George Brown College

Mission Statement

The School of Design at George Brown College is located in the heart of Canada's largest concentration of design businesses and in one of North America's four top centres for design. The City of Toronto's economic development division has identified design and innovation as being one of the key drivers in the city's evolution towards a knowledge economy.

The School of Design reflects this context by developing programs and projects that foster excellence in design thinking, design culture and design business.

Built on a system of areas of specialization, the curriculum at the School of Design offers an opportunity for students to gear their personal portfolio to the design career of their choice. Designed to focus imagination and hone critical thinking, our programs assist students in applying the latest technologies for a career in design. Our unique educational approach combines academic programs with authentic-task projects to create a community of learning that includes knowledgeable faculty, international lecturers, industry partners, and designers-in-residence.

We build skills, refine talent, and expose students to the world of professional design practice.

In particular, The Institute without Boundaries is an academic program and studio that offers unique educational experience and professional services. The Institute focuses on collaborative design practice with the objectives of social, ecological and economic innovation through design research and strategy. As a top design training and research centre, the IwB is committed to collaborative and interdisciplinary design practice. At the Institute, we see the designer as a problem solver with the ability to affect positive change for humanity. We are a place where students, teachers, industry and community experts come together not only as creators and designers, but also as ambassadors of hope. We imagine how to live, learn, work, and play together as a global community and seek alternative development patterns and viable paths to a bright future.

International Role

Many of our institutional partnerships have emerged out of collaboration on our international charrettes and projects.  These includes local and international institutions such as the Politecnico di Milano, Copenhagen School of Design and Technology, DESIS Network, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), École de Communication Visuelle (ECV), OCAD University, Ryerson University and York University to name a few.

National Role

We partner and collaborate with a number of local educational institutions on our charrettes, field placements, industry projects and applied research projects with public and private sectors. Furthermore, the establishment of incubators within Toronto connects students and alumni directly to local industry in order to bring student projects into reality.

Main Focus

The programs in the School of Design were created to flow into each other organically while functioning as independent, self-contained modules. Students can enter through the Art and Design Foundation program for a solid introduction to the field. This program opens up many diverse possibilities for students in addition to serving as excellent preparation for our Graphic Design program, Interaction Design or Game — Art program.

These Advanced Diplomas provides students with the intensive training necessary to work in the industry, or to continue their education in one of our Honours Bachelor degree programs. Our Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design produces designers who can solve problems using human-centred, socially conscious and economically viable digital solutions. Similarly, our Honours Bachelor of Brand Design produces designers with strengths in collaboration, research, critical and strategic thinking, technical design execution and brand storytelling.

Our five post-graduate diploma programs focused in Interdisciplinary Design Strategy (IwB), Design Management, Game Design, Interactive Media Management and Web Development – Front-End Design are unique, cutting-edge experiences. Top students who wish to continue their digital education can proceed directly to our Game Design and Interactive Media Management programs. The other programs – the IwB and Design Management – are geared to people with more work experience.  Where Design Management prepares people to work as design managers or design entrepreneurs, and the Institute Without Boundaries prepares people for work in design and strategic consulting.