DesignThinkers Podcast

The Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD)
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Design
  • Updated Weekly

From the Association of Registered Graphic Designers, this is the DesignThinkers podcast.  DesignThinkers is Canada's largest graphic design conference. Since the year 2000, the Association of Registered Graphic Designers has been bringing together visionaries from a range of disciplines to explore creativity and the design process live and on-stage.  This podcast is an extension of that mission. We’re here to talk about process, creativity and the business of design with past and present DesignThinkers speakers. Join our host, Nicola Hamilton, for candid conversation with creative legends such as Erin Sarofsky, Michael Beirut, Paul Scher, Gail Anderson, Meg Lewis, Christopher Doyle, and so many more. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

  1. Aug 5

    Edel Rodriguez on the Risk of Staying Quiet

    Edel Rodriguez refuses to be small or quiet. He’s the illustrator behind some of the most recognizable political images of the last decade. That 2016 cover for TIME Magazine, the one of Donald Trump melting down: that was Edel. The Der Spiegel cover of Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty. Also Edel. At this point, he's produced more than 300 images of a single, very orange, subject. As a kid who grew up in a country where saying the wrong thing about the wrong leader was dangerous, Edel has spent his career speaking up. In this conversation, Edel talks about hustling his way into an art director at just 26 years old. We talk about how that experience informed his editorial illustration process. We talk about how social media is a great place to share the kind of work you want to be making and to rally interest until someone notices. We get into how he wrote his graphic memoir Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey backwards, designing the cover years before he wrote a word. We talk about how the book's ending—a visual rhyme between the events in Havana in January 1959 and the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021—came together at the very last minute. He talks candidly about why he refuses to self-censor, why he's not tired of the Trump-based work, and why the question he'd most want to ask himself in twenty years isn't about politics at all. This episode is for illustrators, designers, and anyone else who's been told to play it safe—and isn't sure they want to. Hear Edel speak at the DesignThinkers conference, Canada's premier design conference, in Toronto and online this October 20–21, 2026.  Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

    Edel Rodriguez on the Risk of Staying Quiet

  2. Jul 22

    Temi Coker on Starting Before You're Asked

    This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Temi Coker. A Dallas based designer, photographer and the multidisciplinary artist behind Coker Studio. Temi’s client list includes Adobe, Apple, Google, HBO, Peloton and The Oscars. But almost none of it started with a client brief, it started with a self assigned poster a day challenge in 2016 made for no one but himself. And it led Temi to a belief that you should be making creative work just to make it.  In this conversation, we trace that thread through his whole career, from a stint studying biomedical engineering to please his parents, to pursuing digital media for himself, from making a pillow because his wife thought his work would look good in people’s homes to a full fledged home collection at Walmart. From teaching photography and design at his former high school, so that students would have a model of what a Black creative professional looks like to finding the nerve to ask the Academy if he could steep his Oscars statuette artwork in Black history. This episode is for anyone with an idea sitting quietly in their mind, something they haven’t started yet. Temi’s whole career is proof that the things you make for yourself are often the things that end up mattering the most. Hear Temi speak at the DesignThinkers conference, Canada's premier design conference, in Toronto and online this October 20–21, 2026.  Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

    Temi Coker on Starting Before You're Asked

  3. Jun 3

    Live Recording with Dalit Shalom

    This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Dalit Shalom. Dalit is the Director of Product Design at The New York Times where she oversees the creation of new formats, spaces and tools that advance the future of storytelling. She also leads Design and Strategy for various work streams for the company's AI initiates, having previously focused on trust and credibility by developing features that clarify Times journalism for its readers.  An educator as well as a practitioner, Dalit also teaches design thinking classes at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering and ITP. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

    Live Recording with Dalit Shalom

  4. May 20

    Kenjiro Kirton on How Design Doesn’t (Only) Happen at a Desk

    This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Kenjiro Kirton. Ken is the co-founder and creative director of HATO, the London- and Hong Kong-based publishing house, design studio and concept store known for its playful, research-driven approach to culture, branding and digital experiences. His work moves fluidly between publishing, interaction, retail, and storytelling, often blurring the line between design practice and everyday life. In this conversation, we talk about what happens when design escapes the boundaries of the studio—when research becomes fiction, when process becomes play and when creative practice becomes something lived rather than simply produced. We also get into the value of iteration and experimentation, the similarities between cooking and design, building participatory creative communities, and why some of the most meaningful creative work happens along the soft edges between disciplines. This episode is for designers who are interested in expanding everything design—and the design studio—can be. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

