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This February, Interior Design Program Coordinator Jake Allderdice and three Academy of Design students participated in the Green Line Ideas Competition. See their entry “One Big Journey Many Small Steps” along with others on the competition website.

The Academy of Design attented the World Master Card Fashion Week Toronto this March and took in some incredible designers showcasing the latest trends for Fall/Winter 2013.

The Academy of Design’s Fashion Design Program is proud to have another first place winner in the classroom. Hilary Klassen, in her 6th term, recently won first place in “Sporting Life’s Design your Goose Contest”. The Sporting Life contest was geared towards students from Toronto design schools and challenged them to design their own Canada Goose Jacket.

Graphic Designer's Road Map

Fashion intern, Cintia, covers the behind-the-scenes at the Academy of Design's fashion show at the Creativ Festival 2012. The Academy of Design was featured on the runway during the Creativ Festival's Silver Anniversary Gala. We were honoured to be the exclusive school to show that night, and it was a fantastic show! Special thanks to all the graduating Fashion Design students for contributing their wonderful garments, to the FMM students for helping out backstage, and all the staff and faculty who made the show as successful as it was.

The new Spring 2013 “#theNüBLAKI” collection was shown on October 15, at Brennen Demelo Studios, a very intimate and cozy venue.   Diego Fuchs and Helder Aguiar met at the Academy of Design while studying Fashion Design in 2003. Their brand BLAK-I was created in 2010 and it has evolved throughout the years into a lifestyle for women that know what they want and “don’t really give a damn”.

Fashion Marketing & Merchandising instructor, Farley Chatto, curated and artistically directed the White Cashmere Collection 2012 event. Cashmere put on the show to raise money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Read more about what our fashion intern, Cintia, had to say about the event and see the breathtaking designs.

The video game development industry is expanding rapidly, with thousands of job opportunities available around the world. So, today, if you have a passion for gaming, then you may have what it takes to become a video game designer, as there is plenty of room for newcomers to the industry.  

IIDEX is Canada’s National Design + Architecture Exposition & Conference, bringing together the best minds in the market to share and explore the field. This year, Toronto’s Academy of Design will be in attendance as an exhibitor; so, please come visit us on the weekend of September 21-22, 2012 at booth 1521 and share your IIDEX experiences with us!

One of the latest games to be made at the Academy is called “The Witching Hour”, an RTS action game taking place on Halloween that gives haunting warnings to old tales of ghosts, goblins, and zombies that terrify the streets on Halloween night.

Fashion intern, Cintia, covered the August 15th Discover Fashion event. Prospective students and their parents were invited to tour the facilities and learn more about the Academy of Design's Boutique School of Fashion. With the recent completion of the new fashion studios, attendees got to see the brand new space and the first wave of fashion projects to be completed there.

The beauty of higher education is that anyone can be a student. And the greatest part about learning is always being capable to continue down the path of education. That was the case with one mother who stuck to her dreams of a fashion design career and attended the Academy of Design at the RCC Institute of Technology in Toronto.

On Thursday, August 23rd, 2012, Academy of Design in Toronto is hosting “Careers in Graphic Design & Interactive Media”, an exciting info night where you will discover new trends in graphic design and interactive media and career options in the industry.

Davisville Campus was recently renovated to transform the old Dental Hygiene clinic into a new studio and workspace for the Fashion programs. Read more about how the space was redesigned with the needs of fashion students in mind.

Are you looking to start a career in fashion design or fashion promotion? This may be
the event for you to meet the right people and get on the right path. The Academy of Design in Toronto is hosting “Discover Fashion”, a wine & cheese reception where you can meet and mingle with fashion faculty, students and alumni. Explore all of the possible career opportunities in the fashion industry and learn more about the Academy of Design’s Boutique School of Fashion’s fashion programs.

Meet Cintia, the Academy of Design's newest fashion intern who will be photographing and blogging about the Boutique School of Fashion's upcoming initiatives and student life.

Jason’s claim to fame started with Project Runway Canada Season 2 where he placed as a finalist and showed at Toronto Fashion Week. Jason’s foundation in fashion started at the Academy of Design. Jason talks frankly about this journey in the fashion world, and how the Academy of Design played a part in getting him to where he is now.

Come and discover the Academy of Design's exciting 18-month Fashion programs: Fashion Design and Fashion Marketing & Merchandising. The Academy of Design is Toronto's boutique school of fashion, and features a small and intimate learning experience for students.

Goldwing is the latest video game developed by graduating students from the Academy of Design's Video Game Design & Development program.

Did you know previous Mrs India, and Mrs World, Shilpa Reddy studied fashion at the Academy of Design? Congratulations to Shilpa for the feature in WonderWoman!

