Meet first-year student, Tiffany Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024)! Her self-portrait for IDES 133 - Visual Studio taught by Jay Bassan is shown above.

Read Tiffany’s story and check out some of her other work for a glimpse into first-year student life at IDEA School of Design at Capilano University.

Self Portrait by Tiffany Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024)

I went for a scrappy, colourful, yet bold, expression of myself. The images from my self-photo shoot turned out quite classic-looking so I wanted to contrast that aspect of it with some digital illustrative bits that captured the feel of the moodboard I pulled together of a design and art style I really enjoy.

“The Assignment” by Jay Bassan, Instructor

Create a mood board visualizing your Passion, Super Power, Values, Purpose and differentiation (students can use any medium for this).

“The Goal” by Jay Bassan, Instructor

To have students think clearly about how to imagine themselves as a brand and use their final self-portrait as an expression of that. This becomes one of the more interesting projects since it happens near the end of class and students are now comfortable enough with the camera.

I remind students that similar to sketching, where you decide where to put the pencil, pen, or mouse to compose your drawing, where do you put the camera to capture a moment or tell a story?

I get some interesting work.

Experience so far in first term at IDEA School of Design

Online learning has been surprisingly smooth sailing for me so far. I've been very inspired by the work of the young talented group I get to see online every day. We have a very supportive group and it's been a way more hands-on higher-ed experience than I've had in the past, so it's been great to really dive in right away with everything. All our instructors have been so insightful about the design world and I've really appreciated how invested they've been in making this online term work for us.

Featured Work

Children's Illustration by Tiffany Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024)

This was my take of a scene from the Brothers Grimms' Snow White. We were tasked by Pascal to use sepia ink and watercolour and to really think about how to incorporate two figures into a scene. I loved seeing how different everyone's scenes turned out given the same prompt!

Gouache Landscape by Tiffany Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024)

I was very excited to work on an assignment that let me do what I do most on my own time—gouache and landscapes. We had to incorporate atmospheric perspective into our painting so I referenced a gorgeous wintry aerial shot of Murakami, Japan that had been in my inspo folder on my desktop for a while now.

Swissted Gig Poster by Tiffany Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024)

Here are some variations of a 'Swissted' gig poster I did for Bon Iver in Vida's Survey and Principles of Design II class. I loved learning about the Swiss Style and getting to experiment with it in our own way.

Why did you choose IDEA School of Design over other schools?

IDEA School of Design stood out to me as the best option in the Lower Mainland because it really emphasized getting students industry-ready while providing strong design fundamentals—something I valued coming in as a self-taught designer/illustrator with a completely unrelated B.A. from UBC in Linguistics and Law & Society already. I was also impressed by the award-winning student work I saw in Applied Arts. It made me want to be a part of a Bachelor of Design program that could challenge me to create great work and make me more competitive in the industry.

What advice would you give to those considering applying?

Just get drawing! Schedule in the time if you need to and create pieces that show your style and versatility. I didn't have as many pieces ready to go as a lot of the high school grads who were taking art classes at the time of applying so I just had to make time after work to get those required pieces done.

"Breakthrough Moments" at IDEA School of Design

I'm just extremely grateful to be pursuing design at IDEA School of Design – it finally feels like I'm following my passion. I think our art/design history classes have really grounded me in understanding where we come from as designers and artists. It feels great to be able to make connections with the work we're doing now and will be making in the future.

What’s one of your favourite music videos?

One of my favs - Feels Like Summer by Childish Gambino!

For more on Tiffany follow her on Instagram @tiffzhong.