    Kenjiro Kirton on How Design Doesn’t (Only) Happen at a Desk

  5. May 6

    Ariane Spanier on Typography as Visual Voice

    This week on the DesignThinkers Podcast, I’m joined by Ariane Spanier, a Berlin-based designer whose work sits at the intersection of typography, culture, and editorial design. Ariane has built a practice working closely with cultural institutions—museums, publications, and artists—where design isn’t just about communication, but about interpretation. She’s also the creative director and co-editor of Fukt, an annual magazine dedicated to contemporary drawing, known for its experimental and often tactile typographic covers. In this conversation, we unpack her DesignThinkers talk, Type with an Accent, and what it means to think about typography not as something neutral, but as something that carries voice, identity, and history. We talk about the tension between rules and expression, how designers develop a visual “accent,” and why your first instinct is often the most honest place to start from. We also get into her work on Fukt, and how using typography in a more physical, expressive way can shift how people experience a publication altogether. This episode is really for anyone thinking about their own voice as a designer—how it forms, how it evolves, and how to trust it. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

    Ariane Spanier on Typography as Visual Voice

  6. Apr 22

    Dr. Dee Miller on Designing Beyond Compliance

    This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Dee Miller. Director of Product Strategy and Insights for Product Equity at Adobe. Dee is a researcher and innovation leader, working at the intersection of technology, design, and equity. She's focused on turning real world insights, into products that are more accessible, usable, and culturally relevant.  In this conversation, we unpack what inclusive design actually looks like in practice, and why it's not just about compliance, but about building better more innovative products. Dee shares how her work at Adobe translates research into real product decisions. From improving accessibility features, to shaping how AI tools like Firefly are developed and deployed.  We also talk about the tension between speed and accessibility, what it takes to advocate for inclusive design inside large organizations, and why designing with communities is critical to building trust and accountability.  This episode is for anyone working in product, design, or research who wants to move beyond theory and start building experiences that truly work for more people. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

    Dr. Dee Miller on Designing Beyond Compliance

  7. Apr 8

    Peter Smart on Why Your Design Skills Still Matter in the Age of AI

    This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Peter Smart. Chief Experience Officer and Managing Partner at Fantasy. Based in the Bay Area, Fantasy is a creative partner behind some of the world’s most widely used digital products. Working with companies like Disney, Nike, Spotify, Netflix, Meta, and Google. In this conversation, Peter shares how he’s thinking about the next shift in digital product design. One where fixed interfaces and screen based experiences may no longer be the default. We talk about what happens when products become more dynamic and more personalized. How AI is reshaping the relationships between brands and users, and why designers may need to redefine their own value. We also get into some of the trends Peter is seeing and why he thinks the most important thing designers can do right now is zoom out. To look beyond the tools, understand where value is shifting, and rethink what they’re really designing. This episode is for anyone trying to make sense of where design is heading. Maybe you’re early in your career or leading a team or simply wondering how to stay relevant in a moment that seems to be changing every single day. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

    Peter Smart on Why Your Design Skills Still Matter in the Age of AI

  8. Mar 25

    Nu Goteh on Designing With Community

    This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Nu Goteh, founder of  Room for Magic and co-founder of Deem Journal. Nu’s path into design isn’t a straight line. He started out making graphics on early internet platforms, spent over a decade working in marketing for brands like Puma, Red Bull, and Sonos, and eventually returned to design through a deeper set of questions—about power, participation, and how he wanted to show up in the world. In this conversation, we talk about what it really means to design with communities—not just for them—and why that work often comes down to time, trust, and budget. We get into the limits of performative “purpose,” the realities of working with clients, and how design can move beyond outputs to shaping systems. We also talk about Deem Journal: a print publication that explores design as a social practice. We discuss why print as a medium still matters, especially as a way to document, archive, and expand what we consider to be design. This episode is for anyone thinking more critically about their role as a designer—whether you’re early in your career or rethinking what your practice is really in service of. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

    Nu Goteh on Designing With Community
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Trailers

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
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About

From the Association of Registered Graphic Designers, this is the DesignThinkers podcast.  DesignThinkers is Canada's largest graphic design conference. Since the year 2000, the Association of Registered Graphic Designers has been bringing together visionaries from a range of disciplines to explore creativity and the design process live and on-stage.  This podcast is an extension of that mission. We’re here to talk about process, creativity and the business of design with past and present DesignThinkers speakers. Join our host, Nicola Hamilton, for candid conversation with creative legends such as Erin Sarofsky, Michael Beirut, Paul Scher, Gail Anderson, Meg Lewis, Christopher Doyle, and so many more. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

Information

  • Creator
    The Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD)
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    65
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Association of Registered Graphic Designers
  • Show Website
    DesignThinkers Podcast

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