NewsOct 14, 2023

DesignThinkers Podcast

Written by Nicola Hamilton RGD, Issues Magazine Shop, and Ashley Tomlinson Associate RGD, Self Employed

Hosted by Nicola Hamilton RGD with branding, editing and coordination by Ashley Tomlinson Provisional RGD, the DesignThinkers podcast features conversations with speakers over the last 25 years of the conference as they discuss the experiences and ideas that have shaped their careers, and our event.

Episodes launch every Monday, with bonus episodes featuring past brand partners for the conference releasing on Wednesdays. Below, you'll find all the episodes featured on Apple, Spotify and Buzzsprout:

BONUS EPISODE: JONATHON YULE & THOMAS VAN RYZEWYK

In this episode, we catch up with Jonathon Yule and Thomas van Ryzewyk. Both Jonathon and Tom work at Concrete here in Toronto. Jonathon is their Director of Design, and Tom is their Creative Director. Together, they led branding for DesignThinkers in 2019. We revisit that process—and yes, we ask them about the toonie.

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BONUS EPISODE: MICHAEL ROMANIUK

In this episode, Michael shares his journey as an Associate Creative Director at Zulu Alpha Kilo. After leaving pre-med in 2018, he executed a surprising direct mail stunt, disguising himself as a FedEx delivery man. He was hired on the spot by Zulu Alpha Kilo and briefed within half an hour. His first assignment? It was DesignThinkers. Listen in as Michael recounts that experience.

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BONUS EPISODE: HANS THIESSEN RGD

In this episode, Hans Thiessen RGD from Rethink—an agency that has been named AdAge's Creative Agency of the Year, one of Fast Company's Top 10 Most Innovative Creative Agencies and Strategy's Creative & Design Agency of the Year—recounts the process of being DesignThinkers Design Partner in 2017 and being on the team that executed that work. This will also cover the speed bump they hit along the way.

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EPISODE 13: KHOI VINH

In this episode, we're diving right into artificial intelligence. We discuss the ways AI and machine learning are accelerating the creative process, as well as the potential downsides of this acceleration. We also explore the aspects that cannot be automated. Additionally, we take a quick detour into Khoi’s love of film.

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BONUS EPISODE: TINA MACKENZIE RGD EMERITUS

In this episode, Tina Mackenzie, RGD Emeritus, a highly accomplished graphic design manager, discusses her leadership of the award-winning in-house graphic design team at the City of Mississauga. In 2012, her team was invited to be the first-ever in-house group to design DesignThinkers. We'll explore the significance of that moment both internally and within the industry at large.

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EPISODE 12: DEBBIE MILMAN

In this episode, we’re talking about how Debbies splits her time between hosting Design Matters, one of the first and longest-running podcasts in the world; Being the chair of the first-ever Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts; Supporting PrintMag.com, where she’s a co-owner and Editorial Director; and working on her own design, art and writing projects. We discuss turning down big, shiny, professional roles, the value of growth and risk in your work, and why she believes personal branding is a misguided concept.

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EPISODE 9: ERIN SAROFSKY

In this episode, Erin shares about the challenges of bouncing between our creative and business brain and about what it takes to build a sustainable creative business, (i.e. cash flow). With a wrap up by talking about The Skrimps, Erin’s adorable and hilarious AI-generated characters.

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BONUS EPISODE: MIKEY RICHARDSON & MIKE KELAR

Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, We will be discussing with some of those folks—our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. In this episode, we 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.

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EPISODE 6: FOREST YOUNG

In this episode, Forest shares 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.

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BONUS EPISODE: JOHN FURNEAUX RGD

In this Bonus Episode of the DesignThinkers podcast, we hear from John Furneaux RGD on how he led his own firm, B3 Strategy and held executive positions at a handful of leading brand consultancies. His time at Karacters, who were our DesignThinkers Brand Partner in 2006.

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Bonus Episode : Featuring Vanessa Eckstein RGD

In this episode, Vanessa Eckstein RGD talks about early memories of what the design industry was before without widespread internet access and how ideas were shared when the blok design was a design partner for DesignThinkers 2002 and how she was involved with the conference since its very beginning.

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Nicola Hamilton RGD

Issues Magazine Shop

Nicola is an independent art director and graphic designer, who specializes in editorial design. She’s obsessed with magazines, so much so that she opened Issues Magazine Shop, a retailer of independent magazines in July 2022. Her work has been internationally recognized by the D&AD, the Society of Publication Designers and the National Magazine Awards, among others. Nicola is also the co-founder of The Scaries Project, an artistic exploration of the emotional realities of being creative, and a part-time design educator.

Ashley Tomlinson Associate RGD

Self Employed

Ashley is a multidisciplinary graphic designer based in Toronto, Canada. So far her career has focused on editorial design at Studio Wyse and Clean Eating Magazine. A big lover of magazines and books (she loves storytelling), you can sometimes find her hanging out at Issues Magazine Shop or checking out books at the library. In her spare time she also co-writes a newsletter on pop culture called Shaping the Narrative which is just an excuse to write about all the books she’s reading. Always up for a conversation; her favourite topics include books, dogs and The Real Housewives.

DesignThinkers Podcast

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