Debra Valencia
Founder & Creative Director
Debra Valencia, founder of DeVa Communications, is the company’s Creative Director, leading the design of all client projects with a keen sense of business and strategic viewpoint.  Debra’s extensive experience in her field includes branding and corporate identity programs, consumer packaging and product design, digital media and a myriad of printed communications, including books and publications.

Educated as a graphic designer and earning the faculty award for most outstanding student, Debra received a BFA with honors from the Philadelphia College of Art. Following a brief time as a freelance designer, Debra joined the internationally renowned firm, Sussman/ Prejza. Exhibiting extraordinary skills as a team leader, she was named head of the graphics department where she was creative director of numerous corporate identity and branding programs, including The Rand Corporation, Hasbro Inc., and California Council for the Humanities. She designed logos, brochures, stationery systems, identity manuals, packaging, products, signing and exhibits for corporate and retail clients, including Crocker Center and Westside Pavilion in Los Angeles and The Grand Avenue in Milwaukee. Additionally, she designed dozens of toy displays for Milton Bradley and Playskool Toyfairs in Hasbro’s New York showrooms as well as product and packaging design for Esprit’s Bed + Bath Collections, and identity programs and environmental graphics for Walt Disney World, EuroDisney and LeoPalace Hotel and Resort in Guam.

Serving as a key member of the graphic design team for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Debra supervised a large staff of designers and personally designed Olympic sites, including field-of-play graphics, scaffold structures and street banners. She was the sole designer of the Olympic Design Guide Graphic Standards manual.

After three years with her own 5-person design office, Valencia Design, Debra returned to Sussman/Prejza as an Associate, and eventually Partner. She spearheaded a number of high profile projects, including an identity system, guidelines manual and citywide signing program for both the cities of Philadelphia and Santa Monica as well as leading the creative team on a multimillion dollar makeover and corporate identity program for Southern California Gas Company, the nation’s largest gas utility.

She was lured away for the opportunity to serve as Vice President of Creative Services at Knowledge Exchange/Spurge Ink!, a publisher of business books, videos, audiobooks, multimedia products and online content where she lead the creative direction of the graphics, production and editorial staff. Debra and her team created catalogs, an e-commerce website, tradeshows, advertising and promotional campaigns, 20+ books, video and CD-ROM packaging, interactive multimedia products, and licensed and related retail merchandising lines.

As the Group Creative Director of Consumer Brands and Retail for Guidance, a 200+ person Web development and systems integration company, and later as Creative Director and Department Manager of the 33+ person creative department at Styleclick, a leading Internet e-commerce solutions provider owned by USA Networks, Debra gained integral knowledge of the web development process. She developed skills in content development, information architecture, usability studies, user experience needs and graphic interface design. She worked with such clients as NASCAR, CBS Sportsline, Elle, PGA, Hunter Douglas, about.com and First Auction.

DeVa Design, Inc. was officially born in 1998, later changing to DeVa Communications in 2001 to reflect the company’s broader scope of services, including branding, packaging, websites, printed collateral, marketing campaigns, books and annual reports.

A member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), Debra has lectured at major institutions and conferences including Cal Poly Tech in San Luis Obispo, Harvard University, Fresh Dialogue sponsored by the AIGA New York, 1990 Western Regional Conference of the Society of Environmental Graphic Designers (SEGD) and Art Director’s Clubs of LA and Washington, DC. Her work has been featured in publications such as Time, Interiors, HOW, Print, ID, Communication Arts, Identity, Abitare, Process Architecture and Women in Design 1900–2000. She has received numerous awards from the AIGA and other professional organizations and continues as a part–time faculty member of Otis College of Art and Design.