Non-Profit

Ambush Advisories Campaign by Rethink

Judge’s Pick: Cai Sepulis RGD
"I love the simplicity and the thought that went into this campaign. It feels so ingenious to find a way to address the problem and do it on YouTube’s own turf, and in a way that a person can’t help but notice the pre-roll ads (unskippable!). The designs for the ads were stealth-like in how they blended so well with conventional warning ads but had slight hints in colour that they were something new and noteworthy."

Project Description:
Before Women’s Equality Day, the YWCA wanted young people to become aware that sexualization in popular media contributes to violence against women, and that they should think critically about the content they watch online. Rethink hijacked YouTube’s advanced ad targeting to run warnings disguised as unskippable six-second pre-roll ads, which ran before music videos that objectify women. The YWCA ambush advisories were picked up by national news broadcasts and high-profile blogs and shared across social media. The campaign was applauded for calling out sexist content and trying to shift attitudes and practices that perpetuate the sexualization of women and girls.

Credits:
Client: YWCA 
Creative Directors: Ian Grais RGD, Chris Staples, Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick 
Art Director: Pamela Rounis
Writers: Jordon Lawson, Max May

Grand Jardin de Sainte-Justine Murals by Sid Lee for CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation

Judge’s Pick: Andy Chen
Hospitals are notoriously cold and bureaucratic, and it is a cumbersome and difficult design challenge to convince them to illuminate space with colour and illustration. While this installation bears the mark of a big branding firm, that doesn’t distract from the joyful and measured feel of the overall design, which is excellent and beautifully-executed.

Project Description:
Sainte-Justine Hospital—Canada’s largest mother-and-child centre—recently underwent an expansion as part of their Growing Up Healthy project that aimed to create “a favourable environment for innovating and humanizing healthcare services.” The Sainte-Justine Hospital Foundation had two simple wishes for their newly bare white walls—that they be used to tell the hospital’s history and to inject some life into the halls of the new pavilion. Sid Lee’s solution was the Grand Jardin de Sainte-Justine: a colourful timeline that plays with the themes of life and nature, and uses visual metaphors to portray the hospital’s over 100-year history.

Credits:
Creative Director: Marie-Élaine Benoit
Art Director: Nadine Brunet
Illustrator: Julien Poisson
Copywriter: Thierry Faucher
Strategy Team: Sarah Patier, Jade Abecassis
Account Services Team: Catherine Lussier, Anne Richard
Architecture and Design: Alex Dimas, Véronique Mondor

(UN)TRAFFICKED Interactive Website by FFunction for The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation

Judge’s Pick: Amanda Maslany
(UN)TRAFFICKED shows the appeal and effectiveness of interactive storytelling at its best with its sensitively illustrated portrayal of any young girl across India whose life’s consequences are controlled by the choices made by others. The narrative emotively pulls in and educates its audience by presenting different personal points of view and outcomes, along with statistics, ultimately leading the audience to understand the potential serious impacts of these choices and to act by sharing on social media, volunteering, donating and pledging online in support of this issue.

Project Description:
Providing an online centrepiece to an international campaign, (UN)TRAFFICKED brings interactivity, gamification, digital storytelling and human rights campaigning together to end child exploitation in India. The narrative is based on the classic choose-your-own-adventure format, in this case following a young girl over a life-changing week. Every decision the user makes, whether on behalf of the girl’s father, friend, placement agent or employer, has a profound impact on her future. Interspersed throughout are statistics on the state of child labour and sexual abuse in India. (UN)TRAFFICKED aims to engage citizens and show them that every action counts.

Credits:
Creative Director: Audrée Lapierre
Art Director: Wim Bruyninckx
Graphic/UX Designer: Chloé-Ève Levasseur
Developer: Sam Dupras
Copywriter: Rebecca Galloway

Crash Coasters Campaign by Rethink

Judge’s Pick: Will Hum RGD
This campaign meets three criteria that, for me, makes it stand above all others: it expresses a simple yet powerful idea, evokes emotion and elicits action. The coasters brilliantly connect past, present and future in a split second.

