Study design in North Vancouver at IDEA School of Design!

Entry to the Bachelor of Design program at Capilano University is competitive, and applicants must submit a portfolio and other documents through the online portal SlideRoom.

Shown above: Face of Technology — Acrylic on canvas by Natasha Lee (IDEA Grad 2024) as part of her application to IDEA School of Design.

Find out how to apply and check out additional samples of pieces from IDEA Grad 2024 student application portfolios.

IDEA School of Design students become each other’s greatest resource when they graduate, with studio insights, job leads and portfolio tips. Here are some of the number one idea generation strategies from each of our 4 cohorts.

Shown above: “First Snow” by Vylan Tran (IDEA Grad 2024).

IDEA School of Design hopes you are having a wonderful start to the New Year so far! 'To A Hopeful New Year' is a digital illustration by Juliana Vieira (IDEA Grad 2018) shown above. Her beautiful illustration is a sign of the times.

Early Applications for the Fall 2021 Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication close on Jan 20, 2021. Late Admission opens Jan 25, 2021, and closes April 14, 2021. No submissions for Fall 2021 (IDEA Grad 2025) will be accepted after Wednesday, April 14, 2021.

We recently caught up with Daniel Pauhl (IDEA Grad 2019) for a grad spotlight on life after graduating from IDEA School of Design. Many congratulations to Daniel on illustrating a new children’s book by author Nikki Hedstrom! “A Thought is a Thought” is available at Indigo, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.

“It's the best feeling to see my work out in the real world.” he says.

Check out this grad spotlight!

Happy New Year from IDEA School of Design!

'Cheers to 2021' digital illustration by first-year student Celina Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024) shown above.

Early Applications for the Fall 2021 Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication close on Jan 20, 2021. Late Admission opens Jan 25, 2021, and closes April 14, 2021. No submissions for Fall 2021 (IDEA Grad 2025) will be accepted after Wednesday, April 14, 2021.

Cheers to a wonderful, restful break!

Here's a holiday-themed digital illustration done in Illustrator and Photoshop by first-year student Celina Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024).

Early Applications for the Fall 2021 Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication close on Jan 20, 2021. Late Admission opens Jan 25, 2021, and closes April 14, 2021. No submissions for Fall 2021 (IDEA Grad 2025) will be accepted after Wednesday, April 14, 2021.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from IDEA School of Design!

Here’s a digital illustration of Krampus by first-year student Freya Emery (IDEA Grad 2024). Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure in Central European / Eastern Alps folklore.

Early Applications for the Fall 2021 Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication close on Jan 20, 2021. Late Admission opens Jan 25, 2021, and closes April 14, 2021. No submissions for Fall 2021 (IDEA Grad 2025) will be accepted after Wednesday, April 14, 2021.

Keep cozy, friends.

Here's a little wintery-themed frame-by-frame animation done in Photoshop by first-year student Tiffany Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024).

Early Applications for the Fall 2021 Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication close on Jan 20, 2021. Late Admission opens Jan 25, 2021, and closes April 14, 2021. No submissions for Fall 2021 (IDEA Grad 2025) will be accepted after Wednesday, April 14, 2021.

Congratulations to Coralie Mayer (IDEA Grad 2022) for winning Applied Arts 2020 Student Award with 'The Shadow' illustration (shown above).

Jungian psychology’s treacherous shadow-self is revealed in this piece for the IDEA School of Design Bachelor of Design program’s 2020 Evil themed poster project.

Applications for Fall 2021 at IDEA School of Design are open!

Entry to the Bachelor of Design is competitive, and applicants must submit a portfolio and other documents through the online portal SlideRoom.

First-year students (IDEA Grad 2024) offer their advice and experiences applying to the Bachelor of Design (BDes) program at Capilano University. We hope a first-hand student perspective will give you more insight and direction on the application process.

Shown above: “Self-portrait” by Kathleen Manuel (IDEA Grad 2024) using a photo reference of herself as part of her application to IDEA School of Design.

Congratulations to Atrin Yazdani-Biuki (IDEA Grad 2022) for winning 2020 ADCC Student Competition Silver Award in Graphic Design with 'Mountain Dew Flavours'.

