Program Overview
The Honours Bachelor of Brand Design is a four-year degree program that responds to the rapidly changing world of graphic design by preparing you to be a forward-looking brand designer.
Brands are more than logos or sales tactics––they're strategic relationships between the brand makers and audiences. A brand is a promise to follow through on its mission and values. It's the thoughts and feelings that arise when someone thinks about a company or product.
Upon completing this program, you will:
- Convey a brand's identity through visual and physical designs across various online and offline platforms.
- Research and design adaptable brand experiences that engage customers across different touchpoints.
- Articulate a brand's story, connecting with audiences through various mediums.
- Foster innovative collaboration within diverse teams.
This program will teach you to:
- Craft clear brand messages for various platforms that engage audiences.
- Grasp new technology and navigate both traditional and modern channels.
- Write effectively for different scenarios, audiences, and styles.
- Adapt readily to changing work environments and sectors.
- Collaborate effectively, bridging business and creative aspects of branding.
- Employ varied research methods in the design process.
- Provide diverse and customizable services, including specialized areas like video and animation.
- Compete professionally in sales pitches with competitive pricing.
Your Field Education Options
- Students must complete a 420-hour paid co-op work term in the spring/summer period between the third and fourth year.
- Students have the opportunity to complete this co-op domestically and/or internationally, as opportunities arise. The majority of co-op work terms are completed in the Greater Toronto Area, where the design sector is robust and the majority of interaction jobs are located.
- The School of Design Field Placement team works with many notable training partners, including agencies such as Publicis, K9 Strategy + Design, Trevor/Peter and Relish Interactive; larger, well-known brands such as Nelvana (Corus Entertainment), Rogers Media, Mozilla, Crayola and PUR Gum; and a variety of industry-relevant arts and design institutions, including the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) and Applied Arts.
- The work term allows students to apply the skills, abilities and knowledge they've acquired in the program in a workplace environment or through an appropriate interaction design research project or initiative. Students gain valuable experience and the opportunity to reflect on the application of previous learning. A faculty member evaluates the student based on feedback provided by the employer.
- Students will develop a digital portfolio demonstrating artifacts completed during the co-op work term.
Program Learning Outcomes
The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:
- Use ideation techniques to generate innovative design solutions that respond to a creative brief.
- Participate in a collaborative brand-building project to produce an outcome that meets the needs of the client.
- Incorporate interdisciplinary theoretical approaches in the planning, production, and critique of design and strategy work.
- Plan, conduct and apply research in order to contextualize and make informed design.
- Assess the social, environmental and economic impact of the design solution in order to prioritize sustainability issues in design practice.
- Use the fundamental principles of branding to address the needs of the brand design and strategy for clients of various scale.
- Design solutions in support of a brand strategy.
- Communicate information, arguments, creative ideas and brand stories persuasively, to a range of audiences, using a variety of verbal, visual and written communication techniques.
- Utilize professional practices and knowledge of the business of branding in all design and strategy work.