This program is open to Student RGDs only.

 

Fill out an application here. On the form, you will be asked to select your top 3 choices from the list of mentors below. We will start pairings on a first-come-first-serve basis so apply early for consideration!

 

If you have any questions, email .

Marina Beniaminov RGD, Creative Lead at TD in Toronto

Marina started her career as a magazine production artist more than 20 years ago. She is currently a Creative Lead and Scrum Master with TD developing eLearning modules. She works with various aspects of design -- from UX and UI for the automotive industry to environmental design for the Royal Ontario Museum to infographics for GE Energy. In her spare time, Marina abandons the virtual world of pixels and screens and paints on actual stretched canvasses.

Project: With Covid19 small business are failing at an alarming rate the ask is to design a brand face lift for such a business (this doesn't have to be a restaurant). The student would have to pick an existing small business and find a way to create a better presence for them online (through custom design or social media platforms) and on mobile apps. If they have time, the students can also update the business' single page (can be folded) brochure. All of this would be be done with the current brand of the business in mind. It's an exercise of working within limitations of a already existing brand and moving it into the present and creating a foundation for it to continue on in the future.

 

BOLD, Design Team in Toronto
BOLD is a group of communication and digital design companies in Toronto working with private and public sector clients for over 30 years. We are small a group of diverse professionals: designers, developers, and project managers: easy-going, creative, but serious and passionate about what we do.
Project: Brand and website design for a startup information technology product.

 

Larry Burke CGD, Principal & Creative Director of Burke & Burke in Halifax

Larry and his firm, Burke & Burke, have established a solid reputation in the areas of branding, advertising, marketing and online strategies. After more than three decades of developing effective brand strategies for others, Larry has also turned his passion and experience toward a business into which he can literally sink his teeth. Like many his age, healthy living has become a priority, and his Earthli partners have inspired him to add more exercise and adopt a low-carb diet.

Project: the development of an effective multi-faceted online and point-of-purchase ad campaign for Earthli Plant-Powered Superfoods Inc. (a socially-conscious, trademarked and incorporated Canadian health food startup.

 

Jessica Burnie, Director, Visual Communications at IPG Mediabrands in Toronto
By nature, Jessica is an artist, a designer and a communicator. With an education in Fine Arts and design, she moved quickly into the marketing and advertising space. Known for her rigorous visual standards and fascination with emerging technologies, her forté has become approaching problem-solving with outside-the-box creative strategies and an eye for aesthetics. Currently, she leads a team of in-house designers who deliver on a broad spectrum of design projects for the IPG Mediabrands network of agencies.
Project: Every year our network of agencies runs a large-scale event that brings together hundreds of our customers and well-known advertising industry sponsors. Our design team is responsible for the design of the event in all facets: logo, invitation, website, event space décor, and even the presentations themselves.
Student would design a brand from scratch within the constraints of the brief, including the challenging task of representing upwards of 7 brands with different visual styles/colour palettes–––as well as providing a handful of mockups/designs of several event elements (invitation, presentation slides, decor ideas).

Diego Casco RGD, Founder & Creative Director of CASCO in Toronto

Diego brings his creative and strategic expertise, acquired over more than 22 years, to every client project to ensure effective results. Diego’s professional and business experience has helped him develop a client roster that includes corporations, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, and small to medium-sized businesses. He understands the current business environment and how to identify opportunities for growth.

Project: a rebrand, or a touchpoint that needs to be redesigned to align with new branding guidelines.

 

David Coates RGD, Partner at Ion Brand Design in Vancouver

David is a passionate designer whose true pleasure lies in clarifying and decrypting details of complex communication problems, information, mapping and visual systems. A graduate of Emily Carr College of Art + Design, David established Ion in 1988 with partner Rod Roodenburg. David has earned hundreds of design awards, and articles about him have appeared in many international publications.  Today, David’s work is focused on design strategy in addition to the daily operations of the firm. 

Project: we are working with the BC Human Rights Commission on an identity and website.

