Tenderhearted and confident, Parker is a queer creative director based in Vancouver, BC. With a background in linguistics, Parker leads his team at Harc Creative through impact-focused branding, strategy and communications projects with equal parts heart, head and humour.

 

Working with in-Canada and inbound LGBTQIA+ refugees, Rainbow Refugee supports people fleeing SOGIESC persecution to build communities of belonging in Canada. Parker will discuss the work he and his team did helping them refactor their brand storytelling, visual identity and social media direction to engage prospective donors, supporters and corporate partners. 

 

Chris is an award-winning designer and art director with a passion for people and design. Chris’s work experience in various agency environments that require leadership, creativity, and collaboration has taught him to solve problems using strategic, creative solutions and to pursue innovation. He also believes that design plays a pivotal role in how our culture evolves and how we use our skills as creatives has the capacity to drive organizations forward and change the world for the better.

 

The Today Centre is a not-for-profit organization that helps people facing or experiencing family/domestic violence. The purpose of their rebrand was to position them as a hopeful, inclusive, trusted source for people facing domestic violence and to make their clients feel empowered rather than victimized.

 

Claudia is an award-winning art director and multidisciplinary designer. Claudia started as a brand-focused designer in Hong Kong, then as an environmental designer for SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. Today she focuses on visual identity and product design. Her clients have included Toronto Public Library, York University, McDonald’s, Jeep and T-Mobile. Claudia is currently an art director and designer embedded at Apple via Critical Mass. 

 

From the ubiquity of online education and entertainment to the host of other family-oriented activities that fill a city, the Toronto Public Library’s children’s department has never had stiffer competition for kids’ attention. The brand needed a modern refresh, one that took into account not just the breadth of programming offered under the children’s banner, but that could work across a diverse array of spaces, both physical and digital. In her role as Designer within an agency responsible for the rebrand, Claudia designed posters, library signage and wayfinding and promotional items as well as making recommendations for the interior.