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Industry: Not for Profit

DesignThinkers 2024

designthinkers.com
Services Deliverables
  • Website

Bringing together a community of creatives

DesignThinkers is Canada’s largest design conference, organized by the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD). Offering in-person and virtual experiences, DesignThinkers hosts annual conferences in Toronto and Vancouver, bringing together creatives and designers nationwide.

Features

WordPress CMS
Custom theme
Events calendar integration
Pheedloop registration
Custom animations
Google analytics

Website based on Whitman Emorson’s branding

Adapting a dynamic aesthetic to the digital space

Each year features a theme focusing on industry trends and opportunities, with this year’s titled ‘Into The Rabbit Hole’. Envisioned by Whitman Emorson, our design partner—the concept is supported by various collage and optical illusion graphic elements, reinforcing the idea of a dreamlike, unpredictable, and unexpected world of discovery.

Graphic elements supporting the ‘Into The Rabbit Hole’ theme

Creating a frictionless user experience

Through user testing and strategic discussion, the overall user experience was enhanced by identifying moments of friction, improving user flow, and increasing registration conversions. By improving the existing UI, optimizing page layout, and creating a stronger focus on speaker content, users can more easily navigate key areas of the website including event schedule, featured speakers, registration, and travel accommodations.

Unique colour palettes are used to differentiate pages for the Vancouver and Toronto events
  • 2.3K delegates attended in 2023
  • 30 editions and counting in 25 years
  • no. 1 graphic design event in Canada
  • 2 cities visited per year

More case studies

Canada Ukraine Foundation

Services Deliverables
  • Bus Wrap
  • Mobile App
  • Video Production
  • Lesson Development
  • Illustration
  • Motion Graphics
  • Logo
  • Website

From darkness to light: shedding light on the Holodomor

To educate students about the 1930’s Ukrainian genocide known as the ‘Holodomor’, Forge helped transform a touring bus into a mobile classroom for the Canada Ukraine Foundation. Its purpose – to raise awareness and deliver a message of hope to high school students across North America, inspiring them to become bastions of truth.

Human rights education for 
a new generation

Forge worked closely with educators to develop an engaging presentation that would articulate this powerful lesson on injustice and human rights in a hands-on fashion. As the students are taught about the horrific events of this historical mass starvation and the reasons behind it, they are given an opportunity to investigate, discover, discuss, and reflect on the topic.

Students visiting the classroom in the bus

Reinventing the classroom experience

The students are fully immersed in the experience from the moment they step onto the bus. A 24’ screen is used to display stirring visuals, while 32 iPads simultaneously respond to the large scale screen. A Mac Pro server and three custom-built applications communicate in real-time to seamlessly run the presentation.

Large scale screen to deliver the lesson plan in a theatre style presentation
Each student is given an iPad to follow the lesson plan and complete exercises
Branding to define the meaning behind the word Holodomor

Creating change for future generations

This fusion of technologies and interactive content defines an entirely new way to conduct a lesson, allowing the facilitator and the students to actively engage with each other, as they share an emotional journey. The tour continues to spread its message, leaving a lasting impression wherever it visits, which will hopefully lead to positive change for the future.

A custom bus, configured to expand to allocate space for a full classroom theatre
Awards

  • A’Design Awards (Education and Training) Gold, 2018.

  • Apex Awards (Education and Healthcare) Gold, 2018.

More case studies

Backside of interactive donor recognition panels.

Stella’s Place

Toronto, ON
Services Deliverables
  • Signage
  • Wayfinding
  • Donor Recognition
  • Video Production
  • Motion Graphics
  • Kiosk
  • Placemaking
  • Masterplanning

Young people are 20% of the population, but 100% of the future

Forge had the pleasure of working with Stella’s Place – a not-for-profit organization in Toronto, ON, that helps young adults empower themselves to manage their mental health and wellness. During our inclusive co-design session, a rich diversity of stories from the stakeholders and youth participants revealed the tapestry of the community they are weaving together. This direction became a foundational theme for the project.

Inspirational interior signage.
A place for sharing art

A through-line connection throughout the space

The interconnected concept of community is in all of the project elements, including a colourful thread graphic that weaves throughout the space, intuitively delineating areas that youth participants are welcome to utilize. Every detail of the signage keeps the safety of the participants in mind and features a high level of changeability to allow for future donor recognition of spaces.

