DesignThinkers Podcast

Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ll be speaking with some of those folks—our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. In this episode, I sit down with Dominic Ayre RGD. Dominic is the Creative Director at Hambly & Woolley, who worked on the conference identity in 2009. Dominic also plays a big role in helping RGD identify DesignThinkers speakers each year, so you’ll hear a little bit about that process too. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

This week’s guest is Steven Heller. Steven is the co-chair and co-founder of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design program. He was a senior art director at the New York Times for 33 years. He is the author or co-author of 200 books, mostly on design and pop culture, and has been contributing editor to PRINT, BASELINE, EYE and other design magazines. You'd know his writing best under the slug The Daily Heller at printmag.com. In this episode, we talk about how he got started, how he’s seen the industry change, and the value of chronicling things to better understand our experiences. It’s a meandering conversation—the best kind of conversation in my opinion. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

This week’s guest is Erin Sarofsky. Erin is an internationally heralded creative, regularly chosen by brand and entertainment titans to lead their most artful storytelling projects. Erin launched Sarofsky Corp in 2009, in Chicago’s West Loop. The firm has forged long standing relationships in the advertising and entertainment industries, but they’re best known for their main title sequences for movies like: “Peacemaker,” “The Staircase”,  “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “We Were the Lucky Ones,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and, of course,  “Community.” In this episode, Erin and I talk about the challenges of bouncing between our creative and business brains. We spend a lot of time talk about what it takes to build a sustainable creative business, (i.e. cash flow). And we wrap up by talking about The Skrimps, Erin’s adorable and hilarious AI-generated characters.  Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ll be speaking with some of those folks—our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. In this episode, I chat with Mike Kelar and Mikey Richardson. Their titles are both Co-Founder and Co-ECD at Jacknife. In 2008, the year they were our Design Partner, Mike and Mikey were working as AmoebaCorp. They took a very hands-on approach to the work but I’ll let them tell you more. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

This week’s guest is a DesignThinkers favourite. Aaron Draplin lives and works in Portland, Oregon. He makes work, under the moniker Draplin Design Co., for rock bands, comedians, restaurants, festivals and leftie politicians. He also makes typefaces, for the recently launched DDC Fonts, and has a DDC merch line that’s produced over 350 products. In 2016, he published his first book, titled “Pretty Much Everything”. It’s now in its twelfth printing! In this week’s episode, we talk about the immense privilege of living a creative life, the value of making work for the big bucks and not so big bucks, and what Aaron is thinking about now as he enters his next decade. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

This week's guest is Pentagram partner, Michael Bierut. Michael has been at Pentagram for more than 30 years. He's led projects for clients like The New York Times, MIT Media Lab, Mastercard, Princeton University, and the New York Jets. He's also the cofounder of the Design Observer and has authored countless books on graphic design. In this episode, we talk about his early career landing in New York City in 1980. We discuss his first job, working at Vignelli Associates, and what it was like to unravel that influence later in his career. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

In this Bonus Episode of the DesignThinkers podcast, I sit down with Glenda Rissman and Darrell Corriveau of q30 design. Glenda co-founded q30 design with Peter Scott in 1991, Darrell joined as Creative Director Interactive, in 1993. Today Glenda is a regular civilian, having retired from the industry, while Darrell is still at q30 as their VP of Digital. We caught up about the DesignThinkers identity they worked on in 2007, one that was a big step forward into the world of interactivity. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

This week's guest is Forest Young. Forest just announced his new position at Fundamentalco, where he leads the design discipline for new economy clients as part of a senior business acceleration team, with singular focus on value creation. Prior to that, Forest has been the Global Head of Brand at Rivian and the Chief Creative Officer at Wolff Ollins. In this episode, we talk about the past, present and future of design. We cover his comfort level as a speaker, the responsibility of designers working in innovative tech spaces, and what transitioning between agency and in-house environments has taught him about making work. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

This week’s guest is Ellen Lupton. Ellen is a designer, writer, and educator. She’s written and contributed to at least thirty books including Thinking With Type and Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-Racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers. She teaches in the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore (MICA), where she serves as the Betty Cooke and William O. Steinmetz Design Chair. She is Curator Emerita at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, where her exhibitions included Herbert Bayer: Bauhaus Master and The Senses: Design Beyond Vision. Ellen’s practice is really varied, and we talk about what it’s like to wear all the hats she wears and the joy she experiences saying yes to all of the things. She also talks about her role as a design educator, and the challenges and opportunities of teaching an international student body.  Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

In this Bonus Episode of the DesignThinkers podcast, we hear from John Furneaux RGD. John is Managing Director, Toronto at PS&Co Brand Studio. He’s led his own firm, B3 Strategy and held executive positions at a handful of leading brand consultancies. I’m talking to John about his time at Karacters, who were our DesignThinkers Brand Partner in 2006. That means John helped lead the team who developed the conference identity that year—it turns out he was also RGD President in 2006. We revisit what he remembers about the conference, the identity and his experience being a part of both.  Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.