RGD’s Toronto DesignThinkers Conference attracts world-class design leaders and communicators

This year’s DesignThinkers Conference, Canada’s largest conference for visual communicators hosted by the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD), will include design leaders and keynote speakers from Vanity Fair, BuzzFeed, Oscar-winning The Grand Budapest Hotel, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and more. The annual conference will take place Thursday, November 12 and Friday, November 13 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts located at 1 Front Street East in downtown Toronto.
Now in its 16th year, DesignThinkers 2015 will delve into industry trends and innovations with visionaries from a range of communications-related disciplines. These include design, user experience, advertising, branding, consumer engagement, film, social media and entrepreneurship. Sessions teach delegates how to create effective communications by exploring innovation, technology, demographic and ethnographic trends, strategic management techniques, cognitive theories and much more.

A renowned line-up of thought-provoking speakers will include:

• Coralie Bickford-Smith, book jacket designer for The Odyssey, Little Women, the Sherlock Holmes series and more.
• Cap Watkins, BuzzFeed’s first-ever VP of Design.
• Annie Atkins, lead graphic designer for Oscar-winning The Grand Budapest Hotel.
• Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Chris Dixon, Design Director, Vanity Fair.
• Robin Hunicke, co-founder, Funomena Gaming Studio.
• Manuel Lima, Design Lead, Codecademy & Founder, VisualComplexity.com.
• Austin Kleon, best-selling author of Steal Like An Artist.
• Hjalti Karlsson, co-founder, karlssonwilker inc.
• Karim Rashid, world-renowned interior and industrial designer.
• Art Chantry, poster designer and creator of the Grunge Style.
• Nathalie Nahai, Web Psychologist.
• Frank Chimero, author and founder, Another.
• Lucy Holmes, wayfinding and information graphics designer, Holmes Wood.

Early Bird rates end October 9 and organizations who send 5 or more employees to the DesignThinkers 2015 conference will be recognized for their commitment to professional development and creativity.
Discounts are also available for groups of 3 or more from the same organization, individuals working for non-profits, and members of many professional associations. Full details and registration information are available at www.designthinkers.com.