Daughter Creative signs on as Design Partner for DesignThinkers 2026
Interview with Wendy Chiu, Group Brand Director at Daughter Creative
Joining the roster of esteemed firms that have developed branding for the RGD's DesignThinkers conferences over the past 26 years, Daughter Creative shares its process, challenges and sources of inspiration for the 2026 branding.
As Web Partner, Forge Media will bring the 2026 conference experience online.
DesignThinkers 2026 will be held at the Vancouver Playhouse on May 26-27 and Toronto tentatively scheduled for October 28-29, both with options for live streaming.
Why did you and your team want to take on the DesignThinkers branding as a project?
It felt like a rare challenge and an exciting opportunity to concept and design something for the design community. As an agency, we have enormous respect for the RGD, so to collaborate and represent the organization is an honour.
What has been the most challenging aspect of developing the design and concept?
Honing down concepts. We had such a wide range of ideas and really let loose with ideation—exploring, building fun “what ifs” and pushing the boundaries of where we could take the project. Reining it in and establishing a clear, focused concept proved to be the biggest challenge.
“Daughter began next year's brand work with a wonderful insight about how DT is refreshing for so many attendees. It's a break from the daily grind... It's a time to get out from behind your desk, learn something new and get inspired. I can't wait for that energy to make its way into the rest of their work for the 2026 conferences.”
Julian Brown RGD
What were your sources of inspiration for the concept? What research did you undertake?
We looked far and wide. The project was open to the whole team, and we encouraged everyone to share what had caught their eye recently, what they would like to see and, just as importantly, what they felt had been overdone. We cast the net broadly for inspiration—online, offline, found objects, scanned signs, ideas from the cutting-room floor—anywhere we could soak up visual references, we did.
What has been your team’s process for tackling the project?
Collaboration was at the heart of the process. We brought the team together and created a “design playground” where any idea was welcome. Small nuggets became larger discussions—what we would like to see from an event, what felt topical, what had been done too often.
From there, we explored our surroundings, experimented with typography and textures, revisited earlier explorations and highlighted visuals that caught our eye for any reason. These explorations evolved into the concept we are developing today.
