Advertising & Graphic Design

JD is an international award-winning creative director, mentor and professor. His goal is to lead, teach and empower others to grow into the next generation of advertising, marketing and design professionals.

Tyler is a freelance copywriter with a decade of agency experience. His work includes traditional media (print, billboard, TV), but his focus has been on social media and digital strategy. Clients he's worked with include RBC, Maple Lodge Farms, Zabiha Halal, Amica Senior Lifestyles, and Lone Star Texas Grill.

Lea Conte is an experienced designer, art director and post-secondary educator in Toronto. With over ten years of industry experience and over five years as an instructor, she is driven by her passion for design and love of teaching. Lea has a seasoned background of education and professional experience. She retains a BA in cultural anthropology, which has complemented her curiosity for teaching and understanding cultural dynamics.

Pursuing her natural creative interests, Lea went on to study fashion arts and graphic design, then went on to become a successful art director. Sensing the need to foster her academic and cultural mind, Lea found herself teaching in the post-secondary environment.

Currently, Lea wholeheartedly believes she has combined her passion for cultural understanding and design problem solving into a successful and fulfilling career. Lea takes the utmost pride in providing a high-quality learning experience for her students, keeping them up to date with contemporary design practices and principles.

Eric is a digital age creator who still has little dirt and ink under his fingernails. He contracts design assignments with print, photography, web, and fabrication requirements. As an academic Eric has explored accessible forms of design education through concrete media like woodworking. He plays an active role in the design community through the RGD, supporting the certification committee and co-authoring educational materials.

Beyond teaching advertising, design and digital media, Laurie focuses on change strategies within education and how best to evolve our current model as educators.

Laurie has been developing leading-edge creative solutions for private and public sector clients for over 25 years —clients include ExxonMobil, Bayer, Inmet Mining, the Government of Ontario, University of Toronto, Stanford University, UBC.

Laurie is a University of Toronto Alumni, Art and Art History, and a graduate of Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. In 2012 Laurie graduated from the University of Toronto with a masters in contemporary art history and visual culture.

Sarah Nasby (she/her/hers) is a professor in the Bachelor of Creative Advertising program and the Advertising & Graphic Design diploma program. She completed an MFA at NSCAD University and a BA at the University of Guelph. She is a designer and visual artist. Her work has been shown recently at Access Gallery in Vancouver, Critical Distance Centre for Curators in Toronto as well as a temporary public artwork for the City of Mississauga at Jack Darling Memorial Park, in collaboration with Shannon Linde.

With over 20-plus years of advertising, graphic and interactive design experience, Derek brings a wealth of knowledge and know-how to DNA Toronto. With a keen eye for design and an ear on the pulse of the world around him, Derek brings purpose and intention to his work and strives to help clients communicate meaning through each piece.

Derek’s creative career began at two of Canada’s most respected advertising agencies: Bates Canada and later V&B/Arnold Advertising. It was here where his skills as both a designer and a leader flourished, and he was promptly appointed to the agency’s chief accounts. With a creative spirit that could hardly be contained, Derek went on to become part-owner of a successful boutique agency which is still in operation today.

Throughout his bright career, Derek has built an eclectic roster of clients that includes notable brands such as Dentyne, McDonald’s, Volkswagen, United Way, BMO and Samsung, to name a few. In addition to his professional successes, Derek’s work has earned awards, praise and honours from his peers within the advertising and design industries.
In 2006, Derek joined Samsung’s AOR, Cheil Canada, and helped serve Samsung’s consumer electronics, home appliance, mobile, IT and corporate divisions. As ACD, Derek worked on Samsung’s Olympic sponsorship campaign, the mobile "Express" campaign, home appliances "Irresistible" campaign, Samsung IT, plus its
corporate and wind and solar initiatives. This partnership not only garnered attention creatively, but it secured the Samsung brand’s presence in Canada, dramatically increased ROI, and helped win new business for Cheil. Today, the agency has more than tripled in size. As Derek’s accomplishments grew, his opportunity to go out and start his own agency was born.

Since 2011, Derek’s been operating DNA Toronto, where he has collaborated with dozens of clients in a variety of industries. Derek works closely with all of the organization’s CEOs and senior management. He has helped create and evolve brands, managed their creative resources, handled their design projects from concept right through to production and marketing. You name it, Derek’s worked on it.

Today, Derek also teaches Advertising and Graphic Design part-time at Humber College. When he’s not plugged into his computer, he can be found at the hockey rink, skating with his two boys, binge watching some Netflix with Natalie or training hard to work off the late-night-Netflix snacks.

Loblaw: assembly artist/designer, art/creative director, senior director - advertising/marketing/creative. I produced or managed advertising and marketing projects over a period of 18 years, eventually reporting directly to the president. I oversaw a department of up to 20 people including marketing managers, writers, designers and freelancers. My largest and most successful responsibility was the creative and production oversight of The Insider's Report, which was used to pave the way for launching President's Choice products. I was involved with this program from its very beginning in 1983, and am proud that it helped to turn Loblaw's fortunes around and helped tell the stories of over 3000 PC products.    

Jim Phillips Inc.: For four years, I worked for myself on various projects. I consulted for Petsmart and produced a successful flyer program for them. In addition, I consulted with what would become a prominent pet store chain in Ireland. 

