Visitors to Toronto’s eastern waterfront will spot the work of George Brown College graphic design students, whose projects continue to energize the area.
A group of students from the School of Design created 18 vibrant construction hoarding panels surrounding the Empire Quay House condominium development on Queens Quay East near Lower Jarvis Street.
A third-year Graphic Design student, Christina Kim, said the condo developer Empire Communities gave GBC student designers free rein in developing concepts. After much research, the team landed on transformation as its design theme. Kim worked with fellow students Natalie Franke and Kristie Jones, who graduated from the Graphic Design program in June 2022.
“The design plays on the waterfront and waves, using the waves to transform from one activity to another,” Kim explained. “For example, taking a streetcar transforms into an outing at Sugar Beach. Or another, where you have a community basketball court that transforms into a scene of someone working in an office building.”
Kim’s designs could also be seen this summer at the open-air waterfront food and drink festival Smorgasburg Toronto, just down the street from the Empire Quay House project.
The design students’ work further highlights George Brown’s strong presence on the waterfront — we have two Waterfront Campus buildings on Queens Quay East with a third one — a mass-timber structure called Limberlost Place — currently under construction.
The students got involved in waterfront projects as employees of the IN Store and Studio at the School of Design.
“We’re very loud and proud on Queens Quay,” said Lori Endes, Professor and Special Project and Labs Coordinator at the School of Design. “It’s been one of our goals, getting students’ work out in public more often. The work highlighted so close to home makes it even more exciting.”
