Are We Having Fun Yet?

Portland Design Thinkers are excited to welcome Rodney Echols: Are We Having Fun Yet? Finding Joy In Your Design Career

Rodney will introduce his BRIGHT framework—a practical methodology for cultivating joy and preventing burnout in design work. Using design thinking principles, he transformed his UX expertise into wellness tools that address the unique challenges creative professionals face, offering actionable techniques that go beyond typical self-care advice.

This interactive session blends design methodology with mental health strategies, featuring Rodney's signature humor and proven techniques for maintaining creative passion. You'll learn to apply UX principles to your own wellbeing through real-world case studies and contribute to discussions about sustainable creativity, walking away with frameworks you can implement immediately.

About Rodney Echols:
A curious creative entrepreneur and certified Design Thinking facilitator, Rodney also holds a certification as a remote meeting humor professional from the same instructor who teaches humor psychology at Stanford University's post-graduate program.

In 2021, he founded a project called workgameperk.com as an outlet for his work-life neglect during the pandemic. A very busy minded UX and product designer the project has kept him busy as thought leader for wellbeing for creatives. Some highlights include the "Wellmade Podcast" - a series setting boundaries for self-care, he created digital projects (such as the biggest Self-care activity list on the internet, the BRIGHT framework for boredom, and "Do you know Joey": methods for joy at work) remote workshops. Now the project focuses on combining his longtime dream of being on a TV game show with his love for gamification and virtual events.

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PDT is a volunteer-run Oregon nonprofit organization, and as you can imagine, organizing events can be expensive. We rely on sponsors and donations to help us offset these costs. If you would like to help, we accept donations through Venmo @PortlandDesignThinkers.