A living identity for Canada's leading art and design school
OCAD University, Canada's leading art and design school, sought a new visual identity to reflect the 135-year-old institution's evolution while embracing its future. Inspired by Will Alsop's iconic Sharp Centre for Design—a Toronto architectural landmark with its distinctive checkered exterior—the identity features a modular black-and-white pixel window framework designed to hold student work.
Each year, the university invites select graduating medal winners to design a logo within this framework, meaning the emblem transforms annually. As OCAD U grows and matures, a living library of identities emerges—a dynamic archive recording the ideas and aesthetics that shape the school's visual culture over time. The result is an identity that balances serious starkness with creative whimsy, reflecting an institution built on creativity, risk, and innovation.
Studio: Bruce Mau Design
Team: Laura Stein (Creative Direction), Greg Judelman, Chris Braden, Mike Dudek (Design)
Role: Design
Year: 2010
Each year, the university invites select graduating medal winners to design a logo within this framework, meaning the emblem transforms annually. As OCAD U grows and matures, a living library of identities emerges—a dynamic archive recording the ideas and aesthetics that shape the school's visual culture over time. The result is an identity that balances serious starkness with creative whimsy, reflecting an institution built on creativity, risk, and innovation.
Studio: Bruce Mau Design
Team: Laura Stein (Creative Direction), Greg Judelman, Chris Braden, Mike Dudek (Design)
Role: Design
Year: 2010