
Over the past year, the Graphic Design team at the Innovation Hub has brought student stories to life through visual design. In this blog, the team discusses collaborative strategies they used to enhance their creativity, reflecting on their shared achievements and growth.
Written by the Graphic Design Team
As members of the Graphic Design Team, we had the opportunity to support all Innovation Hub projects by creating visuals that brought data to life. From small icons to large-scale thematic visuals and published reports, we worked as a team to design accessible graphics that tell inspiring stories. Over the year, we used our technical skills to brainstorm, mood board, sketch, and digitize a range of materials, sharing in the joy of the creative process together. As the Fall-Winter 2024-25 term comes to a close, we reflect on our experiences working at the iHub and the many valuable learnings we have gained.
Lessons in Collaboration and Creativity

During our time at the iHub, we had the opportunity to grow our skills as graphic designers and team players. The experience developing professional communications materials and graphics for the iHub and the U of T community expanded our understanding of design considerations, thinking creatively within a set visual brand, and designing with feedback. Creating graphics together as opposed to individually was also a new experience for many of us. Despite any nervousness we had expressing ideas and designs to the team, the welcoming atmosphere really helped us feel more comfortable and confident as we grew in our collaboration abilities. Isabella, Victoria, and Kyla reflect on their growth as graphic designers and their experiences working as a team.

Isabella: My experience working on a team designing reports was very collaborative, fun and skill-building. With each report we worked on, I gained a new understanding of the research and the importance of accessible and inclusive design. Working with such an amazing team has reiterated the value of a strong working environment that encourages growth, collaboration and confidence.

Victoria: When I started at the Innovation Hub, I really struggled to work collaboratively with others. I never really had to do that in the past. I have learned so much from every one of my members, and we have built an environment that doesn’t require any insecurity or hesitation when we are unsure. Our team was always ready to support and advise each other, which allowed us to learn every day.

Kyla: Any graphic that we eventually put out has gone through a lengthy feedback and development process by our team and supervisors. We have worked together to create designs that we believe are the best way to communicate our concepts to the audience.
Our time creating graphics together, learning from each other’s unique creativity, and embracing a supportive team culture, really emphasized the importance of working in an encouraging work setting where everyone motivates and encourages each other. The care and support that we expressed to each other really motivated us to do the best work we could, expand our creative thinking, and champion each other’s ideas.

Designing for Everyone
As a team, we learned to prioritize accessibility in all our visual content, aiming to create materials that are accessible, inclusive, and intuitive. We quickly dived into the process, recognizing the importance of creating designs that consider a wider range of audiences. Ryan and Joseph discussed how the team approached designing graphics when looking back at their experience learning accessibility practices and helpful considerations for visual choices.

Ryan: I think designing for accessibility is really important, but it was a little new to me. When it came to our design research reports, we needed to make sure all text and images were accurately numbered correctly so that someone using a screen reader could read the report in the intended reading order. We also applied alternative text to our visuals to describe each graphic which enhances the reading/viewing experience for those who may have accessibility needs.

Joseph: We’ve kept accessibility considerations in mind from the very start of our creative design process. When we gather images for inspiration based on any given task or prompt, we always consider their meanings from multiple viewpoints and perspectives. We also try to ensure our designs are simplistic and relatable to all readers so that everyone can understand and engage with them to the fullest.
We realized that there is always room for improvement and growth when it comes to inclusive design. We aimed to keep accessibility at the forefront of our design process, implementing it at each stage of our work to ensure our produced graphics and communications materials can be enjoyed by a diverse audience. We were grateful to develop our skills in accessible design and embrace new perspectives, ultimately learning how to make everyday materials more inclusive and thoughtful.
Bringing Data to Life

One of the things that put design work into new perspective for us was the process of designing graphics through the lens of storytelling to creatively illustrate data. Over the year, we became not just graphic designers, but storytellers. By developing complex thematic visuals from scratch, we learned to tell impactful and engaging data-driven stories in unique ways. Wendy and Sophia discussed creativity and fun design challenges that they got to explore when designing theme visuals.

Wendy: Conceptualizing and designing the visuals for major data from the design research projects at the iHub was an enriching and fun experience. Beginning with mood boarding, it was exciting to turn a single paragraph or prompt into a giant board of images that visualize what the concept could be. When sketching, I was challenged with expanding my creativity. It was amazing seeing the theme visuals being assembled piece by piece, and then being brought to life with colour and decorative embellishments.

Sophia: Working on the visuals for the design research projects was honestly one of the most exciting tasks for me. There is something about starting with rough sketches and mood boards that really gets the creativity flowing. It wasn’t just about making the data look good. It was about finding the right way to tell a story in a clear and engaging manner. The best ideas always came from the moments of team collaboration, where someone would suggest a tiny tweak that suddenly made everything click.

In many ways, the theme visuals felt like a culmination of all the processes, technical skills, and creative thinking that we developed through all the trainings and smaller scale design tasks we completed earlier in the year. Taking everything that we learned and then applying it to the creation of the beautiful theme visuals we designed for the design research projects reminded us of how far we’ve come. We started off as graphic designers and ended as visual storytellers in how we brought data to life in fun, creative ways.
Building Creative Confidence
Being a part of the Graphic Design Team at the iHub has given us an experience that we will never forget. We grew together as a team throughout the term, learning new skills and proficiencies with the diverse range of graphic design work we produced. We will always remember the valuable experience collaborating as a strong, supportive team in a professional setting, and how we surprised ourselves with newfound confidence in our own abilities as graphic designers, creative individuals and collaborators. Joseph shares a few final thoughts.

Joseph: Getting to lead a team of talented graphic designers, and most importantly, wonderful people, has been a real joy to experience over the months. We had many moments of growth in our abilities as graphic designers and collaborators, producing fantastic work in the process. It was a wonderful reminder of the importance of fostering a welcoming and supportive culture and the profound effect it has on our work, team relationships, and ourselves.
We are all very proud of the work we did throughout the term, from initial icon creation to bringing design research reports to life through creative storytelling. We are excited for everyone to check out the amazing projects from the design research and communications teams at the Innovation Hub!

Contributors
Joseph Lek, Digital Communications Coordinator, Honours Bachelor of Arts, Communications, Culture, Information & Technology (CCIT) and Art & Art History
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