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The Art of Community: Edmonton’s Creative Soul (Guest Post!)

May 1, 2024

Hilary Meng is a FORCE—besides being our most recent student intern, the young designer/photographer/polymath is co-founder of Edmonton’s Circe Magazine, a showcase of local creative talent that recently celebrated the printing of their third issue. Below, Hilary shares a bit on the paths that led her to Edmonton, to design, and to Circe—read on if… Take a look


Botanica: A New Design Trend (For the Past 100 years) 

April 16, 2024

Like tiny green buds popping out from a grey bed of hardpan, organic design elements are sprouting up everywhere, from interior design to architecture to graphic design and illustration. In 2024, the trend goes by the name Botanica, though the movement goes back at least to the 1930s (during another period of disillusionment with modern… Take a look


PSST… YOU WANNA MAKE A VIDEO?

February 20, 2024

Here’s how to lay the groundwork for your organization’s Best Video Ever! You don’t need to be sold on video as a marketing tool. Video is EVERYWHERE. And for a good reason — videos can put across a TON of information by appealing to two different senses (and to our animal instinct to watch for… Take a look


Jayden’s Guide to Finding Inspiration When You’re in a Rut

January 16, 2024

If you’re in a creative field (or heck, any field, really) you may have struggled with a block—ideas aren’t flowing, you want to pull your hair out, and everything you make feels like hot garbage. Inspiration feels light years away from your current headspace.  It’s the pits, right?  Now I’m no wizard, and these ideas… Take a look


Faster, Designer! Bill! Bill!

September 4, 2023

Curio’s Creative Director shares some thoughts and advice for streamlining the design process when time is at a premium Graphic designers are not supposed to work fast. The mantra in our industry is “you can have great design, or you can have fast design, but you can’t have both.” Fair: Designers make thousands of little… Take a look


WSU: “Font size can ‘nudge’ customers toward healthier food choices”

August 11, 2023

Ed. Note: We recently found this fantastic article by Scott Jackson of Washington State University, which provides data-based evidence of how human perception and behaviour can be influenced by graphic design decisions. With permission from the author, we reprint the article below so you too can wow the guests at your next dinner party with… Take a look


The Design Coordinator’s Little Helper

July 6, 2023

Coordinating a graphic design project can be intimidating, especially if you’re not a graphic designer yourself. Whether you’re a marketing and communications coordinator, an entrepreneur, or a fellow creative, this condensed guide will provide you with essential advice to streamline the process and achieve excellent results when you’re collaborating with a third-party graphic design provider.


Let’s Stay Small

April 20, 2023

In 2003, Curio Studio was a team of three people. By 2023, we were all the way up to four. Why did we stay small? We’re SO glad you asked! If you own a small design agency AND you enjoy eating food on the regular, the advice you’ll hear most often is to hire more… Take a look


Showtime Synergy!

March 29, 2023

Or, How We Came to Love Designing for the Performing Arts  As of 2023, Curio Studio has been around for 20 years. But it is no exaggeration to say that we might never have made it past year one if not for our clients working in the performing arts. “Northern Light Theatre was my first… Take a look


Picture Perfect Learning

January 30, 2023

Can Illustrations enhance your educational materials? Our latest project for Athabasca University suggests it might be easier than you think! How people form connections is a favourite fixation of educators and sociologists alike. Curio recently had the pleasure of working with both in an illustration project for Athabasca University. AU, like any other world-class educational… Take a look