Jennifer Cook, Creative Director at Science World in Vancouver

Jen is a designer and creative director who believes in bringing high-quality work to organizations that aim to bring positive impact to the world. At Science World, she has overseen the recent strategic brand refresh of this iconic institution that was launched this past December. 

Possible Projects:

- Mock up a redesign of one of our existing sub-brand web pages (would limit this to just 1-2 pages) to align with our new brand
- Design a series of posters to promote our After Dark events, or to storytell around Science World's sustainability efforts
- Design an info brochure, updating from our old brand to the new one
- Design an impact report for one of our programs
- Design an infographic on the scientific method or design process for the wall of one of our labs

 

Davis Design Group, Design Team in Toronto

We are an integrated branding agency, 80 people strong, offering strategy, creative, innovation and digital. We create, re-imagine and guide the journey of iconic brands. We've been working with creativity and passion on North American and global brands for over 45 years.

Brett Hinchliffe, Designer
John Hogenbirk, Design Director
Erick Nielsen, Design Director
Lisa Olay, Designer
Chris Plewes, VP Creative Director
Luba Pushkar, Creative Director
Mark Roberts RGD, VP Creative Director

Project: a real-life project that includes development of a brand identity, a package design (face panel) and a social media campaign. This is a fairly large project and tasks will be decided with student input at first meeting.

Branden Douglas RGD, Art Director at Relish in Winnipeg

Branden brings a contemporary, intuitive, and creative approach as an Art Director at Relish. With an advertising agency background, he is continuously pushing the envelope with ideas that are commanding and on-strategy. A grad of Red River College, Branden has 19 years experience and has won numerous awards for his work in advertising, web design, application design, book design and branding. 

Project: a fairly in-depth branding project. We do a fair bit of integrated work in our shop, so a typical branding exercise would involve everything from the broader identity, to specific touchpoints in both digital and traditional media (identity, print, display, motion, web, social, etc). We also work with a wide range of industries and professions so if there was a specific area of business you wished to focus on I think we could adapt to that fairly well.

 

Shinead D’Souza, Art Director at Clio in Vancouver
Shinead is a data-lover and head-chef in her kitchen at home. She specializes in branding, art direction and data-driven design solutions. After spending several years within agencies such as Cossette, Noise Digital, FCV Interactive and Dead Famous, Shinead took her career in-house. She joined the brand team at Lululemon as their senior designer, then went on to lead the marketing design team at Saje Natural Wellness.

Project: With the impacts of COVID-19 on the economy, especially the restaurant industry, companies having to shift their focus to takeout and grocery services to stay afloat as well as serve their community in a meaningful way. Earls restaurant has posted a temporary page informing their customers of their grocery offering and needs to transition this simple text-based page into a robust and shoppable experience.

 

Andrew Elliott RGD, Typographer and Senior Production Designer at Ove Brand Design in Toronto
Andrew has been working in the communications field for over thirty years, but his passion for design and typography began from the moment he began to hold a crayon. Andrew completed his graphic design degree in 1987, and quickly began on-the-job training with the Macintosh computer in its infancy. Andrew’s fascination and skills with branding, brand identity and custom lettering are complemented by a strong spectrum of talents including the areas of corporate communications and reporting, information design and packaging.
Andrew has been deeply involved with the development and implementation of many extremely extensive branding projects and numerous communication packages as well as large scale annual reports for some of the country's largest corporations.
Andrew brings to the table intuitive problem solving and analytical skills, and his attention to detail is second to none.
Possible Projects:
- Develop and implement a brand that celebrates an existing major worldwide (preferably Canadian) corporation's 25th, 100th or 200th anniversary.
- Develop and implement a major overhaul and rebranding of an existing major worldwide (preferably Canadian) corporation.

