I’m Marina, and I ♥ to wear many Creative Hats.
Based in Toronto, serving clientele worldwide.
I graduated with an Honours Degree in Fine Arts at York University (Toronto). In my first few years of education, I majored in Visual Arts, and this was only because Design wasn’t an option then! In my first few years, I focused on Art History, Typography and the mandatory Nude Drawing classes in studio. In my last year, “desktop publishing” and the internet were still fairly new and we were given the option to transition.
I started designing way back sitting at a lighted drafting table, cutting ruby film, typesetting, and getting layouts camera-ready for the printer. I advanced later to Microsoft Front Page, Dreamweaver, animated Gifs and Photoshop 2.0! If you don’t know what these are, that’s ok, you can find these things at your next museum visit!
Fast forward 20 years, I have designed hundreds of websites, and probably hundreds of thousands of graphics for both web and print. Most recently, I’ve gone back to my roots, teaching what I love most and that’s drawing (Draw with Marina). Combining my love of design and organization, I also design and develop modern, minimalist digital planners at Type Maven. With a library of over 170 products, my planners have also been featured in the Noteshelf app!
In my spare time, I’m a chauffeur to 2 children and love home renovation, architecture and baking. Follow me for more on Instagram!
ELEMENTARY
By the age of 7, my right brain had taken over.
My days were spent hovering over a sketchbook with some 2B pencils, pounding some notes on the piano, or knitting sweaters for my Cabbage Patch dolls.
HIGH SCHOOL
I found myself in the Graphics Department of a leading bank where Corel 3.0 was the choice software fueled by the 486 Computer.
Stock photos were ordered via snail mail. Letters were typeset with specific computer codes. Artwork was rendered on a drafting table through mechanical paste-up, ruby film, and Xacto knife to be made camera-ready. What are these even you ask? Well, these items belong in a museum.
UNIVERSITY
I became infatuated with “Desktop Publishing” and when the “Information Superhighway” came to be, I chose a more technical aspect to design and pursued design and typography vs. traditional art in University.
I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts (Hons) from York University in Toronto.
YOUNG ADULT
Over the next several years, I worked for several companies ranging from Photo/Video Studios, Children’s Publishing, IT, Print Houses and Multimedia + Interactive Design Studios.
I started building websites with Microsoft FrontPage, old fashioned HTML, Macromedia DreamWeaver and Animated GIFS. The Horror!
FREELANCE
A big transition year. I said goodbye to my bi-weekly paycheque and started freelance design.
Over the next 20 years, I designed websites, logos, any and all things print and branding for hundreds of clients, ranging from small businesses to large corporations.
