The attendees learned something new about themselves at the workshops, took inspiration from the stories of the speakers and indulged in some retail therapy at the designer marketplace — there was something for everyone on May 30–31 at the 24th annual DesignThinkers Conference in Vancouver. See conference highlights below.

The conference featured talks by Eleni Beveratou, Theresa Fitzgerald, Debbie Millman, Pum Lefebure, Liza Enebeis, Cey Adams, Alex Center, Thas Naseemuddeen and workshops by Laurie Rosenwald, Dominic Ayre RGD, Dominic Prevost, Tom Froese, Diana Varma RGD and Mustaali Raj.

Over the two days, attendees participated in roundtable discussions, a campus tour, book signings, sampled offerings from industry suppliers and artisans. Everyone also had an opportunity to engage with each other at a delegate party.

Below we share some takeaways from the presentations: 

“If you get an opportunity to work with someone you love and to do things you love, appreciate it in that moment. I say this because we’re all creatives — we’re difficult to deal with sometimes, we deal with people who are difficult to deal with sometimes — so to all the young ones, be in the moment. Because there is no such thing as the future. Now is the future. Enjoy it.” — Cey Adams, Visual Artist

“We are always looking to be perfect. But for me, the word ‘perfect’ is killing because it means it is almost the end of a project. What I love the most is doubt and I work with doubt all the time. It means that you’re not settled and you want to discover more. Opening up that door is very important for design. Not perfection.” Liza Enebeis, Creative Director & Partner, Studio Dumbar/DEPT®

“We live in uncertain times and it is hard to know what matters. We do have questions about tomorrow. To me, character matters. Every day we can make choices that allow us to shift and grow our awareness, to take better care of ourselves so that we can take better care of each other, growing resilience to adapt to whatever the changes bring is really important. Character matters and it is something you do even if no one is there.” — Theresa Fitzgerald, Ex-Vice President Brand Creative, Sesame Workshop

“When we talk about accessibility [in typography] there are three things to consider. First is legibility, which how fast we recognize a ‘c’ to an ‘o’ or an ‘e’ to an ‘a’. The second is readability — the typesetting, how lengthy the paragraph is, what are the colour combinations between text and background, etc. And lastly likeability, this cannot be measured but as humans we like different things and what we like does define accessibility.” — Eleni Beveratou, Creative Director, Dalton Maag

“Strict regulations can be a designer’s best friend. As designers, we thrive when we are given boundaries and limitations, otherwise we’d be artists. I have always thought of designers as artists who solve problems.” — Matt Webb, Senior Brand Manager (Craft), BZAM Cannabis

“I always tech my team to be a keen observer of emotions. Noticing emotions makes you a better designer. Seeing is one thing, but feeling gives you much deeper connection with the audience.” — Pum Lefebure, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Design Army

“Bringing form to feeling is about creating something tangible from a set of emotions or abstract ideas. In some instances, that tangible form and visual expression has the ability to transcend conventional language to form a deeper sense of connection with the viewer.” — Tom Hingston, Creative Director & Founder, Hingston Studio

Registration for DesignThinkers Toronto on November 2–3 (in-person and streaming) is now open. 

Register now!

Connie is a Vancouver-based photographer with 10+ years of experience as a full-time freelancer, specializing in events and photojournalism. Connie’s been the person behind the lens for many of our DesignThinkers conferences in Toronto. We caught up with her before she joins us for the first time in Vancouver.

What do you like most about event photography?

It keeps me on my toes, that’s for sure, so there’s rarely a dull moment. Being launched into new situations, where I can be a fly on the wall with groups of people leading me in various directions is really exciting. Most of all, I love natural interactions, and being able to step back and tell the story of a day is a really fun job.

What are your top three must-have items when you’re out on a shoot?

A lens cloth, lip balm, and a running mental map of where the closest water stations/washrooms are.

You’ve photographed DesignThinkers for a number of years (thank you!). What are you looking forward to about DesignThinkers Vancouver?

I’m so happy to be a part of the event again. This will be my first one in Vancouver, so I’m eager to experience the vibe over here! Over the years, I’ve seen some great speakers and met interesting attendees, so if it’s anything similar, I know I’ll have this to look forward to!

See more of Connie’s work on her website and Instagram.

Click each workshop for the full description.

