Looking Back: DesignThinkers 2005 Branding with Mindshape

We caught up with David Brown RGD, President at Mindshape, to reflect back on Mindshape's branding for DesignThinkers 2005.

What did taking on the DesignThinkers conference branding mean to you and your team at the time?

We were honoured to be considered by RGD. As a long-standing partner and contributor to RGD programs, it was a great opportunity to connect with the broader design community.

Explain your concept and how you and/or your team got there?

Hard to believe that was 14 years ago. The maze concept would have been a reflection of the theme “The designers' path to creativity and insight”. The notion that creative thinking and design play a critical role in solving real problems, and that getting there often requires overcoming certain challenges, foreseeing dead ends and being able to generate successful outcomes – through creativity and insight.

What was your biggest challenge being the Design Partner for DesignThinkers?

I’m not sure we had many challenges, we were given tremendous freedom to explore our own direction. As with any peer work, the biggest challenge may have simply been the angst of knowing we would be exposing our work to so many wonderful creative minds.

How did it feel to present your work to a bunch of designers? And then see your work live during the event and witness people's reactions to it?

Exciting and terrifying at the same time. It was truly rewarding to see the concept go live and then to attend the conference, quietly knowing we had played a small but important role in bringing it all together.

What are you most proud of from your own experience? Is there anything you would have done differently?

Really just proud that Mindshape and our creative team were asked to be involved. I don’t feel we would have changed anything. Like everything we create as designers, there is always room to tweak or modify, however the concept at the time was relevant and meaningful.

What has been your favourite DesignThinkers branding, besides your own, and why?

There are so many amazing conference works. If I had to pick, I would say the 2011 conference design by Russell Gibbs. His approach was fresh, uncomplicated and full of optimism. He also happens to be a very talented designer, and passionate bee keeper – we need the bees!