Project Description:
Arrive Alive wanted to raise awareness of the most dangerous drinking night of the year: St. Patrick’s Day. Using wreckage from motor vehicle accidents, Rethink cut and pressed pieces of what once were cars into coasters. On each is the message: “This coaster used to be a car. That car never made it home.” Over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend, there was coverage from such online media outlets as Vice and Yahoo! and on multiple nightly news broadcasts, and the client conducted 2 on-screen TV interviews, 12 radio interviews and 8 online interviews. Website traffic increased by over 600%. Following the campaign, coasters were requested from organizations in over 40 cities worldwide—an unexpected outcome.

Credits
Client: Arrive Alive Drive Sober
Creative Directors: Chris Staples, Ian Grais RGD
Art Director: Alex Bakker 
Writers: Sean O’Connor, John Eresman

Assumptions Can Be Deadly Campaign by The&Partnership for the Pancreatic Cancer Canada Foundation

Project Description:
The Pancreatic Cancer Canada Foundation’s goal is to improve overall patient survival rates and create a brighter future for those affected by pancreatic cancer. While treatments for other cancers have advanced significantly, pancreatic cancer has remained stuck with an unchanged mortality rate for the past 40 years. Interviews with Canadians who had lost a loved one to pancreatic cancer were captured and promoted on YouTube and social media. These emotive films shared the personal side of the disease, discussed symptoms and explained the need for funding. The campaign drove a 360% increase over the previous year’s donations.

Credits
Executive Creative Director: Ron Smrczek 
General Manager: Jack Shute 
Deputy Executive Creative Director: James Sadler 
Associate Creative Director & Art Director: Jon MacArthur 
Associate Creative Director & Copywriter: Ed Malyon

Casey House Signage by Entro

Project Description:
As part of an architectural expansion, Entro developed an exterior identification pylon, assisted with interior wayfinding signage and donor recognition and designed holiday and thank-you cards. The look and feel of the signage was inspired by the pattern and texture of the architecture. How warmly patients are treated at Casey House inspired the various red hues to emphasize this compassion and connect to the heart – the central feature of Casey House’s identity. The signage design was so well received, the CEO asked Entro to create a version that could be used for a series of holiday and thank-you cards.

Credits
Principal Creative Director: Udo Schliemann RGD
Designers: Monika Meyer, James Smirlies

WellAhead Motion Graphic by ON THE CHASE! Motion Design

Project Description:
WellAhead is an initiative that brings school communities closer together to identify practices and policies that support student well-being. WellAhead asked for a short video to introduce themselves, for online and in-person presentations. Budget constraints meant it was important to provide only high-level information in this short video, and leave the audience with an incentive to learn more. OTC! extended the existing brand to include characters for the audience to relate to. Everything about the animation style and pacing reflects youth, energy and optimism.

Credits
Concept, Design, Animation: Julian Brown RGD

Unity Festival Campaign by Co-Effect Creative

Project Description:
Unity Charity is a grassroots organization empowering youth and promoting self-expression through programs and events. For its 2014 Unity Festival, Co-Effect collaborated with youth, artist mentors and local businesses to create a bold, energetic campaign that reflected the organization’s commitment to supporting youth in need. The project included posters, flyers, programs, banners, animated reels and social media assets. Images are urban, but also bright and optimistic to showcase the young artists and their passion. The splicing of images represents the mixing of ideas, people and arts and highlights Unity.

Credits
Client: Unity Charity
Creative Conception, Art Direction and Design: Evelyne Au-Navioz, Roman Lifshitz RGD
Photography: Cg Chen
Styling, make up and models: Unity Charity artists

U of T Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education Awareness Campaign by Clear Space Design

Project Description:
Many U of T students focus on their studies, not their health. They needed to be reminded that what’s good for the body is good for the mind and told about all the facilities accessible to them. The Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education challenged Clear Space to create an engaging awareness campaign. A fun, approachable campaign connects and inspires students of all abilities to use the facilities, join an activity program or just drop in and play a sport with friends. The visual identity with its unique illustrations evokes friendliness, approachability and inclusiveness. This is paired with offbeat headlines and a call-to-action to “come see what you can do”.

