Award for Social Good Design
Award Sponsor: Gravity
Winner: Andrea May
Winning Project: Good Grief
Award Sponsor: Gravity; School: George Brown College, Toronto, ON; Educator Support: Nicola Hamilton RGD
Good Grief creates an approachable environment to help young adults overcome the stigma and isolation of grief through a 3D pop-up exhibition space and an accompanying take-home booklet. The branding challenges the sterile aesthetics of traditional grief resources by using a vibrant colour palette—blue for sadness, pink for love and green for growth—to create a welcoming, community-focused environment.
Typography and iconography reinforce this approachable tone: circles, symbols of love and community, are paired side by side to reflect the fractured state left by loss, while wilted flowers made of circles represent both despair and hope. The exhibition layout is structured around the five stages of grief, with interactive experiences such as stage 5 (acceptance), where visitors write messages on seed paper and plant them to grow their own grief gardens. The booklet extends the exhibition with interactive inserts—stickers, bookmarks, temporary tattoos, seed paper cards and postcards—offering strategies and memorialization ideas.
Honourable Mentions
- Be Ok by Liza Borissova, Capilano University, North Vancouver BC
- Out of Sight by Rowena Huang, Wilson School of Design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Richmond, BC
- Wink Lingerie by Oleksandra Polska, Wilson School of Design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Richmond, BC
- Mediscio by Vienne Seto Associate RGD, Conestoga College, Kitchener ON
Judges
- Mark Buchner RGD, Design Director at Intent, Toronto, ON
- Emerald Lee RGD, Partner and Creative Director at Gravity, Toronto, ON
- Trina M’Lot, Creative Director, Graphic Designer, and Illustrator at Blue Yonder Creative, Sechelt, BC
- Elana Rudick RGD, Founder and Creative Director at Design Is Yummy, Montreal, QC
- John Shelling, Graphic Designer at University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK
- Tamiko Youn, Senior Graphic Designer at Destination Canada, North Vancouver, BC
