JRC9 Design Studio
Capitalism rules the world with such intensity these days that it can sometimes be overwhelming and little discouraging. Even we students, as designers, are wondering how we can get the highest paying job possible when we leave school. We are so ruled by money, and paying off loans, that we forgot the good in the world and the advocates for social change. This brings me to our speaker, or speakers should I say, for this blog post. A breath of fresh air, Jonathan and Cora Cohlmeyer of JRC9 Design Studio came to speak to us about the web work they do at the Centre for Social Innovation. A power couple created from Sheridan’s own Web Design program, Jonathan and Cora showed us how we can use our web design powers for good.
Jonathan’s LinkedIn reads
“Jon used to design websites for fun after school. Now, he is the web developer and founder of JRC9 Design Studio.
Jon has BFA in Fine Arts at Memorial University of Newfoundland where he specialized in sculpture and photography. He is a graduate from the Sheridan Web Design program where he learned how to combine his skills in web development with design, web usability, and information architecture.
Today, he focuses his full attention on front-end development and spends his free time creating sculptures, developing prints in the photography darkroom, browsing galleries, and learning about design.”
Education
Memorial University of Newfoundland - Bachelor of Fine Arts
Sheridan College - Web Design
Work History
deSouza Institute | 2011
JRC9 Design Studio | 2012 - Present
Wondereur Inc. | 2014 - Present
Cora’s LinkedIn reads
“I like to surround myself with change makers who are striving to make the world more beautiful: they inspire me. I am a passionate Interactive and Graphic Designer who loves collaborating with these change makers and bringing their stories to life. I believe that design is a key factor in creating impact. Have an idea that will make the world more beautiful? Let's chat.”
Education
Georgian College - Graphic Design
Sheridan College - Web Design
OCADU - Typography
Work History
Cora Butineau Design | 2005 - 2013
JRC9 Design Studio | 2013 - Present
Wondereur Inc. | 2014 - Present
JRC9 Design Studio
So what is JRC9 Design Studio and how did it start? JRC9 is a web design studio run by Jonathan and Cora and their more recent addition to the team, Alex. Jonathan and Cora met in 2011 in Sheridan’s Web Design program and began as friends, helping each other out as they had opposite strengths; Cora, being design oriented and Jonathan, a developer at heart. After graduating, the two got married and started their studio together.
JRC9 opened in the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto. CSI is a five-story, beautifully restored brick & beam building in the Annex. It houses all sorts of different companies, mostly social change makers. JRC9 fits right in. When starting their new business, they were able to join a team at CSI called the DECAs. With this role, they would manage the space but also meet new people in CSI, and in return they got free office space. By doing this, they were able to make great connections quickly and start designing.
What makes JRC9 different from other design studios is their passion for good. They describe themselves as a studio that “empowers change makers by creating and managing their web presence, enabling them to reach a broader audience and focus on changing the world.” Some socially innovative organizations they have worked with include: Action Against Hunger, Centre for Social Innovation, Change.org, IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development), Level. Changing Lives Through Law, and Teach for Canada. They also reach out to galleries and organizations that enforce the importance of the arts.
Culture and Values
Jonathan and Cora described their work culture to us as a balance between really tough social justice issues met with creative play, like their passion projects (an instagram account call kindfood). They host and attend community events as CSI, most recently the weekly salad club, which had people bringing in all kinds of food and making wacky salads. All in all, they believe in the good of humankind and in supporting that however they can.
The values that they try to uphold at JRC9 include: empathy, patience, collaboration, education, gender equality, and family and friendship. Cora took a moment to describe what each one of those values meant specifically to their team.
Empathy - Being aware of coworkers and clients feelings and how the user will use the site, with a heavy focus on accessibility. They are inspired by the Twenty One Toys company in CSI that creates toys that teach empathy.
Patience - Creating real change is one of the biggest challenges we all face and patience is key with yourself and others. Failure is good. It’s important to learn from your mistakes and try again.
Collaboration - Strive to work with passionate change makers who you can learn from, who inspire you, and who push you to think about ways to make the world a better place.
Education - They value constant learning and education. Last year, Jon learned Ruby on Rails which is a server-side web application.
Gender Equality - They aim to encourage women in tech and supporting women’s rights. They find inspiration from another CSI company, Ladies Learning Code.
Family and Friendship - Strive to build strong friendships with the CSI community and with your collaborators. We also really value our family and dedicating time to each other, making sure not to bring work home with us.
When choosing projects, their culture and values really come into play. They always ask themselves, “Is it aligned with our values? What impact on the world could this project make, is it positive?” All of their projects have a heavy focus on social justice, education, the environment
and food movement, or arts and culture.
Having these guests come and speak to us about how we as designers can make a positive impact was truly inspiring and gave me a newfound sense of power (in the most positive way!). To see two graduates of our own program so clearly passionate about their work kind of strips away all that negativity we feel with some pretty terrible events happening around the world. Jonathan and Cora made a point of asking our class a question that I will now leave here for my readers: We are all connected, every choice we make affects others. Will we use our choices for good? Take a moment to consider how you can make a positive difference in someone’s life. You don’t have to be a superhero, a firefighter, a social activist, to make a change. You just have to decide to work for good and to do good.
Finally, here is a link to 10 ways designers can support social justice: www.andalsotoo.net/blog
If you’d like to know more about Jonathan, Cora, and JRC9 Design Studio, take a look at their website, Jonathan’s LinkedIn, Cora’s LinkedIn, and their passion project, KindFood.
