Fellows

By accomplishments or influence. Since 1960 the organization has awarded Fellowship to those who have made a major contribution to the organization or the design communications industry.

See the complete list of DesCan Fellows

David Coates

David became tired of banging nails in the muddy, wet winters of BCs Lower Mainland, so he ventured...

Don Dickson

I have always believed in the importance of a national organization. DesCan (the GDC) has a...

Linda Coe

An enthusiastic and curious creative, Linda conveys and inspires students (and others) to make the...

Mary Ann Maruska

Mary Ann is one of those people who keeps on giving to the design community across Canada, having...

Johnathon Vaughn Strebly

Johnathon is a visionary leader in creative and systems-thinking, known for guiding organizations...

Neville Smith

Neville is one of the few designers I know who is completely uncompromising in the quality of his...

Dave Mason

Dave spearheaded the GDC’s efforts to present an elevated, credible, and cohesive message about...

Catherine Garden

Catherine is one of those special people who will follow up with her actions to see these ideas...

Sue Colberg

Sue is passionate about making the world better through design, by shaping and preserving culture...

Leslie (Sam) Smart

Known as Sam to everyone, he inspired, organized, and encouraged the entire emerging design field in...

Burton Kramer

Burton is not only one of the most influential designers of the modernist era in Canadian design, he...

Gerhard Doerrié

As a graphic designer and a teacher of graphic design, Gerhard contributed significantly to the...

Peter Dorn

Peter served an apprenticeship as a compositor and studied graphic design in night classes, and in...

Herbert Laurence (H.L.) Rous

In November 1960, Rous was invited to become the first Honorary Fellow of the Society of Typographic...

Peggy Cady

As National President Peggy started the GDC Foundation in order to create a legacy fund for GDC to...

Paul-Michael Brunelle

Paul developed a strong reputation, sited as being “A laconic man with the modulated voice of an...

Hanno Ehses

Hanno has always been willing to share his knowledge with the local design community, particularly...

Ray Hrynkow

Ray would sit down with students and spend up to two hours going through their work, suggesting...

Casey Hrynkow

Casey took the “making” out of design and turned design thinking towards finding a way to...

Georges Haroutiun

Convinced that Canadian visual communicators needed a magazine that would showcase their creativity,...

Matthew Warburton

Matt is known as a strong advocate for design in Canada and beyond. He has been actively involved...

Laurie Lewis

Laurie was a professional member of the Ontario organization since 1969, and with institutional...

Paul Haslip

Paul has been a prominent member of the graphic design community in Toronto for over 40 years.

Albert Ng

Albert led a ten-year campaign for the professional accreditation of graphic designers in Ontario.

Carl Dair

Realizing that no typeface had been designed in Canada since James Evans’ Cree syllabary of 1840,...

Rod McDonald

Since beginning his career as a lettering artist in the early 1970s, Rod McDonald’s work as a...

Fritz Gottschalk

A leading exponent and proponent of Swiss graphic design and the International Style, Fritz...

Stuart Ash

For Stuart, creating a graphic design business was about building personal relationships, mentoring...
B&w portrait of Andrea Tétrault

Andrea Tétrault

Andrea is a partner at Tétro, a graphic design agency in Winnipeg she founded with her husband Paul...

Paul Tétrault

Paul is a dedicated and accomplished professional who takes great pride in his heritage as a Red...

Jim Rimmer

A master typographer in both lead and pixel, Jim has conveyed his love of the craft aspect of our...
portrait of Robert L. Peters

Robert L. Peters

Robert was always the voice of reason at GDC AGMs, bringing direction to an impasse, or clarity to a...
portrait of amanda schutz

Amanda Schutz

Amanda was a two-term president of the Alberta North Chapter of Design Professionals of Canada, and,...
portrait of blair thomson

Blair Thomson

Blair Thomson is the Founder and Creative Director of design practice, Believe in. He is also an...
portrait of marian bantjes

Marian Bantjes

Marian’s art and design crosses boundaries of time, style and technology. She is known for her...
portrait of bruce mau

Bruce Mau

Across nearly forty years of design practice, Bruce has, in the words of architect Bjarke Ingels,...
portrait of greg durrell

Greg Durrell

In 2018, Greg directed a feature-length documentary, Design Canada, which looks at how a group of...

Dick Kouwenhoven

Dick was considered a “trailblazer,” bringing innovation to the design community and constantly...

Denise Saulnier

From 1983 to 1985 Denise conducted a demographic and economic survey of GDC members and published...

Tiit Telmet

Tiit was awarded the Honour of GDC Fellowship in 1988. And in 1996, he received the Ico-D Excellence...

Maria Kennedy

Maria is celebrated as an inspirational and transformative force within Vancouver’s Design...

Mark Busse

Mark was one hell of a Chapter President, he pushed and inspired every executive and member to bring...

Michael Maynard

As national president Michael raised government funds to sponsor a facilitated organizational review...

Allan Fleming

Fleming is no doubt best remembered as the creator of CN’s logo. The inspired design certainly...