having a cohort of folks that are doing the same thing as you but different. It's such an honor to be in that seat because you're like, you do get all the complaints, you know, you get the side conversations like, hey, I need your advice on the thing, but you also just get to, to know people better and really get to communicate with them and see all the different goals that the chapters have Like, it's just amazing.

And the fact that you recommended me for a position, I didn't think you knew who I was.

So like there's a conversation about like, are you a hugger? And there's a couple of people on the AIGA board that are like full huggers, right? They will go, you know, big bear embrace and there are definitely some people who are like side hug. And I was like, I brought one of the like field notes books that we got in our bag and I went to like, I think the last party and was like, Hey, are you a hugger or not? And I basically asked everybody, I had the balls to go up to and ask, Hey, random stranger, we're getting, we're looking at a survey of like what percentage of AIGA leadership are huggers or not huggers and I found that book and so I have like people's lists on there, and their handwriting and I keep on, it's, I've kept it because I'm a hoarder of cool things.

So basically all the AIGA stuff, I have it. Alicia's on there and at that point I didn't know how to say her last name and now she's like one of my best friends. She's at my wedding and I just looked, I was like, oh, that's when we met, you know, and they're like, Brian Singer's in there. Like there's so many folks in there that I introduced myself to that probably are like, that's when I met you? But they still like remember me now because I've been interfaced so many times with other things but that was what I did in Philadelphia.

That's why I really remember it.

I'm not sure, but Gage brought props. Gage or Nick brought props and one was an inflatable banana and we're like joking around with it at the bottom and I was like, let me take this. Because that's one of the things that happened at a lot of the retreats is like, I would find a thing and carry it around and try to give it to somebody and so I gave it to Atlanta and I know they had one picture of it in one of their board pictures but it's gone. I don't know where it is but yeah I was, I was yeah, I was carrying around an inflatable banana.

And I was like, we can't do this. And that was also oh, I don't know if I should say that. That was a year that I took a door off of a hotel room bathroom. No, that's a different year. I took the sink apart.

We looked everywhere, almost everywhere. And then so I was like, what, is it in the sink? So I took the sink apart, no tools. I don't know how I did it. And it was Nate's room. Anyway, so it wasn't in there. So I was like, I left the sink apart because I'm a horrible person to meet the first But I did find the ring because I was like, we haven't found the ring. So I was like, maybe you threw a tissue away. And so I emptied the trash can and it was in the trash can. I was like, here's your ring.

And it was like, because she was so afraid. Was just like, I have to tell him I lost the ring, her husband. And like, I was like, I'm going to take care of you, you know? And then, and then like, like Nick had always said, like, you took the sink apart in her room. And I'm like, sure did, you know?

Hopefully people know that I will take things apart for them as anybody on AIGA team and so there was a door in Atlanta that somebody like had locked the door so I helped take it off the hinges so that we could get in. We got it back on the hinges but like, I don't know where that comes from. I used to watch a lot of Home Time when I was a kid, I was like, I know how to take these things apart but, and I think part of me wants to be like that, you know, like contractor, but I can take things apart very easily. I don't know why it's because I'm the youngest child and also grew up like in an immigrant family where I just made things for myself. And so I could just, Hey, I'm crafty.

You need anything taken apart? Call me.

But I learned kind of humility and like even if I'm as excited about something because the retreat came to Dallas and I was like super excited because I had been bidding for that and I was just so excited but when we did the presentation, I didn't involve the rest of the board. They were involved in like the t shirts and the other things and the party, right? But like, I was like, I'm gonna put the presentation together and I like still look back at that time and kind of like, I regret it, but don't, because I don't, I think those things are there to teach you, but if anybody remembers that, the board wasn't asked, I just kind of put this presentation together because I was really just overly excited and just didn't think about the board. I was thinking about the whole leadership group and making them, like, excited about Dallas. One of the things you learn is run an organization, an AIGA.

If you're in a leadership position and you put things together, you put events together, you put retreats together, you put these things together that enable an organization to be successful and you learn from other orgs. And so as a manager, I would take care of everything like here's the creative stuff, but also here's the processes so we don't have to restart it. You can start from here. Here's, you know, a whole library of things. And so I started doing that because I was like, let's provide this stuff for our team to be successful.

And that happened at every job. We were just kind of cleaning after people like that kind of job. I did those things like made sure that something was well presented or like here's the structure, the scaffolding for each project and then here's like a list of the checklists and stuff. But that got me into design operations, which is just, I just love. But if you look across my class, I guess some of the folks who are exactly like the same age and same amount of years, Like there's a couple of folks in design operations and I think Kevin is chief operations, chief of operations officer or something like that.

And I was like, okay, like I see a lot of design operations type roles across the cohort that I was part of and it's because you've helped run organisations and help people succeed. You're not necessarily the one that's like, I'm going to shine, right? You're like doing everything that, allows people to be successful because that's your role as a leader in AIGA and so that was just how I knew how to do things and so it transferred its way to work and hopefully my, you know, former reports deal, like I set them up for success. You know, one of them is like so good and he just sent me a note that was like, I put you as my first creative director. And I was like, I was a senior.

I wasn't the creative director, but thank you for putting me there because he put me on there with like Chris Simmons and you know, some of the other people was like, oh my name's right there. I was like the senior art director and he's like, yeah, but you were the one that took care of me and made sure I learned things stuff like So I learned that from the leaders at AIGA. It's the reason why you do systems thinking, right? The reason why you put systems together is for people, not just to make a workflow. It's not an efficiency thing, it's so that the people can succeed because you're thinking more of the outcome rather than the thing you set up.

