Conestoga’s Graphic Design program has a long history of producing exceptional design talent. The last two years have been no exception with students winning several national and provincial awards. All of the student awards are established by recognized industry associations and include the Advertising and Design Club of Canada (ADCC), Applied Arts, the Packaging Association (PAC) and the Registered Association of Graphic Designers of Ontario (RGD).
In 2011, students in the three-year advanced diploma program won three of 16 provincial RGD awards for their overall portfolio work, and an editorial award sponsored by Applied Arts Magazine. Bill Watterson’s entries won the Applied Arts Award for Editorial Design for his Influx magazine design, and the Quarry Communications Award for Western Ontario. Erin McGuire’s work won the Hagon Design Award. Each award is valued at $1,000 and the students’ works were featured on the RGD web site and will be published in the April 2012 edition of Applied Arts Magazine. Bill Watterson is currently working at Hagon Design in Kitchener; Erin McGuire is currently working at Kolody Digital Agency in Toronto.
Conestoga students also received honorable mentions including Pawel Rokicki (2 categories) and Sean Willson.
Two other students also won major recognition for their design talents. Second-year student Brandon Rampelt entered Applied Arts 2011 with his beer packaging, poster and label design for Hirsch Beer. The graphics, colour, shapes, pattern, and typeface are nostalgic to meet the target demographic. Brandon’s work has been featured on several websites.
At first glance, Pawel Rokicki’s typographic poster and media design read as a mash-up of type and pattern in 3D. The strategy to create this bilingual design (in English and German) is enhanced with the use of 3D-like glasses that allow the viewer to read the languages with either cyan or magenta glasses. Pawel’s poster won an ADCC (Advertising and Design Club of Canada) Award in 2011. Pawel is currently working at Ove Design in Toronto.
In 2010, Carling Borne’s series of illustrated book covers for Andrew Lang’s classic fairy tales won an Applied Arts award and was published in the magazine’s design annual. Borne’s playful use of illustration and typography, along with her keen sense of the wit and target market, made this series of book covers unique - a contemporary twist on the classic stories. Borne is currently working at Quarry Communications in Elmira.
As part of a sustainability contest organized by the Packaging Association (PAC), and sponsored by major corporate sponsors SC Johnson and Wal-Mart, Greg Mühlböck’s task was to make the iconic Windex bottle more sustainable. Mühlböck’s solution was to redesign a new package based on the entire process of shipping the product to market. His approach included a new square container that efficiently contained more volume of product, and a new, green marketing message - “Greener by the inch” - to alert consumers to the benefit of the new bottle format. Mühlböck won second place among teams from other schools. Mühlböck is currently working at Ogilvy & Mather in Toronto.