Ask an RGD is a new initiative developed by RGD's Provisional Committee, to provide advice from RGD professionals to emerging designers.

Ask an RGD is a short video series where Members pose personal first-person questions to established RGDs. The initiative is built around the idea of Rookie Magazine's "Ask A Grown" with the same sort of off-the-cuff style responses.

With member-submitted questions, we hope that the initiative will allow these tough, "hard to ask" questions to surface and result in genuine answers that will benefit the many other designers who are mulling over similar issues.

The plan is to post 2-4 responses per month. To submit a question, email or tweet using the hashtag #AskAnRGD. (If you an RGD interested in answering a question, you can also email.)

Recent videos: 

Question: I have lots of entrepreneurial friends starting cool businesses who keep asking me to provide design services as a favour. I have a hard time saying no and I want to help them out, but I can't afford to do free work right now. How do I navigate this? 

Answer from Lionel Gadoury RGD, Context Creative

Ask An RGD with Lionel Gadoury RGD, Principal of Context Creative from RGD on Vimeo.

Question: The work that I am creating at my current job as a designer isn't very creative or portfolio-worthy. Is it okay to create fake clients and project briefs in order to build a more robust portfolio?  

Answer from Paddy Harrington RGD, Frontier

Ask an RGD with Paddy Harrington RGD, Founder, Frontier from RGD on Vimeo.

Question: My coworkers don't always go through my manager, and even when they do, my manager is terrible at giving direction. What strategies would you suggest for organizing tasks and project requests in a corporate office? 

Answer from Wendy Millard RGD, Empire Life

Ask An RGD with Wendy Millard RGD, Manager, Design Services at Empire Life from RGD on Vimeo.

See our full archive of Ask an RGD videos here.