May 30

How to Make Mistakes on Purpose with Laurie Rosenwald

Mmm… Typography, I Love You with Dominic Ayre RGD

Drawing Is Important: Kickstart Your Daily Drawing Habit with Tom Froese

Presentation Primer Workshop with Dominic Prevost

May 31

How to Make Mistakes on Purpose with Laurie Rosenwald

Mmm… Typography, I Love You with Dominic Ayre RGD

Reconnecting Historic Narratives through Symbols with Mustaali Raj

Improv for Designers with Diana Varma RGD

Sign up for workshops when you register for the conference. If you’re already registered for the event, email info @ rgd.ca to find out how to sign up.

Pricing: $10–$20 CAD

May 30, 8:15 to 9:15 a.m.

May 30, 12:15 to 1:15 p.m.

1. Building stronger design processes
2. The business of design: Aligning design practices with business mindsets
3. Overcoming creative burnout
4. Who isn’t at the table? Designing for diversity, equity & inclusion
5. Tell a stronger story: Strategies for effective communication and presentations

May 31, 8:15 to 9:15 a.m.

1. “Don’t you just make things pretty?”: Turning clients into design advocates
2. Me, myself and I: Succeeding as a solo practitioner
3. Good design is for everybody: Sharing accessibility tools, resources and processes
4. Work smarter, not harder: Strategies for creating great work, efficiently
5. The gentle art of feedback: How to give it and get it

May 31, 12:15 to 1:15 p.m.

1. Overcoming creative burnout
2. The power of failure: How setbacks have moved you forward
3. Futuristic fantasy to practical reality: Leveraging AI tools in the design process
4. Improving your leadership skills
5. The gentle art of feedback: How to give it and get it
6. Beautiful, creative + accessible: Strategies for accessible design

Sign up for roundtables when you register for the conference. If you’re already registered for the event, email info @ rgd.ca to find out how to sign up.

Pricing: $10 CAD

In this rapid-fire interview, RGD President Nicola Hamilton sits down with Alex Center to ask him 20 questions about design, working in the industry and everything in between. See more from Alex when he presents at DesignThinkers Vancouver this May 30–31.

Group Creative Director and design educator Dominic Prevost has created award-winning, fully-integrated campaigns for some of the world’s most notable brands. In advance of his workshop at DesignThinkers Vancouver, we asked him a few questions about delivering presentations, why we fear it so much and the lesson he learned from one of the most memorable pitches of his career.

You’re delivering a workshop at the conference called, “Presentation Primer.” Without giving too much away, what can participants expect to learn in your session? 

I’m so excited to give this workshop, I wish I had the whole day to do it. Participants can expect a fast-paced, hands-on session where we’ll go through four unique exercises meant to level up their presentation skills while also staying true to themselves (meaning no one’s going to walk away from my workshop thinking they need to sound like a corporate robot to succeed).

Why do you find creative professionals often struggle with selling, or presenting, their ideas and expertise?  

In Design School, I’d spend hours labouring over kerning and sleepless nights photoshopping my comps within an inch of their lives, because that’s what my instructors cared about. Very little attention (or guidance) was given to the art of the presentation, setting up the insights, outlining the process and doubling down on why your creative solution is the right one for the client.

Not only that, but the creative process itself is very intimate. You’ll either work by yourself or with a small team of like-minded individuals until the idea is ready to be presented to the client. But when presentation time comes, simply describing what’s on the slide just won’t cut it.

Presenting – just like kerning, or copywriting, or Bezier-curving, or front-end developing, or retouching or concepting – is an acquired skill… and the only time most creatives get to practice it is in front of a client when the stakes are the highest! No wonder creatives feel like they’re not good at it. You have to work the muscle, starting with a different mindset.

As someone who’s worked on numerous award-winning projects for high-profile clients, is there a pitch you’ve executed that you’re particularly proud of? What made it special or memorable? 

My most memorable pitches always begin with a team of amazing people who are all committed to creating work we can be proud of, whether we win it or not. One such pitch was over a decade ago during my time at Sid Lee where we were pitching for the Diesel global account.

The process was intense and relentless. Multiple creative teams from both the Paris and Montreal offices came together to create a massive campaign that was funny, weird and forward-thinking (in an Instagram before Instagram kind of way).  We made it to the final round, gave it everything we had… and then months later, Anomaly released Diesel’s iconic ‘Be Stupid’ campaign, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes. So yeah, we may have lost the pitch, but we lost it to the best creative of the year.

I still look at the pitch deck from time to time because it was completely wild, because we almost pulled it off, and also because it brings back fond memories of late nights brainstorming with colleagues who are still dear friends more than a decade later.

You’ve worked in-house and in agencies all over the world. What do you love most about the creative industry in Vancouver?