 

Blair Francey, Senior Designer at Trajectory in Toronto
Blair joined the Trajectory team in June 2017 after 10 years of successfully running his own business, BFdesign. His work includes branding, website design, marketing strategy and print design to a variety of organizations from small not-for-profit to large-scale educational institutions. BFdesign established a long-lasting and rewarding relationship with many clients over the years. Blair graduated with Distinction from Goldsmiths, University of London with a Masters of Arts (Design: Critical Practice). The program allowed him to explore his love of transit, civic-engagement and city-building through the development of two projects in particular; technology and narrative. This exploration culminated in his thesis project, Public Transit: Remixed, a look at designing a holistic transit system from an experiential, as opposed to an infrastructure, standpoint. He was selected as one of four finalists in the Global Engineering Innovation Challenge hosted by the Toronto chapter of Engineers Without Borders in March 2013 where he presented some of his ideas from Public Transit: Remixed to much enthusiasm.
Project: The project will involve a brand identity for either a city / town / neighbourhood (TBD). Other components will include a visitor’s guide, website mockup, environmental design, and promotional materials.

Vincent Galante RGD, Co-founder of The Pixel Shop in Toronto

Design and technology have always gone hand in hand for Vincent, and his career reflects this. In practice, he uses a combination of research, strategy and design to create meaningful user outcomes for digital products, websites, and systems. He now operates independently at Vincent Galante Strategy + Design.

Project: Mentees can expect to create a digital product or experience from research to prototype. Our process will highlight real-world issues and considerations which will result in a practical learning experience and prepare my mentee for success in their future role.

 

Monique Gamache, Founder and Design Director at Matter Studio in Calgary
Monique's ability to distill a complex company or organization into a simple and powerful platform has made her internationally renowned. Trained at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Monique creates and revitalizes brands from the ground up: strategizing, conceptualizing and finessing their unique visual language to speak distinctly to consumers and stand out in saturated markets. Monique is a well-known international jury chairman within the design category. Her work has been recognized by the One Show, the Type Directors Club, earned her a Cannes Silver Lion and a coveted D&AD Black Pencil. After 14 years at WAX, one of Canada's most award-winning creative agencies, Monique founded MATTER in 2020.
Project: Concept, design and develop a brand identity for an event. Demonstrate application on a range of assets.
- Digital invitation. Teaser animation. Event graphics. Program guide. Swag.

 

John Godfrey RGD, Partner & Creative Director at Chargefield in Hamilton

John's work in branding, key art and motion graphics is focused on the entertainment sector. His clients include Fox, SundanceNow, Sony Music Entertainment, Lionsgate, Warner Music Group, CBC, as well as entertainment personalities.

Project: the design of something entertainment related (movie poster, album cover or symphony / opera poster)

 

Kyle Greenwood RGD, Art Director, Publicis Canada / Instructor, Toronto Film School in Toronto
For over a decade Kyle has run the entire creative gamut from freelance to in-house design, UX/UI, product design, branding, innovation ideation and conception, brand and marketing strategy, and all things print. Kyle has worked with a number of forward-thinking clients and brands, including Kraft/Heinz, Ferrero and PayPal, and has developed diverse and integrated communications materials for non-profit organizations such as CAMH, the AIDS Committee of Toronto and the National Ballet of Canada.
Possible Projects:
- Design an info brochure, updating from existing out-dated creative
- Design a strategic plan for a non-profit organization
- Design an infographic poster profiling the significant decline in bee populations

 

Mark Haak RGD, Art Director at Swerve Design Group and Design for Good in Toronto
Mark is a visual storyteller who is passionate about design and knows creativity can move people to action. He enjoys the creative process and helping organizations discover who they really are and how to build authentic relationships with their tribe. He co-founded Swerve Design Group 20 years ago and a few years later started up Design for Good which focus on helping non-profits raise awareness and support for their cause.
Project: We do a lot of work with inspiring non-profit organizations. For this project, we need to help one of them communicate their national strategy for the next 10 years. So we’ll be creating a concise, visual story that raises awareness, shares the facts, and inspires the reader to take action. If you love infographics and making complex things visually simple to understand this will be a great project.

 

Ben Hagon RGD, Co-Founder & Creative Director of Intent in Toronto

Ben is an award-winning design specialist with 18+ years’ experience as a graphic designer, creative director and entrepreneur. Ben is renowned for his passionate commitment to his clients, his ability to listen to them, understand their challenges and turn those insights into award-winning design work that always meets client objectives. Intent works exclusively with nonprofit organizations.

