Freelance designer Rachelle Hynes graduated from IDEA School of Design in 2009. Her advice to design students is to “trust your gut” and “integrate YOUR uniqueness into whatever path you choose”.

We recently caught up with her about her journey as creative director, designer and thought-leader in Vancouver to her “deep passion to do something more and something with a richer purpose”.

Read Rachelle’s story about her new Zesty Life in Squamish, BC!

Our beautiful commemorative poster for CapilanoU’s 50th birthday. Thank you for the lovely design @staples.and.ink. For details see: capu50.capilanou.ca.

The first big design project for 2nd Year this term produced some great work. The students created annual and community reports that really highlighted their conceptual thinking, design and illustration skills. Shown above: Haluka Yagi (IDEA21) Annual Report Design for Braille Literacy Canada. Check out some of our favourites by Anna Tsybulnyk, Haluka Yagi, Sophie Young and Valeriya Kim!

This past summer Brynn Staples (IDEA20) landed a job at Rethink as a design intern. She got to work on updating A&W’s menus, WestJet’s rebrand and more including building presentation decks, client calls and meetings. Read her story! Shown above: Branded ice cream/beer cart by Brynn Staples and fellow IDEA student/art direction intern Ashley Visvanathan. “Yes, it was delicious. Pictured here with our awesome accounts intern, Natalie.” she writes.

Congratulations to our 2018 GDC/BC Salazar Student Award winners: Alice Zeng (IDEA18), Winner and Finalist (Brand Identity) for City of Valencia Rebrand, Ata Ojani (IDEA20), Finalist (Brand Identity) for Qmunity Building Campaign, Pamella Pinard (IDEA18), Finalist (Print Design) for Rhyme & Reason Lyric Festival branding and posters and Heather Haughn (IDEA20), Honorable Mention (Print Design) for Martin Guitar Annual Report!

Shay Klassen (IDEA18) started off as a concept artist her first 3 months at Vancouver’s Gámomo Creative Lab and recently art directed an animated short for HOPR Bike Share and Scooter Share. Her advice to anyone wanting to work in the animation industry: “USE YOUR SKETCHBOOK DUMMY. For real.” Catch up with Shay!

Heather Haughn shows us that even First Year students can win awards! Congratulations to Heather (IDEA20) for winning the Applied Arts Design category award!

Capilano University’s IDEA School of Design was among many design schools in Greater Vancouver at this year’s LAUNCH! Career Development Conference 2018, GDC BC’s annual career development conference for design students, graduates, educators, and employers. Early Applications for Fall 2019 are now open!

Each year at IDEA School of Design students dress up for Halloween and there’s a party. Though there’s a lot of work, there’s a lot of fun too. Sketch “A witchy crow wishes you a happy spooky season!” by first year IDEA22 student, Talia Rouck. Early Applications for Fall 2019 open this Friday, November 2, 2018 and Open Studio Day is this Saturday November 3, 2018!

“In IDEA I failed, a lot. I failed constantly. I’m so glad I failed so much, because I really learned and grew from those experiences.” says Syd Danger who graduated from Capilano University’s IDEA School of Design in 2015. We caught up with her after her recent SADCAST interview about her time working at Capilano Courier to Adbusters, Geist and now SAD. Read our full interview with Syd!

The Brief: You are helping to brand an urban, mid-priced restaurant called The Harvest Room that prides itself on its changing regional menu with healthy ingredients sourced from local farmers. The clientele is mostly millennials and young families. Giving back to the community is important to The Harvest Room, so it also donates 2% of its total sales to a local food bank and shelter.

The Harvest Room, indeed! IDEA School of Design students Ashley Loo (Design), Charmaine Cheng (Advertising), and Jominca Engelbrecht (Illustration) were all selected by Applied Arts judges as the top winners of the annual $1,500 scholarships! Congrats also to our runner-up, Emily R Powers (Illustration) who won a $1000 scholarship!

Graeme Jack graduated from IDEA School of Design in 2005. He got his first break doing ad campaigns and was “hooked”. His advice to graphic design students: “You are a brand. But, don’t be afraid of looking stupid and just be yourself, stay a good person. We choose to be creative because we enjoy it, remember?“ Graeme is the Senior Art Director at Wasserman + Partners Advertising Inc. in Vancouver. Early Applications for Fall 2019 open on November 2, 2018. Check out our recent interview with Graeme!

Study design in Vancouver! SlideRoom closes midnight, Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019 for Early Admission Applications to the Bachelor of Design. Here is a piece from first year student Katrina Lashmar's application portfolio.

Curious about going pro?

Twice a year we invite the public to our Open Studio Day, for an overview of the entire program and to show what makes it distinctive from other schools. Plus, it’s a chance to see where the action happens, and meet both faculty and current students. Mark the date: Saturday, November 3rd, 1 – 4 p.m.

We begin at 1 p.m. with a Keynote presentation, followed by studio tours, friendly portfolio reviews, and a drawing session. Shown above: Book cover illustration by Maxwell Littledale (IDEA18).

Making lifelong friends through the IDEA program is a huge highlight for Amanda. She originally graduated from the three year diploma program in 2015. After two years of working at a signage company, she wanted to switch gears and focus more on branding so she decided to go back to school to revamp her portfolio, brush up on her skills, and earn a degree. Amanda returned in fall 2017 to complete the fourth and final year of the new degree program. IDEA School of Design was one of the most challenging things she’s ever done, filled with lots of work and many late nights, but Amanda says it was so worth it and that she loved every minute of it! She encourages anyone who is interested to apply. Early Applications for Fall 2019 open on November 2, 2018. Catch up with Amanda!

This project dates back to Cynthia’s first year in IDEA and still keeps its place as one of the most memorable yet “mildly traumatizing” projects for her. She wanted to get more familiar with Adobe Illustrator so this was her opportunity. She kept with a simple theme of animals, limited herself to basic shapes and a limited palette.

The students in IDES 237 Digital Illustration were asked to create a short looping animated gif that reflected their experience as graphic design students. Nicole Shewchuk's 404 Error animated gif is shown above. Check out some of our favourites!

On Sept. 22nd, Capilano University officially marked its fiftieth birthday with CapFest, a campus-wide celebration open to the general public. Part of the festivities involved the dedication of nine newly painted murals. Where does IDEA come in? Nine of the thirteen jury-selected artists hail from the IDEA School of Design, both as alumni and current students. Their varied and vivid contributions have transformed the North Vancouver campus. From left: Capilano University President Paul Dangerfield; Brynn Staples (IDEA Grad 2020); Vancouver Mural Society Executive Director David Vertesi; Emily Huynh, Courtney Lamb, Ata Ojani (all three, IDEA Grad 2020)

This week is Truth & Reconciliation week at Capilano University. Our second-year Indigenous focussed applied design project helps our students understand the complexities and opportunities that come with First Nations reconciliation in Canada.

“Everything is still sunshine and rainbows” for Alice Zeng (IDEA18). She gets to work on a lot of different types of projects spanning a variety of mediums including illustration projects in conjunction with design and branding. "For someone who was torn for the longest time whether to go into design or illustration, being able to have a balance like that was essentially my dream" she says. Her advice to other students: “Hang in there, I promise the workload gets easier in the real world.” Catch up with Alice and her paper flower making skills!