Fetching Creativity
Colleges Ontario
Objective
For more than 16 years, I have supported Ontario’s public college system through visual communication, branding, marketing campaigns, information design, and digital experiences. My objective has been to help colleges and learners connect through clear, accessible, and engaging communication across a wide range of channels and touchpoints.
Client: Colleges Ontario
Role: Lead Designer
Team: Product, Content, Development
Duration: 2 Months
Platform: Public Website
College Ontario
Social Media Communications
Challenge
Ontario Colleges relied on social media to communicate application deadlines, blog content, student resources, and recruitment messaging. The challenge was creating a flexible campaign system that could support a wide variety of content while remaining instantly recognizable as Ontario Colleges.
Approach
I developed a modular social media framework built around the Ontario Colleges learner pathway visual language. By combining reusable layouts, illustration motifs, photography treatments, and consistent brand elements, new content could be produced efficiently while maintaining a cohesive visual identity.
Outcome
The completed website provided Colleges Ontario with a modern platform capable of supporting its communications, advocacy, and research initiatives. The project strengthened the organization’s digital presence and provided stakeholders with a more effective way to share information with government, media, sector partners, and the public.
The engagement also represented a continuation of the trust established through previous Ontario Colleges and OCAS initiatives, demonstrating the value of consistent design leadership across multiple organizations within Ontario’s college ecosystem.
Selected Work
Evolution
To prevent visual fatigue and keep campaigns engaging, the system was periodically refreshed. New layouts, image treatments, and content structures were introduced while preserving the core visual language, allowing the brand to evolve without sacrificing recognition.
Ontario Colleges Website
Challenge
Ontario Colleges embarked on a year-long initiative to establish a more formal and cohesive brand identity. The challenge was not only defining the brand, but applying it consistently across a complex ecosystem of websites, communications, marketing materials, and learner-facing experiences.
At the same time, the primary website required modernization. Years of content growth had created complexity, making it difficult for users to find information and challenging for teams to maintain consistency. The goal was to create a trusted, recognizable experience while improving usability, scalability, and content governance.
Approach
The project began with a comprehensive audit of the existing website and content ecosystem. Using analytics, stakeholder input, and content reviews, we identified opportunities to simplify navigation, consolidate content, and better support key learner journeys.
As the new brand was being developed, we translated its principles into a scalable digital experience. A streamlined information architecture was created, and site content was consolidated into a small set of flexible page templates capable of supporting the majority of user needs.
This approach allowed the new Ontario Colleges brand to be applied consistently across the platform while creating a sustainable framework for future content growth, marketing initiatives, and learner experiences.