Project: Fundraising event branding. Redesign the brand identity for the main fundraising event of a Toronto area charity focused on assisting those living with HIV/AIDS.

 

Carolyn Harman RGD, Graphic Designer at the City of Ottawa

With 23 years experience, Carolyn's career has been driven by the power of strategic creative thinking. She is influential in communicating how design is not only seeing things as they are, but as they could be – and translating that approach to a multitude of clients ranging from non-profits to Chrysler, from start-ups to our Canadian Forces and from municipal to the federal government. 

Project: Branding package with multifaceted marketing collateral. Possibilities (tbd with students’ input): redesign company logo, develop a series of 3 product sell sheets, design website mockup, explainer video, sample swag options, and PPTX template – a complete multifaceted brand / identity package focused on a building a cohesive image and respecting brand integrity

 

Teodor Herman RGD, Designer, Project Coordinator at Entro in Toronto
As Designer at Entro, Teo’s primary focus is on research and visual communication strategies for wayfinding and signage projects; his projects at Entro include Artscape Launchpad, Metrolinx, OC Transpo and more. Beginning his career as an automotive technician, Teo changed directions and studied design at OCAD University and as an exchange student at Berlin’s Universität der Kunste in Germany. He completed a Master of Digital Media at Ryerson University in 2018, where his Major Research Project explored how digital media technologies have the ability to impact customer engagement in public spaces. Working with The Toronto Zoo, he programmed an AR application that resulted in an increase of +90%NPS in customer engagement, improved social media impact and selling virality. Teo's work at Entro has allowed him to develop a deep understanding of the special requirements needed when developing signage and wayfinding needs for mass transportation projects.
Possible Projects:
- Digital Product Design
- Signage and Wayfinding
- Web or UI/UX
- Corporate Communication

 

Jowenne Herrera RGD, Senior Consultant, Government of Ontario, & Senior Designer, ABAKADA design + communication

For over 20 years, Jowenne has been delivering creative design solutions to small and large organizations that meet client objectives, while achieving high design standards. His design work spans across private, public and not for profit sectors with specialties in strategic branding, corporate visual identity, editorial design and graphic illustration. As an in-house design and communications professional with the Government, he uses compelling visual narratives to inform policy decision-making. Jowenne also runs her own firm specializing in design and communication services with clients that include the Toronto Police Service, City of Toronto, CivicAction and Pro Bono Ontario.

 

Jessica Hotson, Associate Creative Director at Loblaw Digital in Toronto
Jessica started her career designing for some of Canada’s leading Fashion and Beauty Magazines. After operating as Creative Director of The Kit for six years Jessica decided to move in-house as Director Of Brand Creative at jewellery brand Jenny Bird. Most recently Jessica joined Loblaw Digital, overseeing all digital creative for brands such as Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart beauty. As a multi-disciplinary designer and creative director with over a decade of experience, Jessica brings a strong passion for design thinking to every team she works with.

 

Jennifer Karton, Founder & Creative Director at Suckerpunch Creative in Winnipeg

A former roller derby skater and graduate of Red River College, Jennifer is known for her boundless energy and design intuition. As creative director, she works very closely with clients, seeing projects through from conception to delivery. Living and breathing design for 22 years, Jennifer uses her critical eye to bring client-focused creativity to life, understanding that all jobs – large or small – can have a huge impact on brand. Her attention to detail flows into every aspect of a project. And as our resident print expert, her immaculate production skills ensure everything that goes to press is ‘tickity-boo’.

Project: A full concept-to-completion new business brand project: new biznass visual identity, marketing collateral such as stationary, business cards etc, website, and possibly a magazine.

 

James Kuo RGD, Design Director at Design Platform in Toronto
James is a multi-disciplinary art director, senior designer and design entrepreneur whose work encompasses print-and-digital media. James was a senior designer of Graphic Design and Digital Media at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, as well as a contract senior designer at the Royal Ontario Museum. For decades, he has designed digital-and-print collateral projects for MoMA and ROM’s exhibitions and programs as well as design studios in Toronto. Additionally, James is a professor at the Univerity of Guelph-Humber, focusing on design business, graphic design, production design, and typography.
Project: Print and digital remix media; mentees can expect to learn about the comprehensive design production process from start to finish, and breakdown an existing print and digital media projects.