I love Vancouver. It’s a super interesting city full of momentum and creative opportunities (cool tech startups, lifestyle companies, creative shops with global aspirations) with the same West Coast creative vibe as LA or SF, without the pretenses and a lot more bike lanes. 

What are you most looking forward to about coming to DesignThinkers Vancouver? 

I’m itching to connect with old friends and colleagues as well as meeting new like-minded creatives and leaders. I’m looking forward to being challenged, inspired and going “ooooohhhh” and “ahhhhhhhh.”

Dominic’s workshop takes place on May 30 at 3:15 p.m. Pre-register for this workshop when you register for the conference.

With the support of our sponsors, the RGD is awarding eight scholarships to emerging designers to attend DesignThinkers Vancouver this May 30–31.

Student RGDs, Junior Affiliates and Provisional RGDs were invited to submit their social good work for an opportunity to win a scholarship to the conference

Sponsors 123w, Hangar 18, Pendo, Pound & Grain, PS&Co, Rethink, Roodenburg Design and Will Creative each provided $500 for each winner to use to cover their costs to attend.

Bella Sanchez Student RGD (awarded by Rethink)

Cali Martin Student RGD (awarded by Roodenburg Design)

Christina Tran Student RGD (awarded by PS&Co)

Ellie Kim Student RGD (awarded by Pendo)

Grace Abbey Provisional RGD (awarded by Pound & Grain)

Matteo Ferralasco Student RGD (awarded by 123w)

Melissa (Nhung) Pham Student RGD (awarded by Hangar 18)

Yas Fakhr Provisional RGD (awarded by Will Creative)

Design educators and researchers are invited to attend the Design Educators Conference at Capilano University on June 1.

Organized in collaboration with Capilano University, the 2023 conference theme is Question Tomorrow.

Whether it’s the democratization of tools, constantly-evolving technologies, A.I.-generated content or the uncompromising vision of a new world by younger generations – the world of design is in rapid flux. This leaves design educators challenged to prepare students for a future full of uncertainty.

This year’s Design Educator Conference will that address the future of design education. How can we create authentic, vibrant learning experiences for design students? How do we develop the skills they may need in the future? What can we embed into the curriculum to best prepare students?

Combined tickets are available if you’re interested in coming to both DesignThinkers Vancouver and the Educators Conference.

Registration is now open.

Roundtables

Engage in conversations, learn and grow through the experience of your peers during morning and lunch roundtable discussions on May 30 & 31. Sign-up when you register for the conference. Topics include:

• Building stronger design processes
• Overcoming creative burnout
• Who isn’t at the table? Designing for diversity, equity & inclusion
• The business of design: Aligning design practices with business mindsets
• Champagne taste on a beer budget: Doing more with less
• “Don’t you just make things pretty?”: Turning clients into design advocates
• Imposter syndrome who? Gaining confidence in your skills and abilities
• Me, myself and I: Succeeding as a solo practitioner
• The gentle art of feedback: How to give it and get it
• The power of failure: How setbacks have moved you forward

Marketplace and pop-up stores
Delegates can connect with exhibitors and see, feel, sample, test and consider the latest products and service offerings available to our industry in the Designer Marketplace. We will also be hosting a bunch of Canadian vendors and pop-up stores selling paper products, typographic goods, home products, ceramics, textiles and more.

Toronto-based Issues magazine shop that carries hard-to-find, independent magazines from around the world will also have a booth at the Designer Marketplace.

Local vendors interested in selling their products can email [email protected] to find out more.

Northeastern University Campus Tour & Lunch
Interested in learning more about how Northeastern University’s graduate programs can help you take the next step in your career? Their MS in Information Design and Data Visualization will strengthen your STEM skills and help you become a skilled collaborator in a dynamic and evolving interdisciplinary field. Sign-up for lunch and a campus tour (a short walk from the conference venue), taking place on May 31 (12-1 pm) while registering for the conference to take in the view of the Vancouver skyline and mountains and chat with their team.

Love a scavenger hunt? Let us know if you’d like to be to a part of one while registering for the conference! You are also welcome to attend the delegate party on May 30 at The Portside Pub for food, drink and conversations. Guest tickets are available for purchase.

View the full list of presentations and workshops here.

Design Educators Conference (Post-conference)
The 2023 conference will take place on June 1 at Capilano University. This year’s conference will that address the future of design education. How can we create authentic, vibrant learning experiences for design students? How do we develop the skills they may need in the future? What can we embed into the curriculum to best prepare students? Confirmed speakers include Debbie Millman and Marian Bantjes.

To get notified when registration opens, click here.