Credits:
Creative Director: Will Hum RGD
Art Director & Designer: Korneliusz Izbinski
Copywriter: Jack Liang
Illustrator: Korneliusz Izbinski

TIFF 2016 Annual Report by Blok

Project Description:
To capture the core of what makes TIFF unique, Blok paired bold verbs with unexpected concepts, such as “Catalyze collectivity”, “Inspire time” and “Shift dreams/reality”. The design eschews a conventional format and embraces the beauty and language of film to create a cinematic experience that amplifies TIFF’s mission to transform how we see the world through film. Images highlight how TIFF brings films from every part of the world to Toronto and audiences globally, opening up discourse between people and cultures. The bold words and abstract concepts, presented through bold, clean typography, drive TIFF’s distinct narrative.

Credits:
Creative Director: Vanessa Eckstein RGD, Marta Cutler
Designers: Vanessa Eckstein RGD, Jaclyn Hudson

Sistering Website by Overdrive Design Ltd

Project Description:
Sistering, an organization that supports women who experience marginalization and poverty, needed a new website. Overdrive developed a website to reflect the Sistering ethos and ensure participants are depicted in an empowered and uplifting manner. To ensure participants, volunteers and staff saw themselves reflected in the website, Overdrive commissioned photos of the extended Sistering family. The development of a custom WordPress solution provided a fully editable website. Overdrive trained staff and volunteers so they can now maintain the site.

Credits:
Senior Creative Director: James Wilson
Creative Director & Project Manager: Leslie Jennings
Designer: Katrina Densmore
Writer: Charlotte Empey
Web Developer: Marc Alcide
Photographer: Melissa Renwick

YMCA of Greater Toronto Sweat for Good Campaign by BrandHealth

Project Description:
The YMCA GTA was looking to reposition its Health & Fitness offering to appeal to a younger gym-goer. The creative solution leverages the fact that the Y is a charitable organization that does ‘good’ in every community it serves. When you become a member at the Y, you support the good that the Y represents. The universality of sweat is used to inspire people to break a sweat where it matters more: at the Y. In essence, when you work out at the Y, you sweat for all the positive impact the Y represents.

Credits:
Director, Creative Director, Copywriter: Rick Kemp 
Art Directors: Jordan Bowden, Rick Kemp 
Producer: Amy Bastianon 
Photographer: George Simhoni
Cinematographer: Pawel Dwulit 
Retoucher: Mark Tyler
Picture Editor: Mark McNeilly 
Sound: Tom Thorney, Jason Donkergoed 

She Who Dares Exhibit by Frank Design Strategy for YW Calgary

Project Description:
YW Calgary wanted to celebrate the contributions of 150 Calgary women from the past 150 years in celebration of Canada’s birthday. The solution captures the voices and stories of the women on 65 cardboard boxes. Archival photography, short and long stories, highlighted achievements, quotes and statistics educate and inform on the diverse contributions of the 150 women. The exhibit can be assembled in a different way each time it’s installed, mirroring the creative ways the women helped to build the community and highlighting their individuality. The audience is invited to rework the boxes.

Credits:
Creative Director: Rita Sasges 
Designers: Kerry Neale, Sabrina Diehl, Tamia Clouthier 
Illustrators: William McKeowan, Lauren Tamaki, Sabrina Diehl, Tamia Clouthier 
Writers: Russ Peters, YW Calgary 
Researchers: Deanna Holt and Rodney Muir 
Project Manager: Johanna Davies

A Concert for Charlottesville Campaign by Zoca Studio Inc.

Project Description:
The Dave Matthews Band wanted a visual campaign for goods benefiting a “Concert for Charlottesville Fund”. The campaign and concert were intended to bring light and awareness to the city of Charlottesville due to the unfortunate events that occurred there last year. The highly sought-after concert featured artists such as Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake, Ariana Grande and the Dave Matthews Band. Zoca designed a variety of logos that were reproduced on t-shirts, hats, hoodies and posters.

Credits:
Client: Dave Matthews Band
Creative Director: Jose Garcia

On Balance by Hambly & Woolley for the Martin Prosperity Institute

Project Description:
H&W was tasked with creating a handout brochure for a lecture given by the Martin Prosperity Institute (MPI) at the Nantucket Project 2018. The talk and brochure discuss how integrative thinking can lead to more optimal, efficient and fair solutions when encouraging positive change throughout the world. We helped MPI develop a design that made their philosophies clear and memorable. We were brought in to develop a seamless connection between word and image. The brochure outlines MPI’s alternative approach to problem-solving and acts as a blueprint for conference attendees to consider for future initiatives.