 

Dan Lebl RGD, Graphic Designer at the Canadian Red Cross

Dan is a multi-disciplinary designer with over a decade of experience working in design at several tech and media companies, including in both UI/UX design and traditional print, packaging and branding. He has served as lead designer for a streaming video platform and as creative director at a VR studio. 

Project: Option 1: Branding for youth-focused streetwear brand, focusing on sustainable materials and ethical manufacturing. Including research, identity and packaging design.

Option 2: Branding for a BBQ restaurant, including research, identity, menus, displays and other materials.

Option 3: Initial concepting for a new music streaming app, similar to Spotify or Apple Music. Including research, persona creation and wireframing.

 

Denis Leclerc RGD, Creative Director and Principal at Costa Leclerc Design in Toronto
Denis has more than 25 years of experience and is comfortable managing projects in both English and French. He has worked in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto before starting his own business in 1989 that would become Costa Leclerc Design. His experience in marketing and his artistic approach guide CLD’s strategy as well as the development of interactive initiatives, visual identities and integrated brand campaigns in either official language. Denis is the Creative Director and manages and oversees project development. His active collaboration with several professional associations and his participation in numerous international conferences on design and art attest to his enthusiasm for visual arts and graphic design. As a visual artist, Denis Leclerc has more than sixty exhibitions and numerous installations.
Project: A new virtual university is ready to be launched! You will have to develop and implement the visual platform to promote the new Campus and its virtual space and engage future students to register. This mentorship can be conducted in French or English.

 

Gilbert Li RGD, Creative Director of The Office of Gilbert Li in Toronto

Gilbert founded his graphic design studio in 2004. From pocket-sized brochures to coffee-table books, the studio is renowned for its work with leading cultural, non-profit and educational organizations such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, Metcalf Foundation and University of Toronto.

Project: Complete book design: Work with mentor to develop book concept. Some general ideas include an art book, literature, poetry, conceptual/experimental, documentary, photography, etc. It will be encouraged that all of the visual and text content be created by the mentee. Deliverables: A printed and bound book along with a supporting process document.

 

Diego Lopez RGD, Creative Director at Compass Creative in Toronto
With experience in research, brand strategy, copywriting and marketing, Diego has spent the last decade helping brands of all sizes (from Porter Airlines, Manulife, Costco, and beloved local brands) find clarity and express authentically, so they can better connect with their audience.
Project: Design a complete brand identity system, including a list of assets. The process will begin with research and culminate with a list of brand assets and brand manual.

 

Colin MacFadyen RGD, Creative Director at Livewire Communications in Toronto

With 30 years of professional experience under his belt, Colin provides creative direction and leadership to a dedicated team, working in print, live events, digital, and video. His work enables brands to build, perform and engage, through establishing powerful and compelling narratives and strategically driven, integrated visual programmes.

 

Carl Poirier RGD, Founder, President & Creative Director at Cayenne Creative

Carl has played a leadership role in the graphic design field since the mid-1990s. He specializes in strategic communications which include brand development, traditional print communication & collateral tools, marketing & advertising campaign development, UX & UI design, environmental design and social media strategies. Completely bilingual in both official languages, at Cayenne Creative, Carl directs all creative & strategic services as the lead senior graphic designer.

Project: Get the chance to take part of a BRANDING experience with Cayenne Creative. You will get to design a logo and graphic elements and compare it to our work.

 

Marie Poulin, Co-Founder, Designer, and Digital Strategist at Oki Doki Digital in Halfmoon Bay
Marie helps business owners level up their digital systems, workflow, and productivity, so they can spend more time on what matters. From managing your day-to-day, to organizing your big insights and ideas, she helps you follow through on your long-term goals and get things launched.

