Ideas worth thinking about (and making)

I went to a design conference this week and came away thinking about more than design… politics, identity, entrepreneurship, fashion, and what makes an idea worth sharing.

DesignThinkers, hosted by the RGD, has been part of my life since my student days at OCAD University. I’ve been an RGD member since then, and even as my work has expanded into different areas, I still love having this in my ecosystem. You can find a quick recap post here on LinkedIn with photos, but you’ll get the learnings below.

Last year’s edition of this event felt like a meaningful reconnection. This year emphasized that there’s always someone new to learn from, an unexpected perspective, someone to reconnect with or an idea that comes back to the studio with me.

One of the slides I had to take a photo of said, “I decided to study graphic design because it didn’t involve math.” It couldn’t be more relatable… I remember convincing my parents I’d be okay in my career and education if I didn’t continue with the highest level math classes through grade 12.

The conversations at this design conference, however, went well beyond what most of us attendees originally signed up to study in our graphic design programs.

What’s worth scaling?

One question from Jason Boyer’s presentation really stuck out to me:

His session, The Abundance Paradox, explored what happens when brands can produce more content, more efficiently, while attention and meaningful connection remain difficult to earn.

This connects directly to what I wrote about in last week’s newsletter, Hold that thought… protecting the original idea and making sure there’s actually something worth saying.

I run a content company and a branding practice. Helping people capture their expertise clearly, and share it consistently, is a big part of my work. So I’m interested in the tools and processes that make that possible.

But I also spend a lot of time asking questions, listening, and helping people figure out which experiences and insights could be useful to someone else.
That thinking needs room in the process.

When it becomes easier to make another video, another campaign, or another dozen versions of something, we still have to ask why someone would care. What are we helping them understand? What experience are we drawing from? Is there an idea here that deserves more attention?

Your perspective comes from somewhere

Guillermo Flores Pacheco’s talk connected creativity with culture and place. He described stepping away from global design trends and returning to the visual language of Guadalajara, Mexican folklore, and his family’s musical background. That personal connection helped shape work that reached a global audience.

Something he shared ahead of the conference, with the term “hyperlocality” that he covered in his talk:

I think there’s something useful in that for anyone trying to find their voice.

We have so much access to other people’s work that it’s easy to keep looking outward for the next idea:

What’s trending? What’s performing?
What does everyone else seem to be doing?

Meanwhile, we each have a particular combination of experiences, communities, interests and places that influence how we see things.

For me, the connections between branding, education, entrepreneurship and social impact are where so many of the interesting questions come from. A conversation in a classroom can change how I explain something to a client. Something I learn from a nonprofit leader can influence how I think about building a business.
(And I share some of that with you in this newsletter every week).

Those connections are worth paying attention to.
They’re part of what we bring to the work.

Creative work has a place in bigger conversations

Edel Rodriguez brought another perspective on the relationship between lived experience and creative expression. He connected his family’s escape from Cuba, his upbringing, and the role art can play in speaking for people at significant moments in history.

He had some really powerful visuals, drawing attention to real, serious issues.

It’s a reminder of how much a visual can carry: a political position, an experience, a warning, or something people have struggled to put into words.

I care about the connection between creativity and social impact, and this is one of the reasons. The decisions we make about what to show, whose experiences to include, and how to communicate an issue can affect whether people pay attention or feel represented.

A design conference makes room for those conversations because creative work exists within the world around it. The people making it bring their histories and beliefs with them. The people seeing it do, too.

An idea can become something you didn’t expect

I loved Temi Coker’s jacket and shirt designs.

Seeing his work move from graphic design into fashion made me think about how much possibility there is in an idea once you give yourself a chance to explore it fully.

Make It Exist was his topic where he explored personal projects and the opportunities that can grow from making something before there’s a client asking for it. I know for most of us it’s not easy to fully pursue your own ideas, and one slide included this line, credited to @sheistiffaniem on Threads:

“Beginning is how you start creating the proof.”

We often want evidence that an idea will work before we invest time in it. But sometimes making the first version is how we find out what it could become.

Temi’s work also made me think about the limits we put around our skills. You learn a discipline, build experience, and become known for a particular kind of work. Then an idea comes along that could take you into another medium or industry.

There’s value in letting yourself explore that. Your experience comes with you, even when the format changes.

Also, I really want to wear these pieces he designed…

There’s no “right way” to do this

Adam J. Kurtz had that sentence on a bright yellow slide, and yes I took photos of lots of his slides. Been following him for many, many years now, and we’ve met up in Toronto and NYC in the past. Now, he lives in Hawaii and opened a gift shop in addition to his writing and other art.

His talk brought together personal expression, making a living, and navigating the unexpected turns of a creative career. Adam left us with set of questions, for those asking “now what?” when you’re considering an idea or personal project:

• Is it fun and interesting?

• Does it help other people?

• Can I realistically pull this off?

• Does it generate income?

• Who might I work with?

• Does this have room to grow?

As someone who has started a few businesses and projects and always has another idea somewhere in my notes, I appreciate this (and of course, bought his book to add to my collection). Enjoyment belongs in the conversation. So do feasibility and income. Helping people matters, and so does considering who you want to spend your time working with.

Having all of those questions together is a good start. It gives us a more complete way to consider an opportunity, including what it could contribute to our lives and the lives of others.

Making room for the unexpected

The DesignThinkers speakers come from different places, work in different ways, and bring perspectives that reach into so many parts of life.

Across the sessions, I kept finding connections: between culture and originality, creative expression and social responsibility, personal projects and business opportunities, better tools and the thinking behind them.

Whether you call yourself a designer, an entrepreneur, an educator, or something that takes a few more words to explain, it’s all relevant and intersects.

I’ll keep making room for experiences where I don’t know exactly what can be taken away. A new speaker, a different room, a conversation outside my usual work. There’s often something there that wouldn’t be obvious to look for.

Think about something outside your usual industry/field that has changed how you think about your own work.

I’ll be over here connecting dots.