Bell: My next corporate role was as associate director - print advertising and POP at Bell Canada. My role with Bell was to reinvigorate their flyer program and refresh their in-store point-of-sale materials. 

Lowe's: My next position came about when I was hired as manager/creative lead - print advertising for Lowe's Canada, the home improvement giant. My role was to create a flyer program and any support materials. Included was the responsibility to create the business process for this program to ensure it would operate synergistically with merchants, supply chain, pricing and store management. It was a 26-week process that took every aspect of the business into account to ensure for its success.

After a successful seven years at Lowe's, I retired -- but still continue undertake the occasional project and, of course, I teach.  

Cartoons and Politics: When I attended college, I cartooned for Metroland Newspapers (Oakville Journal Record, Mississauga Times) for six years and several other community newspapers. After I left school, I ran for my local council and was elected as a ward councillor.

Sun Media: Beyond my advertising and marketing day jobs, I was hired by legendary editor Peter Worthington to cartoon for Sun Media newspapers (Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton) for 23 years on an ongoing part-time basis, creating a daily feature on the editorial pages, as well as providing illustrations, writing the occasional column, and filling in for the editorial cartoonist at the Toronto Sun. I stopped cartooning for the Sun in the early 2000s. 

For the past 23 years, Sylvie has been involved in various projects in graphic design, advertising, and teaching. She has worked with international clients like UNICEF, the World Economic Forum, UBS and Loblaws. Also, she created CIAN Agency, a sustainable photography company, where she won an award for best woman entrepreneur in French Switzerland. She has a Master of Media from the University of Cumbria in the UK, and a BFA from Parsons School of Design in New York.

Before joining Humber College. Sylvie taught at Conestoga College and Toronto Film School, both on campus and online, where she developed and delivered course curriculum based on creative processes, trends, strategies and innovative instructional techniques. She constantly wants to assess progress and give the opportunity for all her students to learn while creating diverse projects: from traditional graphic design to cutting-edge media and advertising productions.

Creative Professional with 20+ Years of Expertise in Photography, Graphic Design, Retouching, and Videography

Greetings! I am a seasoned creative professional with over two decades of hands-on experience in the dynamic realms of photography, graphic design, retouching, and videography. My journey has been a passionate exploration of visual storytelling and artistic expression.

Versatile Skill Set:
Throughout my career, I have honed my skills in crafting compelling visuals across diverse mediums. From capturing captivating moments behind the lens to refining them through meticulous retouching, my proficiency extends seamlessly to graphic design and video editing.

Educational Journey:
In addition to my industry commitments, I recently embarked on an exciting chapter as an educator at Humber College. It brings me immense joy to share my insights and guide the next generation of creative minds. Teaching has added a new layer of fulfillment to my professional journey.

Commercial Work and Editorial Art Direction:
My current focus involves actively contributing to the commercial photography scene and steering editorial art direction projects. Working at the intersection of creativity and strategy, I bring a unique perspective to each project, ensuring a perfect blend of aesthetics and purpose.

Daniel Reeves has 14-plus years' experience in digital marketing and advertising and deep expertise in all areas of digital marketing, analytics and reporting. He has hands-on experience with all major verticals as well as export/international strategy development. Daniel is passionate about solution selling and digital thought leadership.

Bruce Sherman (MFA, B.Ed, BA, AOCA) is a fine artist who has taught drawing for the Advertising and Graphic Design Program for many years.

David has been working in the design industry for over a decade at the international level. He is currently the lead art director with GWP where he has created everything from billboards to business cards, and TV commercials to apps. He focuses on developing strong technical skills to help bring creative ideas to life.

As a seasoned Graphic & Digital Media Designer and Educator, I bring a wealth of experience from both corporate and freelance realms. Since 2009, I've been dedicated to teaching at Humber College, leveraging my expertise to cultivate engaging learning environments.

My educational journey includes a master's in Learning and Technology, which has equipped me to deploy dynamic teaching methodologies across traditional, hybrid, and online platforms. I'm committed to continuous improvement, regularly evaluating instructional approaches to enhance learning outcomes inside and beyond the classroom.

Fostering a learner-centric atmosphere, I encourage students to unleash their creativity through diverse media forms. Actively involved in esteemed groups such as Adobe Education Leader, Apple Teachers, and Microsoft Education, I stay connected with global educational communities, ensuring alignment between industry standards and classroom practices.

A recognized documentarian and visual journalist, photographer, Spencer Wynn is known for his sensitive eye for human interest stories. Wynn is also an educator at Humber College where he has enjoyed three years of working with students to develop their passion for connecting with others through compelling visual narratives.

Wynn is a restless observer of the world, seeing stories everywhere. Each week, Wynn encourages his students to see again, the world around them while creating visual documentaries with sensitivity and passion.

From the High Arctic, to Tibet, China, Greenland, India, Turkey, Europe and numerous road trips around North America. Wynn has lived in caves, slums, on ice flows and in First Nations communities photographing the stories of diverse cultures, tragedy, triumph and love.

Wynn shares his knowledge and skills as a photographer and observer with those attending his classes, workshops, speaking engagements and photo trips. Patient and understanding, he encourages those with whom he meets to strive for originality and brilliance – all the while having fun and enjoying the process.