Accessibility refers to standards of design that ensure visual communications are inclusive and usable by people with a variety disabilities and impairments. These standards include appropriate colour contrast, text size, web navigation and functionality, and more

Designers with expertise in advertising create advertising collaterol using strategy and design with a focus on driving engagement and sales. This includes digital ads (social and web), print ads (out of home, editorial, etc), and video (tv, youtube, social). See also: Art Direction

Animation uses motion to bring static graphic elements to life, often for ads, videos, or social media. Designers use tools like Adobe After Effects and Blender to create visuals with storytelling and fluid transitions. See also: Motion Design

Art direction refers to the visual style and execution of creative projects. An Art Director usually collaborates with designers, photographers, illustrators, and others to produce cohesive and brand-adherent work. Art Directors commonly work in advertising, design, and film and media.

Book design focuses on creating the layout and visual design of books, including the covers and interior pages. Designers can use artistry and marketing strategy to design effective covers, and should have a good understanding of book printing, binding, and accessibility. Book designers can also design digital books in a variety of formats.

Branding establishes the visual identity of a business. This involves the design of logos, colours, typography, imagery, and other brand elements, and incorporates these into style guides. A brand designer creates cohesive, strategic elements that convey a brand’s identity and values.

Creative Direction refers to the overall vision and execution of a project. Responsibilities of a Creative Director include overseeing design, strategy, and concept development to ensure alignment with a brand identity meet other goals. Creative Directors are usually leaders in a given organization and often manage creative teams.

Digital production designers prepare and optimize graphic assets for digital platforms such as websites, apps, and social media. Tasks can include ensuring files are set up properly for use (resolution, file size, etc) and handling versioning and exporting multiple files to meet different criteria (dimensions, languages) or creating different design iterations.

Editorial design lays out text and imagery for magazines, newspapers, and digital publications. Editorial designers utilize typographic hierarchies, grid systems, and imagery for readability, accessibility, aesthetic appeal. See also: Book Design and Art Direction

Illustration combines artistic techniques with strategic design to create visuals that complement or convey messages. Illustrators work in a variety of analog and digital mediums, and often create work for editorial publications, ads, branding, packaging, and more.

Infographics are a visual storytelling tool that combine design and data to present complex information clearly and engagingly. Effective infographics guide a viewer through a structured flow of information to make certain correlations or statistics easy to comprehend and process.

Lettering is the practice of creating custom-drawn letterforms for logos, illustrations, or branding. Lettering is often done by hand, but may be digital as well. Lettering should not be confused with typography, which is the use of pre-designed fonts. See also: Typography

Motion design combines animation, illustration, and graphic design to create dynamic visuals for ads, video, and web. Motion designers often use software like After Effects and Blender for animation, but may also incorporate other tools or illustration styles. See also: Animation and 3D Art.

Murals are large-scale artworks applied to walls or windows, containing illustrations and/or text. They can be used to beautify a space or advertise a business. Muralists and window painters should have a good understanding of application for indoor and outdoor use, working at large scales, and may also use hand-lettering techniques to incorporate words and phrases. See also: Lettering and Illustration

Packaging designers create functional packaging for a variety of products, applying brand identities and using strategic design to advertise the product to specific consumers, meet legal and accessibility requirements, and protect and preserve the contents.

Presentation design is a specialized area of graphic design focused on creating visually engaging slide decks for pitches, meetings, webinars, and public speaking. It blends design principles like layout, typography, and visual hierarchy with storytelling to communicate ideas clearly and persuasively. Designers may use InDesign, PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides, Figma Slides, or other tools to build these.

Print production prepares design files for physical printing, ensuring colour accuracy (in CMYK or Pantone), bleed settings, and image resolution, among other details. This may also include prep for special printing methods, like foil, spot gloss, or custom die cuts. This term typically refers to modern digital printing methods but may apply to other, analog methods as well.

In the context of the design world, "product design" refers to the design of digital products or apps. A product designer will work on the visual design of an app, applying brand elements, considering user needs, and structuring content. They may collaborate with a UX Designer to create a functional interface, or may do the UX design themselves. See also: UX Design

Social media design focuses on creating visually engaging, brand-consistent content for platforms such as Instagram or TikTok. Assets include posts, stories, reels, and advertisements crafted to align with marketing strategies and drive engagement.

Typography focuses on arranging text to make it readable, visually appealing, and expressive. Designers choose fonts, spacing, and layouts to enhance communication across digital and print media.

UX design emphasizes creating seamless, user-friendly experiences for digital products like apps or websites. Efforts prioritize navigation, usability, and interaction based on research and iterative prototyping.

UX research gathers insights on user needs and behaviors to inform design decisions. Techniques include interviews, usability testing, and surveys, enabling designers to create intuitive and user-friendly interfaces or layouts.

Wayfinding and signage design helps users navigate spaces such as airports or museums. Projects prioritize intuitive layouts, legibility, and aesthetic integration with the environment.

Web design focuses on creating the layout, visuals, and user experience of websites. Projects include wireframes, typography selection, and responsive designs that balance aesthetics and functionality.

Refers to the City of Hamilton, which is part of the GTHA. Does not include other GTA suburbs or Ontario municipalities.

The GTA refers to the Greater Toronto Area. The GTA includes Halton, Peel, York, and Durham regions, but does not include the City of Toronto or Hamilton.

This refers the City of Toronto. This includes the six municipalities of Etobicoke, Scarborough, York, North York, East York, and Old Toronto.