Background

Queer Orientation (QO) is an annual week of LGBTQ-focused programming across all three campuses of U of T during the last week of September. QO is an opportunity for new and returning students, staff, and faculty to make connections, engage in activities and have discussions related to LGBTQ+ communities.

The Sexual & Gender Diversity Office (SGDO) approached me to hire me to design the campaign for the 2020 Queer Orientation. This included a general poster design that could also be used for campus-specific info cards.

The Process

1. The Brief

I started by having conversations with the SGDO officers regarding themes for 2019's QO. 2019 was a big anniversary year at UofT - including the 20th anniversary of the SGDO, the 50th anniversary of LGBTOUT, and the 100th anniversary of Hart House. For this reason, the SGDO wanted to focus on the concepts of heritage and queer history, while keeping the bright and colorful from previous years' designs.

2. Sketches

My first task was to come up with 3 options for design directions.

• Locations of heritage: emphasis on physical locations (buildings) with queer significance
• Boost forward: minimalist and abstract - symbolizing a "boost" from the past into the future
• Lively Doodles: amalgamation of doodles of random objects with a rainbow overlay

The Lively Doodles option was selected

3. The Polished Drafts

I created a vectorized version of my idea, in Illustrator. I presented this to the SGDO afew times and took their feedback into consideration before presenting them with the final draft in the sizes they needed for posters and info cards.