VANCOUVER—Andrea Shillington is putting the power of branding within the reach of startup businesses who don't have a big budget.

Shillington, with more than eight years' experience working at branding agencies in the Middle East, Europe and North America, is putting that knowledge to use with her own startup, Brands for the people.

VANCOUVER—A west coast digital agency went below the surface to come up with a new website for the city's public aquarium.

SmashLAB designed a new site for the Vancouver Aquarium, a project that took about six months, said the lab's creative director, Eric Karjaluoto. The agency has done some work for Tourism Vancouver and other public tourism organizations, which is likely how smashLAB landed the contract through an RFP, he said.

TORONTO—Target Marketing & Communications took the Grand Prix and was awarded gold in the sustained success category for its Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism’s Find Yourself campaign at the CASSIES 2012 awards Monday night in Toronto.

The Canadian advertising awards show that "celebrates demonstrable business results" was part of the fourth annual Advertising Week. Selected by a panel of distinguished judges, 43 CASSIES were handed out including 12 golds, 13 silvers and 18 bronzes from more than 100 entries over 12 categories.

Dr. Sara Diamond, president of OCAD University in Toronto, has been named to the Order of Ontario.

A release from the art and design school notes Diamond has "guided the university in becoming a leader in digital media, design research and curriculum." Diamond also played a role in OCAD U's establishment of the Aboriginal Visual Culture Program.

TORONTO—Patty Johnson's design philosophies know no borders.

The Canadian industrial designer has set her sights not only on effective design, but also how to use design to transform the developing world into self-sustaining communities.

Her latest collaborate effort is with BrandAid, taking her to Haiti, a country still in rebuilding mode. "Haiti is incredibly artistically rich, but it's also the beloved media whipping boy," said Johnson during the second CreativeMornings/Toronto at the Design Exchange on Friday morning. "Through all their hardships, they've maintained high artistic quality."

TORONTO—Graphic designer Theo Dimson, known for his poster designs, died on January 18, 2012 from complications from pneumonia. He was 82.

Design Edge Canada's iPad edition of its Jan./Feb. 2012 issue is now available for download, complete with video and photo-gallery extras. The iPad edition is available from Apple's new Newsstand, introduced with iOS5 as a source for top magazines and newspapers.

The iPad edition includes the complete text of the print edition, which is appearing on readers' doorsteps now. It's full to the brim with Before & After case studies and includes our Relogo Bonanza. In November, we appealed to Canadian designers to submit their recent logo redesigns. We chose eight out of 50 submissions to highlight in the issue — and we tell you why those eight.

MONTREAL–The illustrators of Anna Goodson Management are providing their talents for free to non-profit organizations — until Feb. 29, 2012.

For the third year in a row, Anna Goodson will offer original illustrations to non-profits and charities "that wouldn't normally have the budget to commission original illustrations from the Montreal-based [illustration] agency."

TORONTO—The judges are in.

Design Edge is happy to announce the 2012 Regional Design Awards judges, who will evaluate all the entries (except those from their own geographic region). This year's Reggie judges bring a wealth of design expertise and experience to the task. They include:

VICTORIA, BC—Creative firms across North America have a rosy outlook for 2012 despite economic challenges, according to a survey out of Victoria, B.C.

FunctionFox conducted the tally of more than 200 professionals in small creative shops and found that 43 percent expect to increase staff size in the coming year. In contrast, only five percent forecast staff cutbacks in 2012.