Credits:
Designer: Barb Woolley RGD
Writing: Martin Prosperity Institute

#HelpFredFillAHome Campaign by Gravity Inc. for Fred Victor

Project Description:
Fred Victor was awarded the prestigious opportunity to retrofit the PanAm/Parapan Am Athletes Village into permanent homes for marginalized members of our community, which included fully furnishing every unit. Gravity named, branded and developed the digital campaign #HelpFredFillAHome, which included a responsive website, posters and web banners. The website homepage features an empty apartment, where users can actively ‘drag’ furniture to fill the rooms. While doing so, fun animations pop up with descriptions of items that can be purchased.

Credits:
Creative Director: Wendy Gray RGD
Designer, Illustrator and Animator: Emerald Lee RGD
Design Support: Brenda Little RGD
Site Development: Nathan Bylok

Ocean Wise Website by Engine Digital

Project Description:
The Vancouver Aquarium recently rebranded as Ocean Wise, a global conservation organization focused on protecting and restoring the world’s oceans through research, education and engagement. Partnering with Engine Digital, a purpose-driven, storytelling website was created to position Ocean Wise as the global leader. Enticing users to deepen their understanding of ocean conservation is a key element of the experience. The more time spent learning, the more likely users will get involved and take action through Ocean Wise’s network of organizations and efforts throughout the world.

Credits:
Design Director: Peter Pimentel 
UX Strategist: Dan Nanasi
Interaction Designer: Gracelle Mesina
Senior Content Strategist: David Look
Senior Developers: Devin Leggett, Bryan Jones
Developer: Nikki Jones

EcoFolk 2018 Benefit Concert Poster by Breck Campbell Design for Thames Talbot Land Trust

Project Description:
Thames Talbot Land Trust is dedicated to protecting environmentally-significant lands throughout Southwestern Ontario. Their new concert event, EcoFolk, was created to raise money, encourage activism and educate the general public about their cause. For the visual identity, Breck showcased the ‘at-risk’ and ‘endangered’ species that live on the land in those regions to appeal on an emotional level and encourage prospective patrons to give their support. The venue is historically and culturally significant, not to mention visually iconic, so it features prominently. Due to its success, Thames Talbot Land Trust plans to hold EcoFolk annually.

Credits:
Designer: Breck Campbell RGD
Photo Credit: Mark L. MacDonald, Aeolian Hall

Axis Theatre Identity by Ion Brand Design

Project Description:
Ion was engaged to develop an identity and brand platform to guide ongoing marketing and communications initiatives of the Axis Theatre Company. Axis is an established touring company that embodies “physical theatre”. With new artistic direction, the company renewed its dedication to present educational plays for youth and family audiences. The brand objectives were to capture the imagination and bridge cultures by maintaining an engaging, unique and accessible graphics program from identity to posters and collateral through to web and social media.

Credits:
Creative and Strategy Directors: David Coates RGD, Rod Roodenburg RGD
Designer, Illustrator, Producer: Candace Pawson
Designer: Vanessa Ding
Illustrator: Kate Marlowe

MaRS Visual Identity by Sid Lee

Project Description:
MaRS is one of the largest innovation hubs in the world but its identity felt cold and institutional and had become fragmented. The goal of the rebrand was to create a visual identity that better reflected the big things going on inside. MaRS wanted to maintain their iconic logo, so Sid Lee used it to anchor the identity and bring more connectivity to MaRS communications and therefore more equity to a brand with a diverse offering of programs and initiatives. The MaRS blue ‘globe’ was used as the anchor to a new identity system with a vibrant palette, which becomes a key part of the system. Its versatility and variability reflect the true dynamism of MaRS.

Credits:
Executive Creative Directors: Tom Koukodimos, Jeffrey Da Silva
Creative Director: Laura Stein RGD
Managing Director, Digital Innovation: Matt Di Paola
Designers: Dominic Liu, Ariane Leblanc, Josephine Guan
Copywriter: Zachary Radford