Graphic Design in Canada

[obesebee]

I was wondering if any of you may be able to offer up snippets of information.

I'm a Brit and I've always had a bit of a love affair with Canada and my wife and I are considering emigration. Could anyone tell me what the design scene is like there? ie Job Prospects, Design Culture etc, just any general comments.

I would probably be moving to Ontario, London perhaps, don't quite know yet, just putting out feelers at the moment.

I know this is vague and there are endless factors but thought I'd test the water...

[morea]

As an American who has just moved to Canada, I can tell you that the immigration process is a royal pain, and that the current waiting time is about 3 years.

I am freelancing right now as allowed under NAFTA, but I can not get a "regular" job here until my permanent residence is granted, which will take about another 8 months.

[Deimodius]

Yeah, but we have affordable health care, less violence and crime, and no George Bush (although we do have Stephen Harper). ;-)

I think I can say, though, tat we are glad to have Morea here. :-)

[morea]

lol! Thanks D. ;)

I am living in Quebec. It's a beautiful place, and the people I have met here are very friendly. (The lack of George Bush is also appealing, lol!)

Unfortunately, my french skills are not that great so I may have trouble finding work when I actually start looking for a full time job, but that would not be a problem for you if you are looking at Ontario.

I wish that I could offer more information about the job market, but I honestly can't speak from experience on that topic. Canada is lovely, though... I can wholeheartedly agree with you there.

You might want to get in touch with the Registered Graphic Designers in Ontario for more information about working in Ontario - there's an explanation of that here:

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6300

(sorry it took me so long to reply, I was having trouble tracking that thread down!)

[obesebee]

Yeah, I'd heard the waiting list was a little bit long, grrrr, I should have applied years ago really, been wanting to for ages but it's quite a big move!

[obesebee]

wow, thanks for that link, just the ticket.

[morea]

glad I could be use full (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28778) :D

(^ I had to link to that thread, it still cracks me up!)

[Broacher]

There's four major Canadian graphic job markets: Toronto area, Calgary/Edmonton area, Vancouver area, and Montreal area. New Brunswick has some good pockets too.

Just heard yesterday that the GTA (the Greater Toronto Area) has lost 20% of its manufacturing jobs in the last five years and has lost its status as leader in the Canadian economy.

If you have kids planning to go to college or university, you might do well to consider that Ontarians have the greatest choice of schools to choose from, but they also have the lowest percentage of government support for education as measured by $$ per student-- and that's true from Junior Kindergartern right up through to college/university.

That last few Ontarian governments pushed through a lot of 'downloading' legislation which left many cities holding the bag for services which were once paid for by the province. One of the unfortunate results is pressure to increase local property taxes and a very uneven level of service for things which were previously 'universal', such as health and welfare, education, transportation.

Toronto is still considered the 'capital' of graphic design work in Ontario. But it also has a bazillion talented under-employed designers and new grads sniffing around for work-- there's a ton of schools that teach this. It's almost easier to list the ones that don't.

There's often more well-paying jobs posted for British Columbia positions. The problem is when you do the math of converting those dollars into the cost of living in Vancouver or Victoria--especially if you ever dream of owning real estate-- it's barely enough to keep going.

For job postings check out Marekting Mag (Toronto) which is Canada's leading trade mag for... well, I'll let you guess. Also, on-line there is designedgecanada.com for some pretty up-to-date job listings.

[Deimodius]

I'll try to be more helpful with this post than with my last. What Broacher says is pretty much correct, but I would lik eto point out that while universities and colleges don't get enough support from the government, they are still cheaper than school in the US!

I work in the Toronto area, but I have chosen for the last 10 years to work "in-house". I think it's easier to find a job in-house than for a firm. Yes, there is less variety of the type of design work I do, but I also get paid a really good salary, and I have job security. I should say, however, that I've never worked for a firm.

The cost of living in BC is very high compared to T.O., and Calgary is becoming worse because of their oil boom. Yes, you can make sweet money in Calgary right now, but the costs of houses alone are disgusting. Edmonton is a nice place, not very big, I can't really comment on this market. I've visited lots of times, and probably wouldn't mind living there. It's VERY cold in the winter.

Ontario is losing production jobs, this is due mostly to rising CDN dollar vs the US greenback, and inflation (liek Oil/energy costs) but could change if the CDN dollar goes down again, or if oil prices come down. Energy (ie electricity) concerns are big here right now as we keep worrying that we will run out of we don't build more nuclear power (or fix what we've got). I personally haven't seen the loss of manufacturing jobs hurting our economy too much yet. Another big problem is taht Ontario pays more than other provinces in transfer payments to the Fed, but does not get back enough yet. As a result our infrastructure, health care, and education are starting to suffer because of lack of funds from govt.

