What began as a branding exercise quickly became something more: a month-long deep dive into strategy, collaboration and creative problem-solving for Humber Polytechnic students working on a real institutional brief.
From October 30 to December 4, 28 students from the Longo Faculty of Business and the Faculty of Media, Creative Arts, and Design participated in the Innovate and Elevate Branding Kit Challenge, a paid experiential learning initiative delivered in collaboration with Humber’s Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE). The challenge tasked students with developing a comprehensive brand identity for the Institute of Innovation and Advanced Learning (IIAL).
The initiative was ignited by Annaleza Cristiano, Industry Specialist with Humber’s Student Success and Engagement team, who identified an opportunity to support IIAL’s branding needs while creating meaningful industry-facing experiences for students. The challenge was run by CfE collaborators Emily Buchnea and Ciara McVeigh, who worked closely with Cristiano to bring the concept from idea to execution.
“In my role, I’m always connecting with prospective employers to find ways for students to gain hands-on experience and real industry exposure before they graduate,” said Cristiano. “This challenge brought together students, employers, and Humber partners in a meaningful way that directly supports student employability and creates real-world learning opportunities.”
All students were compensated through Humber’s Employability Experience Fund and Experience Ventures, reinforcing the institution’s commitment to paid experiential learning opportunities. Participants worked in multidisciplinary teams, combining business strategy, branding, design and storytelling to envision IIAL’s future brand.
For winning team members Jensi Patel, Bhagyashri Sisodia, and Gokul Krishnan, the process was anything but linear.
“If you saw us (leading up to the win), you would have seen complete chaos,” said Patel. “The process was messy. It involved late-night debates and countless logo iterations. But that friction is what helped us find the right answer.”
Patel described the experience as one that pushed the team beyond simply completing an assignment.
“We weren’t just doing this for a prize,” Patel said. “We found ourselves genuinely obsessing over the problem. Every idea - even the bad ones - fed the next.”
Through repeated brainstorming sessions and more than 25 design iterations, the team stripped the brand back to its core values: innovation, advanced learning, and sustainable growth. Those values ultimately shaped a logo system built on layered symbolism including a star representing excellence, a bookmark symbolizing lifelong learning, and a hidden arrow facing upward representing growth and transformation.
Sisodia said the challenge gave students the opportunity to think and work like professional brand consultants.
“For a month, we wore many hats – strategists, brand consultants and creative thinkers,” Sisodia said. “We rebuilt IIAL’s voice and visual foundation from the ground up.”
Sisodia noted that early drafts were intentionally imperfect.
“Our first ideas were rough sketches and half-formed shapes,” said Sisodia. “But that was the beauty of it. Continuous feedback and iteration are where real learning lives.”
The team applied several Humber Learning Outcomes as part of the experience in a real-world setting where they closely collaborated while communicating openly and using digital tools to research, refine and present their ideas. Treating the project as a real client engagement pushed them to think strategically and creatively while demonstrating professionalism and confidence during the final pitch to industry partners and judges.
Final presentations were judged by representatives from IIAL – Clarissa Getigan and Navdeep Singh – alongside Humber partners and industry professionals including Alisa Sera Garcia from global creative agency Sid Lee.
Following the presentations, IIAL representatives shared their appreciation for the collaboration and student creativity, adding that the level of thought, care and professionalism was impressive.
Cristiano thanked Getigan, Singh and Garcia for being excellent collaborative industry partners dedicated to student success.
Beyond the final deliverables, students emphasized the lasting impact of the experience and highlighted the value of working on a real brief, receiving professional feedback and building portfolio-ready work.
“We left with a winning title,” Patel said. “But, more importantly, we left with full hearts. We got to feel what it’s like to build something that truly matters.”
By connecting students directly with industry partners and paying them for their contributions, the Innovate and Elevate Branding Kit Challenge exemplified Humber’s commitment to experiential learning by helping students graduate with confidence, connections and real-world experience already behind them.