The second week of RGD’s annual DesignThinkers Conference showed us the path forward; designing with passion, purpose and positivity.

Here are some takeaways from presentations and discussions over our second week. Check out more on social media using the hashtag #rgdDT.

“A lot of your success as a freelancer comes from people being invested in you as a person.”
— Jessica Hische, Lettering Artist & Author

“Part of being an artist (designers are artists) is having a particular point of view and sharing that point of view through your work.”
— Lisa Congdon, Fine Artist, Illustrator & Writer

“We have to learn and teach our companies to focus on outcomes instead of outputs.”
— Stephen Gates, Senior VP, Omni-channel Product Design, WW
(formerly Weight Watchers)

“When creating communities remember that there is a reality outside our own reality and outside our design bubble.”
— Marissa Korda, Staff Designer, Shopify

“I became truly inspired by the ways in which designers around the world have taken my fonts and made them a part of the Black Lives Matter and other movements.”
— Tré Seals, Founder, Vocal Type

“If we don’t know where our roots are or where our identity lies, how can we move forward?”
— Mark Rutledge CGD RGD, Lead Designer, Animikii Inc.

“We really need to understand if culture is helping our organization or hurting our organization. At the end of the day, culture is unspoken behavioural mindsets and social patterns.”
— Keni Thacker, Chief Diversity Creative, Keni Thacker LLC

“There’s no guarantee that the websites, news organizations, publications or social media platforms that we currently know will exist into the future, let alone preserve the massive amounts of content created for them.”
— Maurice Cherry, Principal and Creative Director, Lunch

The first week of RGD’s annual DesignThinkers Conference prompted us to reconsider our ways, the systems around us and re-imagine a better future. Below are some takeaways from presentations and discussions over our first week. Check out more on social media using the hashtag #rgdDT.

“I want to be as human as possible, I don’t want to hide, run, destroy or prove anything. I simply want to see and be seen through my work.”

— Timothy Goodman, Designer, Illustrator, Muralist & Author

“We tend to forget how many of our current ideas and attachments to the body are deeply rooted in ancient myths across cultures. These creation myths still define the way we think about our interactions, the world, other beings and social hierarchies including racism, patriarchy, individualism.”

— Galit Ariel, TechnoFuturist, Author & Creative, Future Memory Inc.

“Accessibility is a far more normalized practice than non-disabled people realize. It is any method of action, function or display that an individual uses to accommodate their mind and body. Every single person has accessible practices they use without even realizing it.”
— Jessica Oddi, Disabled Designer

“To fulfill any kind of sustainable aspirations, we have to very profoundly revisit the systems that we have built around us.”
— Benedetta Crippa, Graphic Designer, Studio Benedetta Crippa

“Multidisciplinary teaming is the currency that will drive future innovation. It gives you the ability to see the future through a multitude of different lenses of people, industries and trends.”

— Kevin Bethune, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, dreams • design + life

“Designers are consumers of visual culture and history leading us to look for things in our world and make sense of them.”

— Jessica Helfand, Artist, Designer & Writer, Design Observer