DesignThinkers Podcast

My guest this week is Grace Hwang. Up until very recently, Grace was working at Microsoft as Partner Director of Device Research + Design. That role encompassed Device Design, Mixed Reality hardware and software, Accessibility, and Sustainability. She believes in the power of human-centered design to cultivate positive change in people, systems, and society—and she brought that belief to that role. In this conversation, we talk about our responsibility as designers, the future of computing, and the ways we bring our own behaviours into our work.

Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

This week’s guest is the one and only Sagi Haviv. Sagi is a partner and designer at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv—a firm responsible for some of the most famous logos of all time. Their clients include Chase Bank, NBC, State Farm, OBS, NYU, Animal Planet and the US Open to name a few. Sagi also teaches Visual Identity Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York and has penned a couple of books on the topic of identity design. It’s his dedication to crafting beautiful symbols and his deep knowledge of brands that have made Sagi a compelling DesignThinkers speaker. In this episode, we talk about his early career working under legends Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar, what it means to design a logo today and why presentations are so valuable for our clients.

Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

Welcome to the DesignThinkers Podcast! Join host and RGD President, Nicola Hamilton as she digs into the archives of the DesignThinkers conference, reconnecting with past speakers about their talks and ideas that have shaped Canada's largest graphic design conference.

Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

This week, I sit down with designer, lettering artist, and muralist Lauren Hom. Lauren is best known for turning her passion projects into thriving design businesses. Over the past decade, Lauren has created work for clients like Vans, Target, Google, and Adobe. I’m catching Lauren at the tail end of her most recent side quest: a year-long adventure into the culinary arts. Lauren talks about balancing culinary school with her freelance practice and shares some tactics for committing to personal projects and building creative confidence.

Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

My guest this week is graphic designer and writer Chip Kidd. At Alfred A. Knopf—where he has worked for over 38 years—Chip has designed thousands of book covers. A writer as well, Chip has authored two novels—‘The Cheese Monkeys’ and ‘The Learners’, both national bestsellers. His bio also includes lines like: He was an extra in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ and an answer on Jeopardy in 2002. In this episode, we talk at length about designing book covers. We get into why Chip got into books in the first place, what his process looks like and all the trends he’s avoiding. We also talk about loss and the ways it does or doesn’t affect your creativity. This one is pretty special.

Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.