Pandemic-related poster earns Algonquin student national attention

Posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2020

O Canada, We stand apart for thee graphicLook up, look way up at digital billboards across Ottawa these days and you might see the design work of Algonquin College student Molly Drinnan glowing against the sky.
Drinnan, a first-year student in the Advertising and Marketing Communications Management program, recently completed a class project assigned by Professor Michael Zavacky. He asked his students to create a public service announcement poster related to COVID-19. Originally, the assignment was on a different topic but Zavacky altered it to respond to the most important issue in everyone’s lives today. Drinnan’s bold, vibrantly colourful poster was in part a response to the images that she could already see all around her related to the pandemic.

“When I sat down to design it, I was brainstorming the concept and considering what people needed to hear in such a difficult time,” Drinnan says. “The images that are already out there, and many of them are amazing, are usually focused on information and focus on darker messages. I wanted to provide something different: I wanted to bring comfort to people and inspire them to work together in these times.”

Naturally, she says, she thought of the national anthem. It is something she has heard Canadians sing when they’re happy, say at hockey games, or when the mood turns somber, as on Remembrance Day. No matter what emotion it evokes, she notes, it unites us.
“That’s a beautiful part of Canadian life,” Drinnan says, “and by changing ‘we stand on guard for thee’ to ‘we stand apart for thee’, because that’s what we do because of COVID-19, it speaks to the information people need right now, and at the same time offers comfort through the association with the national anthem. By balancing bright yellow and oranges with cooler tones, and still focusing on the patriotic red and white colours, I tried to enhance the positivity of the message.”

Drinnan is a relative newcomer to the College: she recently completed her first semester. She began her post-secondary studies in the Forensic Psychology program at Carleton University, but found it didn’t satisfy her creative side. Having taught herself graphics in high school, she took a year off to explore her abilities for friends’ businesses, and found it so rewarding she determined to look into a related program. She discovered the Advertising and Communications Management at the College, went to the open house to speak to some of the professors, and was so excited by what she learned that she felt this was the path she should be on.

“It’s not just about graphics, or just business or marketing strategies. It’s about a massive variety of things. The teachers are so amazing and welcoming – I just feel it has enhanced every aspect of my learning experience.”
One thing she didn’t anticipate experiencing in her first semester was how potent one of her images would prove to be. Zavacky posted the completed image on social media, and almost immediately it started spreading from platform to platform, and across a wide swath of Canadian politicians, health care workers, and more across the country.

“It’s been amazing to see who it has reached,” says Drinnan, who dreams of being a creative director or perhaps even owning her own agency someday. “It’s been posted by a politician, by someone at CBC, and I received a response from a health care worker who said she’d love to post it at her work. It’s amazing to see how it has touched people.”

It was also seen by Josh Barber, Director of Sales, Central Region, at OUTFRONT Media. As a result, it is now on billboards in different locations across the capital. Drinnan said the response has been exciting and heartening for her, and she’s looking forward to continuing her studies.
“I’m absolutely thrilled by the experiences this has brought me,” she says, “and so thankful and blessed to have the people at Algonquin supporting me.”


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