Project: I do a lot of user experience design for people who run online courses, so this can include:
- Sales page design
- Designing onboarding experiences
- Workflow graphics to support my clients in understanding how user flow through their content + offers
- Creating supporting graphics for a variety of formats for supporting use cases.

 

Barry Quinn RGD, Founder, Chief Creative Quake Creative & Design in Toronto

Barry started his career at boutique design studios and went on to create design practices within advertising agencies. He has been a partner at Grip, a Founder at Juniper Park/TBWA, the Chief Design Officer for DDB North America and now the founder and chief Creative at his own firm Quake. His work spans print, to signage to social and advertising. He has won over 450 awards in the past decade including Cannes, The Effies, Communication Arts, The Warc Prize, Clios, London International, Marketing Magazine, One Show, Coupe Awards, New York Festival, Applied Arts and others.

Project: Barry will help identify the piece within your portfolio that has the most promise and show you how to blow it out into a full-fledged case study. This is the type of project you will be working on once you graduate and the skill young designers need to hone.

 

Sheldon Rennie, Associate Creative Director UX/UI Design and Art Direction at Rethink in Vancouver
Sheldon is an Associate Creative Director, Art Director and UX/UI designer at Rethink. For the past decade, he has worked on advertising and digital projects for a variety of clients across multiple industries including fast food, finance, tech, government, tourism, and insurance. His work has been recognized by One Show, Communications Arts, Applied Arts, Advertising & Design Club of Canada and the Epica Awards.
Project: Redesigning a responsive website for a product (of your choice), focusing on messaging, storytelling and user experience.

 

Glenda Rissman RGD, Co-founder & Principal of q30 design in Toronto

Glenda's passion for design has not waned since she began practising in Montreal 30+ years ago. Like many small business owners, Glenda wears many hats. She assumes the responsibility of running the business, she motivates and inspires her colleagues to deliver the best strategic solutions for q30’s clients and she tries to give back to a community that she feels fortunate to be a part of.

Possible Projects: Digital comms, branding, publications, annual reports, etc.

 

Elyssa Schmid RGD, Designer & Art Director at Schmid Grafikdesign in Toronto
For the past two decades, Elyssa has helped clients hone the voice that best captures their organization's relationship with people. She revels in developing large-scale branded campaigns with lasting cultural and social impact and has worked across disciplines that include identity, packaging, editorial, video, print and experiential design. Last year, Elyssa was central to the design ideation and implementation of the multi-faceted campaign and conference for TEDxToronto 2019. She was also the design lead on the Vancouver Olympics & Resort of Whistler partnership and the Heart & Stroke Foundation's Red Dress campaign. Uniting her love of the arts with the discipline of design, Elyssa complements her independent practice with illustration and design projects for musicians and film-makers.
Project: Select a song title that is meaningful to you and design a 'film-style' poster to apply to both print and digital channels as an integrated campaign. You'll need to incorporate a powerful combination of typography with graphic language that could be illustration, photography and/or motion graphics, and could also include imagined award laurels and film credits.

 

Mike Scott RGD, Principal at Mike Scott Brand & Design in London
Mike Scott is an independent, multi-disciplinary designer based in London, Ontario with 15 years of experience. With a focus on brand, print and digital design, he has worked with a variety of brands including Canada Life, Columbia Sportswear and major hospital and educational institutions in Ontario.
Possible Project:
1. Rebranding project including an updated brand strategy, complete brand identity and promotional material concepts.
2. Website design project including research with user experience needs, concepts and design mockups of primary pages.

 

Jennifer Shadbolt RGD, Senior Designer at Piccadilly Communications in Toronto
Over the past 17 years Jenn has been involved with establishing and refreshing brands to connect with consumers and business. Her specialties include food and beverage package design, editorial design and illustration. There's nothing better than working with a client to produce something we both are proud of and that resonates with the end user.

 

Carolyn Shaw, Creative Director of The T1 Agency in Toron
For over 15 years, Carolyn has helped companies and brands send a message to their customers. She instills passion, drive, and brand loyalty to create life-long followers for clients. She strives to create a distinctive union of the artistic and the commercial, while balancing creativity and strategic thinking for solutions that are truly unique. She also believes that in the end, good design is the cornerstone of good business. Currently Carolyn is the Creative Director at The T1 Agency, leading a team of Art Directors, Copywriters, Designers and Production.

