A hundred times each day I see that red RGD rectangle with its white type on my RGD certificate that hangs next to my office door. A hundred times each day I feel a sense of pride at being a graphic designer. The RGD designation reminds me that I am part of something bigger, I’m a seasoned professional with a responsibility to be an advocate for this industry.

Being an RGD is one more way for me to give back to the industry that has shaped my life. My best friends are graphic designers, I met my wife at design school, my eldest daughter is a designer and my youngest daughter is in her second year of a digital media design program.

My most memorable would have to be a fringe event from a DesignThinkers, years ago at UMBRA in Toronto–where I talked design with so many people across so many industries.

I appreciate all of the touch points I have with RGD, sometimes subtle - a graphic or an article in RGD Word might inspire me. Sometimes all-encompassing - an event like DesignThinkers makes me question my direction or change a process and generally make me work differently.

I think that becoming a designer was a calling rather than a choice. It’s often said that what you do for a living does not define you–this does not hold true for graphic designers and definitely not for those of us who are RGD.

Designers bring more to a business than esthetics. It's passion, dedication, innovation and leadership combined with professional communications skills that make a designer valuable to a company.

Five years from now I see myself having an impact on more people within the company and having the ability to inspire more of these people to inject solid design thinking principles into the products we create, the services we provide and the overall company persona.