Dawson Student Union

Two sides of a welcome flyer for Dawson, including three activities, colourful shapes, and a photo of samosas

Welcome Flyer

In 2010 I was contracted to do graphic design for the Dawson Student Union. It started with a logo consultation and t-shirt design which lead to regular poster and flyer work for the next four years.

Dawson College, being Québec’s largest CÉGEP, happens to have a fairly politically active student union. They needed a lot of text-heavy, informative design with enticing calls to action. This manifested as a mix of playful design exploration and a harkening back to classic union style propaganda posters. I happen to have an affinity for old propaganda posters, so I was more than happy to toy with that aesthetic.

A set of three posters for the DSU Speaker Series, including Deborah Coyne, Brigette DePape, and Justin Trudeau
A set of three posters for the DSU Speaker Series, including Kai Nagata, Romeo Saganash, and Peggy Nash

Liberal Leadership Candidates and Civil Disobedience

The DSU Speaker Series got a re-branding each school year.

Getting students involved in national political awareness was a constant effort on the part of the DSU. The 2013 Liberal leadership election during Harper’s Conservative reign was an easy sell.

NDP Leadership and Media Literacy

The 2012 NDP leadership election was perhaps an even stronger draw.

Considering the relatively small design budget of a student union, whenever a piece needed imagery I had two options: find a creative commons image that fit, or draw it myself. While finding an existing image was usually faster, it rarely was exactly right. The posters I got to illustrate myself were always the most satisfying.

A set of three posters for DSU events using illustration as their main visual elements, including water pouring into the letter U, a heart-shaped condom, and a guitarist figure made of jam standing on a piece of toast
A set of three posters calling for boycotting Chartwells, each using large blocks of explanatory text with a central illustration
A DSU concert poster for Born Ruffians using photos and colourful shapes, flanked by both sides of a flyer for a superhero themed Halloween party using a comic-style halftone print effect, with party details on one side, and illustrations of 8 famous comics characters on the other
A set of three posters using paper backgrounds, muted colours, and grungy textures to emulate union propaganda posters of old
Three pages from the DSU Clubs Manual using CMYK colours and an aged paper texture background throughout

Illustrations

Creating illustrations for poster imagery was a fun and easy way to get the message across without having to search for the exact right stock photo.

Anti-Corporate Imagery

Making custom illustrations also allows for adding details that may otherwise be impossible or out of place in found imagery.

Concerts

The messy, grungy aesthetic I was using for other posters were even more appropriate for concert posters and flyers.

Events

Publication Design

I took the grungy paper and colourful shapes aesthetic I used for the more informative DSU posters and used it for their clubs manual. I had more restraint when it came to text layout, but maintained the playfulness of the shapes.

Through the Dawson Student Union I also received a few contracts to brand some of the more actively political student groups.

The Hive was Dawson’s Womyn’s group. Their aim was to spread awareness of women’s rights and gender equality.

The Hive logo, a brow line which becomes the outline of a nose then a spiral-shaped eye, with a detailed wasp where a mouth would be on a face
The original sketch supplied by the club, along with three other versions of the logo using different levels of detail on the wasp and eye
A set of 36 pin designs for The Hive, using the wasp part of the logo for many designs, along with slogans like 'Yo Soy Feminista', 'Dawson Feminist', 'United for Equality', 'Smash Misogyny', 'Feminist Ally', 'Down with Patriarchy', 'Courage', 'Freedom', 'Valuable', 'Choice', 'Womyn', 'Beautiful', 'Powerful', 'Strong', 'Grace', 'Fierce', and 'Important'

The Final Hive Logo

Other Options

They already had a vision and sent me the top-left sketch, which I expanded to a few options ranging from more abstract and symbolic to more detailed and representative. My favourite is the bottom-left, where the wasp still follows the shape of lips.

Pins

I also created a set of pins with a variety of slogans.

Dawson Persists formed after the loss of a referendum for a student strike. They were determined to fight against tuition hikes. The logo contains the red square symbolic of the Montreal student protests.

The Dawson Persists logo with a red square in place of Dawson's 'O'
Sketches for the Dawson Persists logo, including sketchy fists, squares, and sketchy, blocky text

The Final Dawson Persists Logo

Sketches

I tried to use the classic resistance fist imagery, but ultimately the red square was exactly the symbol they needed.