Amusing stories & views by us
To blog, or not to blog, that is the question. Through these musings, we hope to give you a better sense of who we are, what we believe in, and share our (design) perspective. Below, explore our creative opinion pieces and discover design tips and tricks to use in your daily life.
2024-06-03 Design thinking
Design software tips: work smarter, not harder
1. Illustrator: “paste” on all artboards While graphic design is often a creatively driven passion project, it also often involves a lot of copy and pasting. Having a better set of key commands has improved my workflow tremendously. While working in Illustrator, you can hit option+cmd+shift+V to paste an asset across all artboards. This same […]
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2024-05-31 Design thinking
Designer spotlight: Fran’s creative process
Can you share a pivotal moment or experience in your life that ignited your passion for design? How has that influenced your creative journey since then? One pivotal experience that profoundly shaped my journey into design happened unexpectedly while I was still deciding on my career path after graduation. Ironically, my choice to pursue a […]
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2024-05-27 Culture
Vintage design treasures, by our designers
Some of us seek out vintage items, and some of us have been drawn to an item only to later learn of its robust history. Either way, here at Initiate we’ve realized that most of us own or collect vintage items, or love a good craft market! We want to share our favourite finds with […]
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2024-05-20 Leadership
Remote work: it shouldn’t be about where, but how
Four years later my LinkedIn feed is littered with employee rants that theirs is the next company phasing them “back to work” or with stories from fully remote employees feeling isolated, some worrying they are being passed up for promotion because they aren’t being “seen” by the right people at the office. Of all the […]
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2024-05-13 Culture
Things to consider when applying for a job at Initiate
Hint: it involves some initiative Having recently reviewed countless résumés with spelling mistakes along with portfolios, the ability to focus or pay attention to detail is becoming one of the most attractive skill sets to me as an employer. I’m sharing from the perspective of what Michael and I are looking for from people joining […]
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2024-05-06 Culture
Transferable skills: from policy analyst to graphic designer
Creativity is a circuitous path Like many designers, my path to creating hasn’t been a straight line. I came to Ottawa to study journalism, political science and public administration in 1994, and spent 15 years working for think tanks, associations, and government departments as a policy analyst. It was interesting, but oftentimes dry work. Along […]
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2024-04-30 Design thinking
Designer spotlight: Kevin’s creative process
Can you share a pivotal moment or experience in your life that ignited your passion for design? How has that influenced your creative journey since then? It all started with reading comic strips in the Sunday newspaper, especially Garfield—I wanted to create my own. Even now, anytime I can include illustrated characters in a design […]
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2024-04-22 Design thinking
Why a beginner’s mindset is key in design
Back to beginner Over the past few years, the team at Initiate has actively embraced and encouraged what is commonly known as the beginner’s mindset. We’ve come to recognize the value of promoting open-ended learning, and have integrated it into our approach to our own operations and developing client work. This mindset is not only […]
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2024-04-16 Culture Industry insights
From student to mentor: the other side of the fence
As a 2021 graduate of this program, I have only been in the industry full-time for about 2.5 years. The imposter syndrome came in hot — thoughts like “I don’t have enough experience,” “I’m not going to give good advice,” and “I don’t know what I’m going to say” raced through my mind. Not to […]
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2024-04-09 Leadership
Mi diseño es su diseño
Picture this, Ottawa, 2008… Rewinding to 2008, I departed from a comfortable position at a small agency with a vision: to create a career, and potentially an agency, that mirrored my design aesthetic and cultural values while enriching my life experiences. With this ambition, I embarked on my journey. The inception of Initiate was relatively […]
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