Designto festival
designto festival
Visual storytelling for a milestone anniversary
Visual storytelling for a milestone anniversary
OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW
DesignTO is Toronto’s leading design festival, bringing together artists, architects, and designers for city-wide exhibitions each January. As part of OCAD University’s Design4 program, I collaborated with two other designers to reimagine the festival’s identity for its 10th anniversary. The goal was to build on the existing brand with a fresh perspective that reflected the diversity and creativity of the community.
DesignTO is Toronto’s leading design festival, bringing together artists, architects, and designers for city-wide exhibitions each January. As part of OCAD University’s Design4 program, I collaborated with two other designers to reimagine the festival’s identity for its 10th anniversary. The goal was to build on the existing brand with a fresh perspective that reflected the diversity and creativity of the community.
CHALLENGE
CHALLENGE
Our task was to create an illustration system that expressed DesignTO’s three core principles: graphic design, interior design, and architecture. The challenge was to merge these disciplines into one cohesive language that felt sophisticated and welcoming, while also standing apart from other cultural events in the city.
Our task was to create an illustration system that expressed DesignTO’s three core principles: graphic design, interior design, and architecture. The challenge was to merge these disciplines into one cohesive language that felt sophisticated and welcoming, while also standing apart from other cultural events in the city.
OUTCOME
OUTCOME
The refreshed identity was rolled out across the festival’s 10th anniversary communications, from web to advertising to merchandise. It was also featured in a DesignTO blog post celebrating the new direction. The work gave the festival a vibrant, layered look that honored its roots while presenting a fresh face to the public.
The refreshed identity was rolled out across the festival’s 10th anniversary communications, from web to advertising to merchandise. It was also featured in a DesignTO blog post celebrating the new direction. The work gave the festival a vibrant, layered look that honored its roots while presenting a fresh face to the public.
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
We approached the identity as a collaborative system, combining key ideas from each designer into a unified visual language. I proposed using the festival’s logo as the base, extruding its geometric letterforms to highlight the graphic design principle. My teammates contributed an isometric grid to represent architectural structure and fingerprint-like textures to reflect interior tactility and community. Together we merged these directions into a modular illustration style that balanced clean geometry with expressive detailing, adaptable across print, digital, and merchandise applications.
We approached the identity as a collaborative system, combining key ideas from each designer into a unified visual language. I proposed using the festival’s logo as the base, extruding its geometric letterforms to highlight the graphic design principle. My teammates contributed an isometric grid to represent architectural structure and fingerprint-like textures to reflect interior tactility and community. Together we merged these directions into a modular illustration style that balanced clean geometry with expressive detailing, adaptable across print, digital, and merchandise applications.
feeling fresh
for 2020
feeling fresh
for 2020
feeling fresh
for 2020
This blog post shares the story behind the 10th anniversary identity. Highlighting the backgrounds of the student designers and how they collaborated to reimagine DesignTO’s visual language.
This blog post shares the story behind the 10th anniversary identity. Highlighting the backgrounds of the student designers and how they collaborated to reimagine DesignTO’s visual language.
This blog post shares the story behind the 10th anniversary identity. Highlighting the backgrounds of the student designers and how they collaborated to reimagine DesignTO’s visual language.
SEE BLOG
SEE BLOG
SEE BLOG
SEE BLOG
©2025
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©2025
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©2025
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©2025
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©2025
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©2025
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©2025
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