Atrin received two additional awards for this project in addition to the ADCC award: RGD Student Awards 2020 — Zulu Alpha Kilo Award for Advertising Design Honourable Mention and RGD Student Awards 2020 — Haft2 Award of Colour Honourable Mention.

Keeping in line with Mountain Dew’s high sugar and caffeine content, various new flavours are introduced while maintaining the brand’s exhilarating and often bizarre personality.

Check out this multiple award-winning student graphic design and advertising project!

We recently caught up with Ryan (IDEA Grad 2019) about life after IDEA School of Design and landing a permanent role as Game Designer at Anemone Hug Interactive where he did his practicum.

While he loves design, he says “most of the ways that you can apply it to make a living aren’t very appealing to an anti-capitalist.” His advice is to "think outside the box and find a way to make yourself useful".

He adds, "You may be inclined to zone out during web design and front-end coding lessons, but you will find those tools incredibly helpful someday. During my practicum, I was able to easily solve a problem that no one else on the team could, simply because I knew how to edit an SVG via text editor."

Check out his Grad Spotlight!

Congratulations to Sydney Toews (IDEA Grad 2020) for winning 2020 ADCC Student Competition Silver Award in Graphic Design with 'ARCH Conference'.

ARCH is an international conference that brings archaeology into the 21st century. The goal was to showcase the discipline as an exciting, adapting, modern field — and to change perceptions of it as an ‘outdated career’ to inspire the next generation of workers.

Check out this award-winning student graphic design project!

Congratulations to Danica Koller (IDEA Grad 2020) for winning the 2020 RGD Zync Award of Excellence for Concept Development with ‘Ellie’ Alzheimer's App. Danica's project also gained RGD's Awards Of Specialty BOLD Awards for Accessible Design Honourable Mention.

Ellie assists people living with Alzheimer’s disease, reassures caregivers, makes daily tasks easier, and helps identify behavioural and mental patterns.

Check out this award-winning student design project.

Congratulations to Haluka Yagi (IDEA Grad 2021) for winning ADCC Student Competition Finalist in Graphic Design with 'Roundabout Hostel'.

Roundabout, a hostel in downtown Vancouver, encourages visitors to come as travellers and leave as Vancouverites by connecting them to local spots and people. The brand colours entail Glassy Aqua of downtown Vancouver's high-rises, Coastal Navy reflecting the ocean, and Canadian Red embodying the locals' warm hearts.

Check out this award-winning graphic design project!

Congratulations to Sophie Young (IDEA Grad 2021) for winning Applied Arts 2020 Student Award and gaining 2020 RGD Awards of Specialty — Domtar Award for Print Design Honourable Mention with 'Vancouver Heritage Postcards' Design Series (shown above).

The mission of this project is to document Vancouver’s history and ever-changing culture in ways dusty historical documents never could.

Check out this award-winning design project!

Congratulations to Evelyn Chua (IDEA Grad 2020) for winning 2020 Advertising & Design Club of Canada (ADCC) Student Competition Finalist in Graphic Design with 'SURPLUS – Produce Delivered'.

The objective of this student graphic design project is to make affordable organic produce directly from local farms to families across the Lower Mainland.

Check out this award-winning project!

Applications for Fall 2021 at IDEA School of Design are open. Join us for our traditional Open Studio Day - online! during the Explore CapU Open House November 19-21, 2020.

Starting with a keynote presentation, we will then offer zoom breakout rooms for individual portfolio feedback — Digitally share your portfolio or sketchbook for some friendly 1-1 feedback from our faculty!

* Registration required to access the event.

Congratulations to Janelle Momotani (IDEA Grad 2022) for winning 2020 Advertising & Design Club of Canada (ADCC) Student Competition Finalist in Graphic Design with 'Crickies Cookies'.

The objective of the fictional brand packaging is to make the idea of cricket protein more appealing to consumers.

Check out this award-winning project!

Congratulations to Sara Nguyen (IDEA Grad 2021) for gaining 2020 RGD Student Award Honourable Mention for the Tony Jurgilas Award for Logo Design with 'Typefriends'.

Typefriends is a fictional type foundry that seeks to infuse warmth and personality in new typefaces to counter the trend of sterile and mechanical output.

Check out this award-winning project!