When it came time to decide whether or not to accept the job offer, Kristina Camara had what all job candidates would want: a choice. With job offers from multiple employers, Camara, then a fresh graduate of the Graphic Design program in George Brown’s School of Design, chose the offer that came with the most responsibility. She chose the best option to do what she had been trained for.
“I wouldn’t have had the confidence to take the job without my education and experience from my program at George Brown,” says Camara. “I really had to hit the ground running.”
As a Marketing Design and Project Coordinator for David C. Cook Distribution Canada, one of Canada’s largest publishing distributors, she is the point person for the marketing team when it comes to graphic design, whether it’s creating sales and marketing presentations for a new book or a whole line of books. “I’m responsible for taking the marketing strategy and bringing it to life through graphic design, which includes being a part of the thinking process as well as executing the design and production.”
Camara’s well thought out career choices began in high school.
“I took co-op in grade 11 but it was in teaching visual arts,” says Camara, who comes from a family of musicians, painters and visual artists. “But it wasn’t the career for me.” She did, however, enjoy a communications class and was told to consider graphic design, so decided to look into that.
“I researched three year programs and found George Brown’s to be the most unique because it allows people to graduate with a specific focus in an area of design, rather than just a generic one. The way the program is designed gives you the chance to discover yourself first, before choosing a specialization.”
The program’s strong connection with industry, including fulfilling the educational requirement for professional certification from the Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario (RGD), was also an important consideration for Camara. She entered and won an award in the RGD Student Awards competition in her final year.
“By third year I could design, but also knew why I was designing. Many of the instructors were also professionals in the field, so they really helped us understand how to apply what we were doing in the real world.” Just as important, however, was the supportive learning environment the instructors created. “My program was a good, close knit group of people and we had lots of opportunities to collaborate on projects. All the professors genuinely care about your portfolio and push you to do well.”
In her current job role, Camara has gone from printing one project for grading, to communicating with printers and suppliers to printing thousands of publications. Not all students initially choose design expecting a future job with such expansive responsibilities, but Camara credits George Brown with giving her the chance to make an informed decision.
“You have to make a choice about what you’re interested in at some point in your life, so better to do that in school than later when you’re in a job.”
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