InsightAug 22, 2024

The RGD Book Club: Fostering Community and Creativity

Written by Rupsha Mutsuddi Associate RGD, Rupsha Mutsuddi

The RGD Book Club was established in 2023. The format for the Club involved quarterly virtual meetings with a Q&A with the author of the book that Members had chosen, followed by discussions about the book's content.

Some notable authors were Paula Scher ( 25 Years at the Public: A Love Story and one of the featured designers of Pentagram: Living by Design), Ellen Lupton and Kaleena Sales (Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers) and Dori Tunstall (Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook).

When the Book Club Committee met for our inaugural meeting in 2024, we decided to focus on fostering community by introducing a more casual hangout where Members could share their To Be Read List (TBR List), discuss reading goals and share reading tools. Our first hangout took place on June 26, 2024.

We started by sharing books, resources and podcasts that could be used to educate non-designers about design and introduce non-designers to design.

Book Club Members shared books such as The Graphic Design Playbook by Sophie Cure & Aurélien Farina, the Non-Designers Design Book by Robin Williams and books by Austin Kleon such as Keep Going and Steal Like an Artist. They also shared resources like the 99 Percent Invisible Podcast and Memorisely, a Live UX Boot Camp.

Members also discussed the importance of fostering creative practice in everyday life. Some of the creative practices suggested were doing Zentangles on the iPad, doing 15-minute Still Life Studies every day and doing people-watching and sketching on an iPad or pen on paper.

The conversation then flowed naturally to books that Book Club Members wanted to read as a group. These included Pocket Full of Do by Chris Do, Exactly What to Say by Phil Jones, Mindful Creative by Radim Malinic, Citizen First Designer Second by Rejane Dal Bello and The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin.

Members also shared helpful tips for acquiring and reading books digitally, such as using Libby (a free library app), using the Speechify App and getting books through Kobo (the Canadian equivalent of a Kindle).

The RGD Book Club selected The New Designer: Rejecting Myths, Embracing Change by Manuel Lima as our next book. Book Club Members can receive a 15% discount on their copy of The New Designer if they purchase from Book Warehouse | Black Bond Books with the code RGD2024.

Our next Book Club Meeting will be on September 16 at 8 pm ET and 5 pm PT. Register here. At this meeting, we will discuss the book and discuss answers to questions from Manuel Lima as submitted by Book Club Members on Slack. Please join us on Slack and submit your questions by September 3, 2024, at midnight ET.

Book Club Committee Members:

Rupsha Mutsuddi Associate RGD

Rupsha Mutsuddi

Rupsha is a Designer specializing in Human-Centered Design, an Emerging Design Educator, and an Emerging Design Researcher. Rupsha is pursuing her Master of Design at York. Her work involves looking at the intersection of design, accessibility, and everyday health management. Her research focuses on designing interventions in augmented reality to assist with everyday activities for people living with early-stage dementia aiming to enhance their quality of life through the integration of rituals and habits. Supported by the Government of Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant, she is working with people with dementia, their care partners, and community organizations across Ontario to design better ways to support people living with dementia in everyday life.