DesignThinkers Podcast

This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Peter Smart. Chief Experience Officer and Managing Partner at Fantasy. Based in the Bay Area, Fantasy is a creative partner behind some of the world’s most widely used digital products. Working with companies like Disney, Nike, Spotify, Netflix, Meta, and Google.
In this conversation, Peter shares how he’s thinking about the next shift in digital product design. One where fixed interfaces and screen based experiences may no longer be the default. We talk about what happens when products become more dynamic and more personalized. How AI is reshaping the relationships between brands and users, and why designers may need to redefine their own value.
We also get into some of the trends Peter is seeing and why he  thinks the most important thing designers can do right now is zoom out. To look beyond the tools, understand where value is shifting, and rethink what they’re really designing.
This episode is for anyone trying to make sense of where design is heading. Maybe you’re early in your career or leading a team or simply wondering how to stay relevant in a moment that seems to be changing every single day.
 Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Nu Goteh, founder of  Room for Magic and co-founder of Deem Journal.
Nu’s path into design isn’t a straight line. He started out making graphics on early internet platforms, spent over a decade working in marketing for brands like Puma, Red Bull, and Sonos, and eventually returned to design through a deeper set of questions—about power, participation, and how he wanted to show up in the world.
In this conversation, we talk about what it really means to design with communities—not just for them—and why that work often comes down to time, trust, and budget. We get into the limits of performative “purpose,” the realities of working with clients, and how design can move beyond outputs to shaping systems.
We also talk about Deem Journal: a print publication that explores design as a social practice. We discuss why print as a medium still matters, especially as a way to document, archive, and expand what we consider to be design.
This episode is for anyone thinking more critically about their role as a designer—whether you’re early in your career or rethinking what your practice is really in service of.

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

Emmi Salonen is a Finnish graphic designer and art director whose work spans editorial design, visual identity, publishing, and exhibition graphics. She often works with cultural and institutional clients, bringing a thoughtful, systems-driven approach to typography and structure—with just enough play to keep things interesting.
Beyond the systems and the structure, Emmi has long been thinking about something deeper: the conditions that allow creative work to be sustainable over time.
Her new book, The Creative Wellbeing Handbook, explores creativity not as a lightning strike or a productivity hack, but as an ecosystem: something that needs tending to.
In this conversation, we talk about burnout, systems, slowness, education, and what it really means to protect your creative energy in an industry that often demands constant output. We also talk about typography, control, joy, and the small signals we ignore when we’re pushing too hard.
This episode is for anyone who loves design—and wants to keep loving it.

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

This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Elizabeth Goodspeed. Elizabeth is an independent designer, art director, writer, and educator oscillating between Providence, Rhode Island and New York City. Her work riffs on history and visual culture in ways that feel both smart and weirdly intimate. She’s a devoted generalist: branding, packaging, book & editorial design. She’s also known for her sharp writing on the culture of design as the American editor-at-large for It’s Nice That.
In this conversation, Elizabeth shares how her fascination with archives and ephemera became a creative method. We talk about how you can use design history without getting stuck in nostalgia, why research can be a powerful tool for original thinking, and what it means to design when you think in words before images. We also explore her approach to teaching, the value of slow craft, and how paying closer attention to the visual world around us can change the way we work.
This episode is for anyone who wants to build more depth into their practice. Whether you’re trying to move beyond trends, develop a stronger point of view, or simply learn how to turn curiosity into compelling creative work.
Let’s get into it. 
 Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.

This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Pali Palavathanan, co-founder and creative director of Templo. Based in London, Templo is a purpose-led design studio known for bringing creativity and activism together—working with clients like the UN, Amnesty International, and GF Smith, alongside grassroots organizations fighting for justice around the world.

In this conversation, Pali shares how his own experiences as a refugee shaped his desire to build a different kind of studio. We talk about what it means to take on projects where the stakes are as high as arresting war criminals or tackling corruption. We also talk about how to balance activism with commercial work, the importance of instinct in choosing clients, and why he believes design is both a privilege and a responsibility.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever wondered how design can drive real change—whether you’re looking to make your practice more purposeful, thinking about the ethics of the clients you take on, or simply curious about what it looks like to build a studio where values lead the way.
 Follow us on Instagram @rgdcanada or visit us online at rgd.ca. Purchase tickets to the upcoming DesignThinkers conference at designthinkers.com.