Our Holiday Letter

This holiday season, we welcome the new year with optimism and pride because of our commitment to support the next generation of designers. Why are we optimistic? Read on …

In 2018, Lucy Jiyeon Son started working with us as an intern. She found her way to Invok Brands with the help of her professor in package design, who saw her talent. By December, once Lucy had finished her design studies, we offered her a permanent position with the team. Package and print design is what she loved as a student and still does, but she also talks about how Invok is steadily helping her to expand her potential, keeping her motivated and happy.

Devon Luxmore, design director at Invok, says of Lucy, “She has a passion for learning and pushes herself out of her comfort zone. She adapts well to change and is always positive. I have never seen her overwhelmed, and her work is never compromised.”

While Lucy applies her strengths to her learning and her work, being attentive, collaborative, and flexible, she also challenges every design decision she makes. “I have always looked for justifications for my design choices. Why did this design solution work? Why did that designer make that decision? Why should I use this font or color? With such a mindset, I am still learning and developing my abilities in design.”

In our last letter, we talked about purpose, as in your lived values as a person, organization, or brand. An authentic, transparent purpose that, as Simon Sinek says in The Infinite Game, “Relates to a cause and legacy that will outlive the company’s leaders.”

At Invok, our purpose is to nurture the next generation of designers and, by doing so, share our optimism for the future. Starting in the new year, we will nourish and sustain our purpose by striking a committee of Invok staff to drive its expression and keep our commitment strong.

We are also contributing to educational grants at design schools in North America. In the United States, we donated to AIGA, the professional association for design’s Worldstudio Scholarship program to “benefit underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students who are studying photography, illustration, and design disciplines in colleges and universities in the United States.”

In Toronto, Canada, we donated the Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCADU)’s Ignite Imagination campaign. The funds will enhance the student experience, enrich academic programs, foster faculty innovation, and build and renew infrastructure. The campaign will help OCADU seize opportunities in education and research centered around art and design.

We are grateful for the ability to help the next generation of designers grow. We are moving forward with that purpose at heart, greeting the new year with optimism. We will add substance to our stated purpose, let it ground us, and watch it blossom. Learning is where we all began, and in our roles as educators, employers, mentors, and coaches, we come full circle.