The Bachelor of Interior Design program is now fully recognized by the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (ARIDO). This recognition is for the fully online, fully in-class and blended delivery models.

Katrina Small is an exemplary student from the Graphic Design & Interactive Media program. With a college diploma in Fashion Management already under her belt, Katrina decided to pursue a diploma in Graphic Design & Interactive Media as well to follow her passion for design and brand creation. Read more after the jump!

The Academy of Design's fabulous fashion intern, Hallae, was able to accept a last minute invitation to the Pink Tartan show at World Mastercard Fashion Week in Toronto. As a big fan of the designer, Hallae was willing to brave the well-heeled masses at David Pecaut Square to bring us a detailed review of the Pink Tartan Fall/Winter 2012 collection. Read all about it after the jump!

Dr. Maha Salman has been teaching Academy of Design students since October of 2009. She is an architect and holds a PhD in Sustainability & Architecture from the University of Huddersfield (UK). She has taught all over the world including Iraq, Libya and Dubai. We seized the chance to sit down with her and talk about her thoughts on sustainability, the eco-friendly movement, and how interior design can factor into saving the planet!

Here are 10 Inspiring Modernist Dream Houses designed by big-names such as Richard Meier, Shigeru Ban, and Daniel Libeskind

On Wednesday, March 21, 2012, senior students from the Video Game Design & Development program presented their final project: Armoured Revolution. The game is a mech-based multiplayer shooting game. Players can pick from three different mechs and battle each other.

Here at the Academy of Design we as students dabble in all that makes up the fashion industry in case we find ourselves there in our working futures. While many of us were self-proclaimed camera amateurs at our first photography class, by our last one we were putting together editorial photo shoots in groups of two or three. The group dynamic was important because it takes more than a photographer and a model to achieve a well-executed editorial. Where are my manners? Some of you are probably wondering what I mean about “editorial”. When you open up Vogue or InStyle and see 4-5 pages of a model(s) in what appears to be the same story, while showing different looks – that is an editorial. There is a concise theme throughout all the images, yet each image shows another aspect to whatever the story of the photo shoot may be.

Advances in technology have changed the design industry greatly. At the RGD Ontario Headstart Career Development Conference, Jeremy Linskill (design director of Zync) shared some industry forecasts that revolved around smartphones and interactive media. The use of smartphones is on the rise, which will make interactive media design skills even more in-demand.

In the past we interviewed several Video Game Design & Development graduates who were great project leaders, creative designers, and artists. However for this interview, we are featuring a student who chose the programming side of Video Games. Kyle Beck also worked on games such as Nightmare, and The Fly (we featured these games in previous posts), doing behind-the-scenes work such as programming the AI.

Hallae rounds up a few trendy outfits our fashion students wore during the Winter term.

Jason Meyers is an accomplished Canadian designer having been singled out by Fashion Television as “One to Watch” right out of school and making it to the top three in Season 2 of Canada’s Project Runway. But the best part? Jason Meyers is also an Academy of Design alumni so I had the privilege to interview him at his studio last week.

Fall is certainly underway and there’s no question that we’re already starting to cover up. I know when I roll out of bed these mornings there’s a little voice in my head saying “just wear long-underwear” and I’m telling you – he will win me over one day. So when I go to school and see my fellow students and professors working it like the sun is shining and the birds are chirping, well I can’t help but be inspired by them.

We sent our fashion intern, Hallae, to the Mercedes-Benz Start Up Runway Show at the October LG Fashion Week in Toronto. Read about her honest thoughts and assessments of the designs that were sent down the runway by up and coming Canadian designers. Agree or disagree? Sound off in the comments!

The Regis College at the University of Toronto has been in the “design hot spot” of Toronto as of lately. I had read an article about it in Canadian Architect Magazine. You may have seen Jacob around the Steeles Campus, but many of you may not know just exactly how talented he is. Not only is he an instructor here at the Academy of Deisgn, but is also a Licensed Architect and LEED AP. I decided to get his direct insight about the Regis College project as well as ask him a few questions about himself.

Frequent readers of our blog may remember our interview a few months ago with Vanessa Trepanier from the Video Game Design & Development program. At the time she had just graduated from the 18-month Video Game Design & Development diploma program at the Academy of Design. With a few flash games under her belt, and a portfolio in the works, Vanessa's future in the industry looked bright.

Vanessa is a recent graduate of the Academy of Design at RCC Institute of Technology‘s Video Game Design and Development program. Vanessa’s final group project with the Academy was a game called “The Fly Game” to see more on the game, check out the intro of the game here or visit the official YouTube channel here.