DesignThinkers Podcast

• Adam JK on Embracing Imperfection

  This is our last episode of the season—and what a high to go out on! Adam JK is a Toronto-born, Honolulu-based artist whose illustrative work is rooted in honesty, humour and a little bit of darkness. His books and journals, including Things Are What You Make of Them, have sold over a million copies in 20 languages worldwide. Obsessed with aphorisms and ephemera, Adam's work seeks to craft new reminders from familiar sources, offering his brand of "back-handed optimism" as a token of encouragement and camaraderie for other creative, emotional and deeply human people. Our conversation takes us to all kinds of places. We talk about big transitions that span our personal and professional lives. We talk about downswings in our lives and the ways the Internet has ruined the experience of making things. We talk about reclaiming a sense of purpose in our lives—and how we’ve accidentally learned a lot along the journey of making and doing things. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

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• Eva Cremers on Finding Your Own Way

  This week, I’m sharing my conversation with Eva Cremers. Eva might be a new name for our DesignThinkers audience! She’s a 3-D artist and animation director from The Netherlands. Eva blends her playful, graphic CGI style with her own graphic design sensibility to create charming, joyful worlds for a growing list of global clients including H&M, Meta, Amazon Music, Apple and Samsung. In this episode, Eva tells me how she sort of fell into 3-D animation as she familiarized herself with Cinema 4D in preparation for her first internship. She shares the ways her developing skill set actually gave her constraints for developing her signature style and how she still feels a sense of overwhelming joy when a cool, new project request lands in her inbox. We spend some time talking about Generative AI too. As an experiment, Eva trained a model on her own work. The results were hilariously mixed. Eva and I spent a bit of time catching up before we hit record, so we’re diving right into this conversation without any of the usual greetings. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

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• Vincent Wanga on Audacious Creative Leadership

  This week, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you, our DesignThinkers audience to Vincent Wanga. Vince is new to the DesignThinkers universe. He’ll be joining us on stage in Vancouver next month to talk about creative audacity. Vince is one of those multi-hyphenates—In this episode, we joke that “I do a lot of things” is our shared tagline. He runs a couple of different businesses and has his hands in a myriad of projects. For the purposes of our conversation, Vince is a design leader, a serial entrepreneur and brand consultant. As former VP and head of creative for one of the fastest-growing technology start-ups in North America, he oversaw corporate brand strategy and creative during a period of unprecedented growth. He was with the company from before their Series A to their achievement of a $1 billion “unicorn” valuation. But what Vince is most passionate about right now is creative leadership. In this episode, we dive into his career trajectory. We talk about overcoming adversity, the delusional optimism that he’s gained from those tough experiences and how valuable that delusion can be for entrepreneurs. We also talk about what it means to become a good creative leader and how those leaders should be thinking about new technologies like AI. Enjoy this one! Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

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• Catalina Estrada on Creating for Change

  This week, I’m sharing my conversation with Catalina Estrada. Catalina is a Colombian illustrator now based in Barcelona. She reinterprets Latin American folklore and expertly documents the natural world in her stunning, and extremely colourful, artwork and patterns. Catalina has worked for major brands like Disney, Netflix and Coca-Cola but she’s also done heaps of self-initiated work for a host of global causes. In this episode we talk about her transition from design into illustration—a story that’s full of childlike curiosity and moments of kismet—and the ways her signature style has evolved over the years. My favourite bit is near the end, where Catalina talks about the value of active patience for creative people. She’s not the kind of patience where you sit on the couch quietly, but instead the kind of patience where you diligently do the work until something magic unfolds.  Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

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• Carson Ting on Making Career Moves

  This week’s guest is illustrator, art director and fine artist Carson Ting. Carson kicked off his career in Toronto before moving across the country for a dream job at Rethink. Today, Carson is best known as an artist and founder of Chairman Ting. He’s a bit of a legend in Vancouver, where his murals are plentiful and on occasion span entire city blocks. I’m catching up with Carson on the heels of a career reset. While Chairman Ting isn’t going anywhere, he’s doubling down on his fine art practice. We talk about his transition from advertising to fine art, his distaste for client feedback, and how much he loves the kind of procrastination that manifests as play. Plus, I ask him about the role bunnies have played in his life and work—something he’ll be talking more about in his DesignThinkers workshop, titled “Great designers don’t just create; they leave a mark”. Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

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