Project: Creating a brand for our founder and CEO. He is an industry thought leader who will be launching a book in June with more to come, travels the world doing speaking engagements, has a blog, and will be launching a podcast. Deliverables would include full brand system (logo, colour palette, etc.) and actual executions (business card, website, etc.).

 

Jed Tallo, Art Director of ELLE Canada in Toronto
Award-winning Art Director Jed Tallo started his career in his hometown of Auckland. Prior to settling in Toronto, Jed worked extensively in London for companies such as Condé Nast International and Hearst Magazines UK. Previously the Deputy Art Director at Flare magazine, he is currently Art Director of ELLE Canada

 

Marcos Terenzio RGD, VP of Creative & Strategy for iGotcha Media

Marcos brings 25 years of award-winning experience to create integrated brand experiences for international Fortune 500 clients. Prior to joining iGotcha, Marcos was Director of Digital Creative Experience at Shikatani Lacroix (SLD), one of Canada's leading branding and design agencies where he helped transform a traditional brand design firm into a fully integrated brand experience agency with digital as a new core service.

 

Andrew Terwissen RGD, Partner at Epigram in Toronto

Andrew is multi-disciplinary designer with experience working with clients such as Rogers and Auto Trader. He was a Co-Creative Director on rebranding Roy Thomson Hall and Massey Hall, successfully creating a lasting and functional brand for the venerable organization. He’s also a photographer, and has experience in motion graphics and videography. Epigram specializes in tech and music branding.

Project: Various aspects of the branding process; creating icons, doing image research and editing, designing layouts for ads, websites and stationary, as well as creating a brand concept from scratch.

 

Wade Thompson RGD, In-house designer with the Toronto Catholic District School Board

In his current position, Wade has honed his skills as a graphic designer, motion designer and filmmaker. Creating everything from athletic logos, advertising campaigns and annual reports, Wade has learned to mesh the versatile skillsets of a designer, often working as a team of one. Outside of his day job, he will make time for personal projects or freelance work, with clients who include the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame and Toronto Railway Museum.

Project: The brief would revolve around the "refresh" of a few of our TCDSB school's logos: a rebranding of all of our school's crests and athletic logos.

 

Eduardo Trejos RGD, Senior Multidisciplinary Designer at Ove Design
Eduardo is a highly creative soul with a natural drive toward exploration, yet he has the business acumen and technical know-how to deliver on his vision. While his formal academic training is in advertising design, photography and animation, his creative interests and explorations have led him to build additional expertise in web design and video. Eduardo has worked, both locally and abroad, as a multimedia designer and web front-end specialist. His diverse client base includes CBC The National, WestJet, Bank of Montreal, Canada Post, Canadian Cancer Society, OLG Corporation and the University of Toronto.

 

Pascal Tremblay, Creative Lead and Co-Founder at The Good Kind in Vancouver

Since 1999, Pascal has led creative projects for organizations ranging from Fortune 100 businesses to international rock bands and environmental campaigns. He strongly believes in the powers of design and storytelling to plant seeds of positive change into the world. 

Projects: Campaign visual identity, Product design, Site design, Brand visual identity

 

Jenny Vivar, VP, Creative Director, Brand and Design at Community Agency in Toronto
Jenny's work spans across branding, experiential, environmental, retail, packaging, digital and illustration design. She has worked at some of Toronto’s leading design and advertising firms, and her approach to crafting insightful work has propelled business’s forward and formed emotional connections with consumers. She has a deliberately simple approach to design, a constant process of reduction in order to uncover the truest and most honest visual and verbal expression of a brand while aligning it with business objectives. Jenny has worked with influential global brands in the fashion, real estate, hospitality, beverage, CPG and retail sectors for clients such as Holt Renfrew, Four Seasons, Red Bull, Perrier, Glossier and several local Toronto businesses. At Community., she has helped to launch and transform brands in the real estate, lifestyle and hospitality sectors such as Maker Pizza, Four Seasons Global, Grey Goose, Ink Entertainment and Freed Developments to name a few.

