May 11, 2022

What I’ve learned after creating 100 podcast episodes about design

Diana Varma RGD, Toronto Metropolitan University

About this video

Description

In 2019, Diana dove into the world of podcasting, launching Talk Paper Scissors – a podcast about creativity in graphic communications. This channel allows Diana to explore her multi-passionate interests in the worlds of design and creativity. With listeners on six continents and thousands of minutes of content produced, she’s learned a lot in the first 100 episodes about the breadth and depth of creative processes. In this talk, Diana shares the major lessons learned about universal experiences related to design and creativity, and what that means for each of our own creative practices. For example, what can a henna artist teach us about storytelling? How are the Gutenberg Bible and the typeface Papyrus connected? How does ensuring the digital spaces we design are accessible and help all users, no matter their abilities? Diana aims to share some invaluable lessons she’s learned in the first 100 episodes of her podcast, including the incredible opportunity for interconnectedness that design and creative practices afford.

In this talk, you will learn:

1. The top lessons learned after producing 100 podcast episodes about design.
2. What we can learn from amateurs and professionals alike about creativity and what this means for our own creative practices.
3. The interconnections between seemingly disparate and diverse individuals when explored through the lens of creativity, design and storytelling.

Diana Varma RGD

Toronto Metropolitan University

Diana Varma RGD is an award-winning design educator by day and a podcaster by night; getting creative with creatives about all things creative. She is a woman in STEAM who operates a traditional offset printing press, a variety of digital press technologies, as well as engaging in exploratory print-making practices such as LEGO letterpress. She teaches within the School of Graphic Communications Management (GCM) and the Master of Digital Media (MDM) program at Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as through digital learning platform, Domestika.

Diana has written 150+ published articles in Graphic Arts Magazine and through the Association of Registered Graphic Designers, as well as 170+ episodes through her podcast called Talk Paper Scissors, speaking with global experts about design, printing, typography, branding, books and publishing.

Diana holds the position of VP of Education on the RGD Board of Directors for Canada’s largest professional association for graphic designers and she’s actively involved in organizational initiatives, chairing the RGD’s Education Committee, regularly speaking at conferences and conducting workshops.