DesignThinkers TO: Day One
Here I sit at DesignThinkers Toronto waiting for Michelle Dougherty to take the stage. Attending a large design-centric conference like this seemed like something outside my grasp up until recently when a friend and mentor, April Condon asked if I would be interested in accompanying her and the company I work for, Discover Charlottetown generously invested in my future with them and sent me to attend.
April and I in all our design inspo glory!
Its the Scholastic Book Fair of my childhood designed for my adult self!
So far today I've listened to greats such as Bruno Maag, Emily Cohen, Bonnie Seigler, and now as I continue writing this - Michelle Dougherty.
Over the past few years, about 7, I've taken a lot more notice in film and opening title sequences as a result of attending Interactive Multimedia. Some that I've gone googly-eyed over are Anne with an E, True Detective, Boardwalk Empire, and West World. So I was jazzed to discover that Michelle and her team at Imaginary Forces created half of these! And Stranger Things *mind blown*.
Up next is a lightning talk from Angela Bains about diversity in the design industry, followed by Alex Center's talk on creating brands with cult followings.
Honestly, Angela Bains' 10-minute lightning talk deserved so much more time. While her message was strong and she did a beautiful job of delivering it - the subject is very important.
Alex Center's keynote started out humorous and high energy, poking fun at himself and pumping popular music - but this gave way to his main message; caring is the key to success. Care about others, care about yourself, and take your time. Alex is a cool guy! After 11 years working with Coca-Cola on products such as vitaminwater, Powerade, and smartwater - I was relieved to hear this was his primary takeaway.
After a long and inspiring day, I'm left anticipating tomorrow's presentations! Stay tuned - first up, Michael Bierut!
Just some of the amazing details RGD put into the conference. Anyone who knows me knows how much I enjoy both bathroom AND design humour!