Announcing the Winners of the 2023 DesCan Vancouver Jim Rimmer Scholarship Awards
The Jim Rimmer Scholarships have been awarded since 2009 to student projects (or one currently in progress) for a community program, a non-profit organization, or an environmental or social cause. Students who are currently enrolled, or have graduated within the last year from a design program in BC are eligible. Scholarships are awarded on the strength of the solution, how effectively it communicates a message, benefits a community, affects action and promotes change. The two $1,000 scholarships are funded by Hemlock Printers, longtime supporters of DesCan Vancouver and the BC design community.
This year’s recipients were announced November 30, 2023 at Emily Carr University of Art & Design.
The guest speakers for the evening were typographer Alanna Munro and educator Leo Vicenti.
The judges this year were:
Anthony Incardona CDP
Sharon Belanger CDP
Rod Roodenberg CDP
Jeff Harrison CDP
and Doug Climie, Hemlock Printers.
Here are the Winners and Honourable Mentions for 2023:
Winner
Celina Zhong – Capilano University/IDEA School of Design
Project: Soya Fusion
Instructor: Dominique Walker
About the project:
Soya bridges the future of sustainability with Chinese tradition. Through innovative fusion cooking and soy-based dishes dressed in Chinese flavours, their dishes taste just like childhood. Soya values ethically sourced, 100% vegan ingredients and nostalgic flavours. That’s the Li family recipe.
Through a menu and sauce packaging design series, Soya hopes to introduce Chinese culture and flavours to new audiences. As Chinese immigrants themselves, the Li family understands the difficulty of clashing cultures and hopes to create a space for the openminded and multi-cultural. Their hope is to encourage people to integrate cultural flavours in their everyday lives.
Winner
Rachel De Freitas – Wilson School of Design @ KPU
Project: Gestures Coffee House
Instructor: John Belisle
About the project:
Gestures Coffeehouse is a fictional coffee shop initiative that provides employment opportunities for Deaf and Hard of Hearing and promotes the use of Sign Language. The idea emerged as I began to think about ways to relate a personal topic into my work. Having someone in my life who is Deaf and learning about the challenges that affect them every day motivated me to develop a project that emerged from the question: How can I, as a hearing person, raise awareness about the difficulties Deaf individuals encounter while promoting a unique experience to the public? We usually associate coffee shops with gatherings, community, and a place full of opportunities. So I figured that coffee would be the best way to bridge the communication barrier and create a place where both communities merge.
Honourable Mention
Bella Sanchez – Wilson School of Design @ KPU
Project: Frozen Child
Instructor: Michael Cober, CDP
About the project:
“Frozen Child” or “alt skwimémelt” in Secwepemc, recounts the tragic narrative of Duncan Sticks, an eight-year-old who bravely tried to escape from the William’s Lake Residential School, where he endured daily torment and abuse. Its purpose is to shed light on Duncan Sticks’ heartbreaking tale while also highlighting the individual ordeals of those affected by William’s Lake Residential School, all in an effort to raise awareness of the unspeakable atrocities that occurred there.
Honourable Mention
Natasha Lee – Capilano University/IDEA School of Design
Project: Commit – Offal Meats
Instructor: Dominique Walker
About the project:
Commit’s design combines punchy copy with comical illustrations, incorporating familiar meat visuals such as the butcher-esque font and cut chart reference in the animals. The strategy for this project was to lean into the shocking and graphic nature of butchery in an approachable manner, highlighted in the balance of illustration and photography. The strict red and white colour scheme stays true to the bloody product, but also conveys sterility and cleanliness to counteract associations with impurities.
Honourable Mention
Natasha Lee, Tina Ganguly, Vylan Tran, Yu Hsuan (Megan) Lo, and Quoc Huy Anh (Alex) Nguyen – Capilano University/IDEA School of Design
Project: Inevi – Retirement Planning for Youth
Instructor: Paul Brokenshire and Martin Batten
About the project:
“Inevi,” short for “Inevitable,” was designed to make planning for our futures less daunting but still relevant. As our primary target for these workshops are youth, our branding features vibrant colours, playful illustrations and sans-serif fonts. The tone for this project is all about connection and collaborative planning, challenging the current notion that retirement planning is a solitary and boring activity. All of our collateral follows the light-hearted message that we will inevitably grow old, but we get a say in how that happens. In this project, we focused primarily on the outreach for the Inevi workshops by creating posters, social media ads, interactive billboards, and website designs. All these elements would encourage youth to sign up for our event and even invite their friends!
Watch for the call for entries for the 2024 Jim Rimmer scholarships this fall.