The Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario are wrapping up their Design Thinkers conference today, and the Canadian Writers Group helped make it another successful industry event. As the RGD's official content sponsor, CWG contributed heavily to the conference's materials. The agency's writers had a big hand in crafting the Design Thinkers blog and in key materials like the conference guide that every attendee received.

The bulk of the conference took place November 2 and 3 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, comprising nine keynote presentations and a couple dozen "breakout sessions," where attendees got a chance to interact with some of the industry's brightest minds. We attended one such session with writer, designer, publisher, and developer Craig Mod, who spoke about the design issues around e-books. Mod asked how readers can connect emotionally with e-books and noted that book covers online are increasingly becoming thumbnail-sized icons, losing their role as images meant to intrigue and draw in readers. He also predicted that, with the rise of e-books, printed art books will continue to become more beautiful as objects, while trade paperbacks will end up in publishing history's dustbin (cue groans from a group of Harlequin book designers across the room). Mod's discussion made the future of the book seem equally exciting and uncertain. Anyone curious about the topic should check out his website.

If there's one thing that Design Thinkers drove home for us, though, it's that successful publishing comes from designers and content creators who not only collaborate but also understand each other's work and its challenges. Such partnerships, like CWG and RGD's, will be essential as the publishing industry adapts to an increasingly digital world.