Two KPU graphic design students win national awards
The winners received a cash prize of $1,000
Ellie Kim (left) and Rachel De Freitas (right) are the two KPU winners for this year's RGD student awards. (Submitted)
Editor’s note: Rachel De Freitas, who was interviewed for this article, is the Web Manager for The Runner. The Runner acknowledges and has taken steps to prevent conflicts of interest or potential bias from influencing the article.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University graphic design for marketing students Ellie Kim and Rachel De Freitas won the Association for Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) 2023 Student Awards.
The association, established in 1996, is a non-profit for Canadian graphic designers and aims to support design excellence by design students. For the awards, students were asked to submit a maximum of three projects for any category and were judged on the criteria of design, creativity, and strategy.
Kim won the “Haft2 Award for Colour” for her project “Brewed in Tune Series,” a beer packaging for “Off the Books,” an imaginary brewery in Richmond. The name for her project is based on the idea of incorporating music in brewing but also staying in tune with the community.
“The Haft2 Award for Colour is open to any project that uses colour to achieve its goals. Each Award is named after the creative agency that sponsors the Award and provides the $1,000 cash prize distributed to the winner(s),” wrote Hilary Ashworth, the executive director for RGD, in an email statement to The Runner.
Kim says her project aims to express the diversity and vibrancy of music through colour.
“It’s really finding our community together through music and beer. I think those two things really bring people together,” Kim says.
The packaging colours for each beer are dedicated to a specific music genre. Kim wanted to visualize what each musical genre would feel and look like after listening to and researching each genre during the ideation process.
Kim says she is grateful for receiving the award as an emerging designer.
De Freitas won “The SLD Award for Retail Design” for her project “Gestures Coffeehouse,” a fictional coffeeshop initiative that provides employment opportunities for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.
“The SLD Award for Retail Design is open to any project that involves design for a physical or virtual store. This Award is sponsored by Shikatani Lacroix Design (SLD), a design agency that specializes in retail and packaging design,” Ashworth wrote.
Through her project, De Freitas wanted to raise awareness about the difficulties that deaf individuals experience on a daily basis while also creating something that would be of interest to the general public.
“I think it was just the idea of connecting those communities in a way that was meaningful to both of them,” De Freitas says.
She says she is honoured to receive the award as it allows her to understand the value of underrepresented communities.
“By doing something that benefits or raises awareness about any social or environmental issue, we have that power of creating something that can have a positive [impact], and generally just educate people about it.”
Ashworth wrote that the association presented 18 awards this year and approximately 100 entries received an honourable mention. She also wrote the awards are beneficial for students to promote their work, receive feedback, and access job opportunities from judges.
“The RGD’s mandate is to raise standards in the graphic design industry, so it’s important for our organization to celebrate design excellence by future generations of design professionals,” she wrote.
The 2024 RGD Student Awards Program will launch in January, and the deadline to submit work will be May 20.