The city of Toronto is also facing budget shortfalls (and are looking to levy some new taxes of their own) and the transit system is suffering. we are increasingly having trouble with congestion.

How does this affect GD in Canada? Well, I am no economist, so Ihope that these things either won't affect the GD market like they say, or that it turns around once we get rid of the Conservative govt.

My recommendation: move to one of the suburbs of Toronto (like Milton, Oakville, or so on) where housing is still affordable, and commute. There _are_ jobs to be found in the burbs, you don't have to be in Toronto unless you feel the need to be in the "heart" of things.

I would also suggets Montreal as a great place. I don't know what the cost of living is like there, but they really do have a cool music/art scene, and I think this likely feeds the GD market. One caveat, though there is a goodly sized english population in Montreal, knowledge of French is almost a necessity unless you are working only in the "anglo" area. The Québec govt has mandated a great deal about how business in Québec must be conducted in French primarily.

I live in Oakville (suburb of Toronto) and I commute to Vaughan (just above Toronto) every day. I don't much care for the drive, but I have a good job, a nice house, and a happy family.

There is also a lot of opportunity to freelance here. I do it on the side to suppliment my income. You just have to be willing and able to market yourself.

As for RGD (Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario) I should point out that to be a member you must have a _3 year_ diploma/degree from an accredited (by them) college or university. Experience doesn't count with them. If you don't have the piece of paper, you don't get in to the club. You also have to take a test. I am not a member, since my degree is in Political Science, and apparently that doesn't count. ;-)

Hope that helps. I am happy to answer more questions.

[Broacher]

If I was a younger person looking for graphic work in Canada, Montreal would be my first choice. I love that city. They're not afraid of culture, or pretentious about it either. You can usually judge a city by how happy the working class is. Montreal comes across as being pretty secure with itself, and indeed is proud of its artistic heritage.

Deimodus-- I've got a younger brother who just landed a job in Concord (up in Vaughan) but is shopping around for a house in Oakville. I always thought that the house market there was one of the hottest in Ontario-- no?

[Deimodius]

I would say no, not compared to the cost of housing in Toronto or even Mississauga close to T.O. It is, however, one of the nicest cities. If you want to live down by the lake, you'll be paying millions for a house, but northern and western Oakville are more affordable.

We bought a 3 bedroom freehold townhome in the north part of oakville in 2005 for $294,000 (built in 1999). They are still building homes in oakville, but probably for not too much longer because the land north of Dundas street is part of the protected moraine, so they can't build there.

Milton, by comparison, is exploding in size as they build lots of new housing and it's growing really quickly.

Suffice to say, a home in my neighbourhood goes for between $325,000 to $600,000 depending on the size. I love my neighbourhood, though, I hope I never have to move (unless it's into a bigger house in the same neighbourhood!)

I am working in Vaughan at 407 and Pine Valley Drive. Where is your bro working?

[Ned]

There's four major Canadian graphic job markets: ...Calgary/Edmonton area

Calgary and Edmonton are two very different markets. Calgary is good, Edmonton sucks.

Personally, I would rather be in England. :D

[obesebee]

Thanks muchly for all the advice, exactly the kind of info I was after.

Ned - how about we just swap lives and skip all the paperwork?

[Ned]

Hehe, I would love to, Obesebee, but you'd be in for an awful shock when you get mine! :D

[Broacher]

>>I am working in Vaughan at 407 and Pine Valley Drive. Where is your bro working?<<

A place called iseemedia. What do they do. I'm not exactly sure, but they're focused on... um, how shall I put this? Focused on advanced document and rich image content adaptation and delivery solutions for Web and wireless applications. The Company’s software platforms enable the creation, adaptation, transcoding, management and interactive delivery of rich documents, magazines, newspapers, images and virtual tours to any device, anytime, anywhere. iseemedia is addressing the growing demand for a scalable solution that addresses the “create once, publish to many” paradigm. The Company has a strong global patent portfolio of 39 issued and pending imaging and wireless patents.

Um.... something like that. Yeah.

[Deimodius]

Sorry the thread-jack, but that sounds pretty cool, Broacher! Imagine whatever the content, you only have to create it using one method and it can be automatically formatted to work on different platforms, using different media, and viewable on any size/resolution screen. very cool, if I've understood correctly.

NEway... back on topic, Ned, Edmonton might suck for GD, but I've enjoyed visiting there. I even think I might able to live there. Whyte ave is teh cool.