Because you can set that thing up and it'll need to change. Like it's never, it's like everything's iterative now, right? So you have a process and then somebody is like, this is really great, but what about this? I'm like, cool, cool, we'll redocument it, you know? But that's not the thing that you would ever get like bummed about changing, right? You get bummed if the outcome is not there.

So it was like, I was the hard worker. I was the person that got things done. And like I had the, during that grieving period, I was the person that people were like, you're so strong, you know, but I also was drank a lot. So a lot of the, you know, you put the muscle on, right? But you're still not dealing, but you think you're dealing because everybody tells you that you're dealing well.

And so I just started saying like, here's the things that make me proud. This is why I do these things. And the motivation was, you know, no one knows how to say my last name. And I think I've said this on a podcast with Diggy. My last name is Yllana Yllana. And everybody, I even pronounced it wrong when I was like eight years old and my dad was like pissed. He's like, what'd you say? And I was like, Yolana? And he was like, no, absolutely no.

And so he made me sit there and say the name for maybe an hour until I was like five in a row, perfect. And so what I used to say was, I, you know, when I leave things behind, I want people to be able to say my last name. Some people do and it's like, it's a and it makes sense. Like it's a really odd last name. So I'll answer to anything that's related to it.

Philadelphia actually took my last name and made a meme. No, Pittsburgh. Yeah, they sent it to me, it's Frances Yama, llama. So it's like a, it's me doing this and then there's a llama. Yeah.

Yeah, I'll send that to you too. Because I saved that because I was like, I am a meme now, this is amazing because they would send it to each other and I was like, that's very flattering. You know like,

To be able to do design well and make it look easy, you have to understand strategy, you have to understand empathy, and you also, you know, all of the things, direction, but you also have to know execution, right? So there's a lot of people that'll be like, This is design, and but you're like, I can do this, right? And so if you put those people within a civic serving organisation, like, you're just going to benefit not just that organisation, but also, you know, design because you're spreading why design is good. So I was really like in between. I had a Dallas necklace.

I still have it, but I wore it all the time and I did a lot of volunteering. We had a lot of like civic issues that I was part of, like tearing down a highway, making sure a tollway didn't go up, just really kind of trying to make Dallas better. And so that kind of kind of absorbed it and then it became like, if you asked me what I do, it's basically like civic tech. I want people to, in civic tech to be able to do their best work. Like the dream is that those commercial organisations will have to care more about design because the government cares about design, so it's default, Right?

And actually, so design for democracy, we did a for each election cycle, we did the get out the vote campaign. And so that's where you ask everybody in AIGA, members and leaders, everything, to contribute a poster, and poster joins a gallery. And that gallery is available to anybody who wants to download a poster to be able to spread the message of democracy to their community because, know, some election places, some, libraries, students, right, they might not have the resources to do this work or hire like an amazing designer, but you have with Get Out To Vote, you have this. So you're able to get the, you know, kind of people out to vote. And Design For Democracy was started because of a design snafu.

I'll let everybody look that up. But I just stayed on and it just got like cooler and cooler to see how it could evolve. And then it really just became the same thing. But one year you would have a hundred designers that you pick to do a special poster and that one went on tour. So like there were things involved with it that got a lot of traction, but it was just really like, hey you guys get to design a poster, which is if you're a designer you're like, I'm gonna do this, you know, but then you're putting this really impactful message in there and so you're exercising your skills and everything and it's part of something bigger too.

Yeah, that's what Design for Democracy is and I basically, whenever I retired from the board was kind of the same time that I kind of retired from Design for Democracy but it still helped put graphics together. That's what actually got me into the role that I'm in now. So like about four years ago, three years ago, well, I had asked Ashley Axios, former president of AIGA National, Hey, do you know this person or this group? Let me know about him. And it was like, like an organisation for executive women, right?

And she's like, I'm just a member of it. It's on her, you know, it's on her LinkedIn because she's part of it, but not because she's part of it. And then she said, we're actually hiring for somebody in design operations. I'll send you the JD when it comes out. And at that point she sent me to JD and I had no contact with her until I was hired.

Like, and pretty much it was like, Hey, congratulations. When can you start? You know, because one of the things I learned from Ashley is like they took bias out of like everything, right? And so if you've ever sent me an email about like, can you tell me more about this job? I'll be like, no, I can't.

I'm Coforma's first design operations leader. I got to stand up, you know, the practice and it's just been, it still is like such a such a glorious feeling to be part of that organization. Even whenever things really rough, is right now, see the best of people though that are dealing with some of the worst things, but you still see the best of people. So it's very, you know, it's very inspiring and I don't think that I ever would have imagined that I would be doing design operations for a civic tech company, but it's like dream job because I get to support all the designers and researchers and some of the, sometimes the engineers and, they are doing amazing work, you know, so, you get to be part of that a little bit, but without having to do it because I've been doing design for a really long time, so I'm old, so I'd like to support it but I can't just do all the time, you know, like, and I think I have the special skills of having done the design, every kind of type of design. So I know like, that's not the right tool, you know, maybe you should try this because I've done the work.

I've done the work in many ways, like from AIGA, also as a designer and then design operations, like, it's just kind of like dream job. I get to do civic tech and design operations and service all in like one job. And so AIJA is kind of like the door to other paths. There's just all of these. And so, I wouldn't change anything about that path, right?

Because everything made me better for the next. Like if you take AIGA out of my timeline, I would just be such a jerk. But,

I'm in there too. I'll be there, you know, let's get together. And it's never been like, you know, you don't have somebody to see whenever you go to like a, to anywhere. And that's just really kind of cool too. Like you just feel warm, you know, and it makes you kind of feel very welcome and like you, you belong. Right? And so that's just, that's another bonus. There's just all these bonuses to being part of it. It's it's, yeah, been a huge impact on my life.