Project: Branding for a 19+ events and entertainment company.

 

Carmen Wagner, Manager, Graphic Design at The National Ballet of Canada in Toronto

Carmen is an art director, graphic designer, illustrator and musician from Toronto, ON. For 15 years, she has delivered out-of-the-box concepts, dynamic visuals and innovative strategies for print, web and social, working with brands such as The National Ballet of Canada, Holt Renfrew and Warner Music Canada. She also maintains a freelance client roster and personal art practice. 

Project: an evergreen t-shirt design for the ballet – a typographical design with the name of the company.

 

Edie Wawrychuk RGD, Founder/creative director of Traffic Design and creative collaborator and project manager at Jackpine in Ottawa
Edie offers over 25 years of design industry and entrepreneurship expertise. Clients have included companies and associations in the healthcare, retail, not-for-profit, development and cannabis sectors.
Project: Would be selected with input from the student but could include work from either studio:
Branding, design, webpage and social assets to support;
- a small business impacted by covid-19
- a not-for-profit
- fundraising campaign

 

Cait Wharton, Creative Director + Founder of Millie in Toronto

When I’m not sitting behind my giant computer screen or shaping young design minds, you can find me endeavouring to hike mountains in all 39 of Canada’s National Parks with my cute blind dog Oscar and husband Mike. I cut my teeth in graphic design working at lululemon in Vancouver. I have 10+ years of experience, creating visual identities for hundreds (103 to be precise) of small businesses. I studied Graphic Design at Parsons NYC and Alberta College of Art and Design and have a BA in English from University of Calgary. 

Project: Branding, brand strategy, art direction and packaging.

 

Roy White RGD, Founder & Creative Director at Subplot Design Inc in Vancouver
Born in London, Roy graduated from the Mander College of Art & Design at 18, cut his teeth early at renowned London design firms, The Partners and Carol Dempsey and Thirkell, and founded his own successful design firm, The Third Man, working with the likes of Virgin Records and the Royal Opera House. Moving to Australia in the early 1990s, Roy was involved in major Olympic-related branding projects.
Prior to forming Subplot, Roy held the position of Creative Director of DDB Canada's design division, karacters. Founding Subplot Design in 2004 allowed Roy to bring his international branding experience to the Vancouver market, where he is helping clients navigate complex brand architectures and brand strategy issues. Roys currently works closely with Canada Post to create several innovative and award-winning stamp projects each year. Roy also teaches design classes at Capilano University and regularly speaks on design.
Project: Designing Stamps for Canada Post

Katie Wilhelm RGD, Graphic Designer & Marketing Consultant KatieWilhelm.ca in London
Katie Wilhelm is an independent graphic designer and marketing consultant based in London, Ontario. Prior to founding her own design practice, Katie spent more than 10 years specializing in corporate communications, specifically in the area of local economic development. Katie is a leader in her local arts and culture community and has produced several permanent large-scale art installations. Katie is a proud band member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation of Neyaashiinigmiing.
Project: Create a brand identity for a design business and develop a marketing campaign targeting a new niche market. This project will encourage design thinking for problem solving. You will create a brand from the ground up, including guidelines. We will be creating and executing a real world marketing strategy together.

 

Jonathon Yule, Director of Design at Concrete
Jonathon is a practicing graphic designer and typographer with over a decade of experience. Recent projects include the Chef Bombay packaging redesign, the DesignThinkers 2019 conference identity and the visual identity for the high-performance bicycle brand Cervélo. He is always looking for new ways typography and technology can challenge the status quo of visual identity.
Project: New Brand or Rebrand
We will walk through the steps of building a new brand or working through a rebrand of a product, small company or organization of your choosing up to the initial creative presentation. The end goal will be to build a complete first creative presentation and a complete visual identity to be able to show your portfolio.
* BIPOC designers will be prioritized for Jonathon Yule