Maria Centola moved to the UK after graduating from IDEA School of Design in 2016. Her 3-month design internship at Sennep in London became a full-time job. Maria mainly creates user interfaces at Sennep using Sketch, InVision and After Effects including new illustrations for Sennep's mobile game OLO.

Her freelance projects include editorial pieces for Montecristo, street banners for Port Moody, and postcards for the redevelopment of the Canada Post Office in downtown Vancouver.

In June 2020 she will start as a Digital Designer at an agency called SOON_. Check out Maria’s story and podcast!

For the past 4 years, IDEA Interprets Annual Poster Show has been an annual school project that culminates in a public exhibition at the Ferry Building Gallery in West Vancouver. Due to health measures around COVID-19, this spring’s show has been cancelled.

In light of this, we invite you to enjoy the images here on the IDEA School of Design blog. Thirteen of them will also appear in an upcoming 2021 promotional wall calendar. Shown above: “Nurture” illustration by Talia Rouck. Instructor: Pascal Milelli.

This year's crop of First Year students designed some fabulous international shopping bags for their last big project of the year. There were some innovative typographic solutions as well as some very graphic and illustrative takes on countries and cities.

Check out a few of the standout projects from IDEA School of Design Grad 2023 students including ‘New York City’ (shown above) by Marko Jones.

For first-year student, Jamie Kusack, life at Capilano University’s IDEA School of Design has really helped her feel invigorated about her work and excited to create more art. She found the oil paint self-portrait assignment (shown above) incredibly daunting but absolutely fell in love with the medium after the first day using it.

Read Jamie’s story for a glimpse into IDEA School of Design at Capilano University—a 4-year degree program with an enduring reputation for industry-prepared graduates. Late Applications for Fall 2020 open Feb 14, 2020!

Every Fall IDEA School of Design at Capilano University welcomes a new crop of first-years. As well as learning about creative thinking techniques, drawing and painting skills, and basic design principles, the students learn about the origins of communication design and illustration. In our four first-year survey classes they learn about how mankind went from verbal storytelling and cave paintings to Tweeting and Snapchat.

Shown above: Grad 2023 celebrating their hard work over the Fall term. Check out this story!

Merry Christmas from IDEA School of Design at Capilano University! Early Applications for the Fall 2019 Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication close on Wednesday, January 22, 2020. Shown above: Illustrated and animated baby Yoda by first-year student, Jamie Kusack (IDEA Grad 2023).

Huge congratulations to Sharleen Ramos (IDEA Grad 2021) for winning the Jim Rimmer Community Scholarship for Design Award with her advertising campaign Recycle My Electronics. The judges said there were over 40 entries from Vancouver schools, and only two winners, both from IDEA!

Check out her award-winning student advertising project!

This was the 2nd year students' first foray into package design for a beverage. Shown above: True Nature Botanical Gin Packaging by Jonathan Pachkowsky (IDEA Grad 2022). Check out some of the amazing project results from IDEA Grad 2022!

Congratulations to Rachel Wong (IDEA Grad 2021) for winning 5th place in the prestigious CAPIC Rodeo 11 student contest for illustration with her digital painting Reflecting (shown above).

Many congratulations to Capilano University's IDEA School of Design students who continue to dominate the CAPIC student awards in illustration!

Congratulations to Abby Jocson (IDEA Grad 2021) for winning 1st & 4th place in the CAPIC Rodeo 11 student contest for Illustration with her digital painting "My Ate" (shown above) and "Vancouver Sheet Music".

Many congratulations to Capilano University's IDEA School of Design students who continue to dominate the CAPIC student awards in illustration!

Congratulations to Anna Tsybulnyk (IDEA Grad 2021) for winning 3rd place in the CAPIC Rodeo 11 student contest for illustration with her digital painting Winter Sadness (shown above).

Many congratulations to Capilano University's IDEA School of Design students who continue to dominate the CAPIC student awards in illustration!

Congratulations to Noah Kawamura (IDEA Grad 2020) for winning the Applied Arts 2019 Student Award for Packaging Design with "HeyDay Vitamins" project. Instructor: Judy Snaydon. Mentor: Andrew Passas, Creative Director from 123w. Course: DSGN 320 Professional Development I. Check out his project!

Congratulations to Valeriya Kim (IDEA Grad 2021) for winning the RGD Award for Visual Web Design with her educational website prototype dedicated to Reconciliation and designed with in InVision. Instructor: Judy Snaydon. Course: IDES 244—Design Studio II.

Truth and Reconciliation Week takes place between October 15–18, 2019. This important week at Capilano University demonstrates our commitment to deeper understanding and systemic change.

Andrea (IDEA Grad 2008) returned to IDEA School of Design to complete her degree in 2017/2018. We recently caught up with her for an interview. Little Andrea started life in a jungle village in Indonesia. Her experience being an outsider for so much of her childhood has planted in her a deep wonder for the different ways people do life, and an appreciation for authentic diversity. She always wanted to be self-employed, so she never put much effort into getting hired by an agency. It’s not always balanced, but she loves the variety of her projects and continues to split her time between graphic design, illustration, commissioned portraiture and fine art. Check out our interview with her!

Congratulations to Tina Trinh (IDEA22) on winning 2nd place in this spring’s CAPIC's Rodeo 11 national Canadian student competition for her oil painting and surpassing 15,000 Instagram followers! Her body of original work is rapidly growing. Shown above: ‘Sara’ oil painting. Check out more from this talented young emerging artist!

Congratulations to Teresa Cantu (IDEA Grad 2020) for gaining the RGD Honourable Mention for Packaging Design for her “Scotch & Ginger” branding project.

Teresa incorporates storytelling of Celtic mythology into her product packaging for a fictitious barber shop with Scottish roots. This was a very fun project for Teresa and she learned that thorough research is extremely important in design.

Congratulations to Annika McFarlane (IDEA Grad 2022) for gaining the RGD Honourable Mentions for Social Good Design (The Calm Commute) and Print Design (Collectible City Shopping Bags).

Congratulations to Haluka Yagi (IDEA Grad 2021) for winning the Global Class of Top Talent award from Adobe! Braille Literacy Canada Community Report was her first big design project in 2nd Year at IDEA School of Design at Capilano University. This fictional community report incorporates braille and braille imagery throughout the book to familiarize the reader with this non-verbal form of communication. Check out this award-winning project!

IDEA Interprets explores a single theme through typography and illustration. The poster show and sale helps to support the development of emerging local artists. The theme of the 2019 show, “Growth”, has been imaginatively interpreted by second year illustration and design students. Opening Gala: April 23, 2019 | 6pm-8pm. Shown above: “Lies Grow on You” by Anna Tsybulnyk.

"So many promo packages!" writes Emily Rose regarding her practicum at Production Road working under the owner of Chairman Ting Industries Inc., Carson Ting. Emily never thought she’d be part of an email chain with over 100 emails, working on a project from all different countries and different timezones!

Her practicum included designing icons to be animated, an album cover, learning different ways to apply her illustrations and even transferring domain names for a website client.

Check out Emily's practicum story!