Room signage and donor recognition, with a person walking by.
Integrated room sign and donor recognition
Close-up of messaging on an interior wall.
Close-up of donor recognition and room signage.
A connecting thread

Designing an accessible experience

Also integrated into The thread is a tactile surface that distinguishes it from the wall. Braille directional pannels are strategically located at key decision points to help those with vision disability to orient themselves.

A person's hand touching a braille sign.
Close-up of raised signage letters.
Close-up of braille signage.
Close-up of raised signage letters.
Calming design cues

Thoughtfully showcasing personal stories through design

Forge worked closely with Stella’s Place to ensure everyone’s story was carefully told. Choosing where and how those moments were displayed was a collaborative effort between client, interior designers and Forge’s environments team.

A chair and donor legacy sign.
Close-up of interior donor legacy sign.
Founder recognition plaque

Creating a place of their own

The digital donor wall was placed at the heart of the new building, highlighting the importance of the people that provide funding, service, and participation. At the push of a button, video testimonials of donors, participants, peers and staff capture the essence of ‘Why Stella’s Place matters’ and illustrates the strong sense of belonging shared by all who walk through its doors.

Backside of interactive donor recognition panels.
A person interacting with the donor touch screen.
A close-up of a sign describing the community at Stella's Place.
A rendering of the donor wall concept.
  • 12K sq. ft. community space
  • 300+ 1-on-1 counselling sessions in 2022
  • 80% group session retention rate in 2022
“Forge Media + Design were a pleasure to work with. This project exceeded my expectations of what is possible with donor recognition and placemaking and I’m so proud of the result. I am especially grateful for the process they used to co-design this project with our program participants, staff and Board members. They really listened to our input and our voice is apparent throughout the space. Forge was responsive, engaged and professional for the whole of the process.”
Catherine Dyer, Director of Development

More case studies

DesignThinkers 2023

designthinkers.com
Services Deliverables
  • Website

Developing a seamless digital conference experience

DesignThinkers is Canada’s largest design conference, organized by the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD). Offering in-person and virtual experiences, DesignThinkers hosts annual conferences in Toronto and Vancouver, bringing together creatives and designers nationwide.

Features

WordPress
Custom theme
Schedule creation
Custom animations

Website based on Sid Lee’s branding

Exploring an open-source design approach

Each year features a theme focusing on industry trends and opportunities, with this year’s titled ‘Question Tomorrow’. Envisioned by Sid Lee, our design partner, all elements are largely open-source, free assets, and purposefully selected to support the direction of the conference. Working closely with Sid Lee and RGD, the development team at Forge brought the digital experience to life by implementing a refreshed theme into the website.

Open-source illustrations

Future-proofing the codebase for years to come

We undertook a thorough analysis and modernization effort to update the legacy codebase to meet the latest web standards, guaranteeing the website would continue functioning for years. This optimization effort increased the longevity of the website’s codebase, ensuring that it can continue to adapt to changing business needs and technical environments.

One website, two cities – Vancouver and Toronto

Implementing industry best practices into WordPress

While implementing the refreshed design, the team at Forge improved the semantic code throughout the site by better defining different sections and making the front end more accessible. We enhanced the WordPress administration interface to make it more user-friendly, streamlining the content editing experience and providing greater flexibility to site administrators.

Bold graphics to promote Canada’s largest Design Conference
  • 2.1K delegates attended in 2022
  • 48 speakers from 7 countries
  • 26 editions and counting in 22 years
  • no. 1 graphic design event in Canada
  • 2 cities visited per year

More case studies

Town of Newmarket

Services Deliverables
  • Community Report
  • Marketing Materials
  • Photography Art Direction
  • Placemaking

Crafting a sense of community

Located just north of Toronto, the Town of Newmarket is a bustling community of urban growth that curates a small-town feel for its residents while also providing the amenities of a bigger city. Looking to expand economic development and growth, the town engaged Forge and GCI Canada to develop and create a campaign centred around the concept of ‘live, work and play.’

Community report showcasing everything Newmarket has to offer its residents

Urban, suburban community pride

In support of this envisioned future, our team led the campaign strategy and crafted a comprehensive set of communications materials consisting of print collateral, photography and social media assets to promote a sense of community pride and capture the true nature of the Town.

Positioning a forward-thinking brand

As a result of our collective efforts, we have established the Town of Newmarket as a preferred community within the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA) for economic development investment and effectively positioned their brand at both local and regional levels as a forerunner in creative urban, suburban community building.

A fun, playful morph board was created for use by the busines team
  • 90K+ population of Newmarket
  • 33% of residents are immigrants
  • 48K jobs in Newmarket
  • 41 average age of residents

More case studies