UNIVERSE is a brand design studio passionate about brand design and working with clients to craft unique logo designs and accompanying identity systems that represent our clients with pride. We also specialize in web design and development and handle all areas of social media, email marketing and graphic design needs for many clients.
Who we are
Elaine StamOwner + Creative Director
Elaine creates and manages all work for UNIVERSE. She has been designing and developing for 15 years, working for many years full-time at both Ryerson and the University of Toronto as a Senior Graphic & Web Designer. She has also worked at Postmedia, TorStar [freelance], The Law Society of Ontario and for many more government and institutional Ontario organizations.
Elaine is known for her unique contemporary artistic style and for her experience creating full brand design systems. She incorporates her own original illustration, photography, and graphic art whenever possible. Elaine was the owner of Toronto Logo Design which was rebranded to UNIVERSE in 2021.
Elaine has over 10 years in studying current best practices in accessible design and AODA considerations are front of mind for her with everything she designs, in print, web, social equally. It’s an ethical choice and habitual practice.
View her full work experience via her Linkedin profile.
Where we are
Our studio in located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the King West neighbourhood, near Liberty Village, Queen Street West, and Trinity Bellwoods.
Our Core Principles
Communication
We want to know what you are thinking. Lets talk and strategize a plan to suit your specific needs.
Process
We have spent years studying efficient ways to collect and organize information to save you time and make your design project easy.
Simplicity
From websites to brand designs, our minimal aesthetic ensures your messaging is clear and concise.
Flexibility
Accessibility and sustainability are non-negotiable in our work. Your designs need to evolve with you over time and allow for all to view them with ease.
Accessibility Considered Designs
Our Creative Director and Web Developer Elaine has studied AODA compliance (the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) through her experience working in Universities, the Ontario Law Society, and her Government clients. When you have accessibility best practices in mind it is not difficult to build them into your design. It is now an ethical best practice that UNIVERSE is proud to instill into every project we work on.
AODA compliance (at least a minimum level) should always be applied to web design and development [learn more about this here]. We also have studied how to create accessible PDFs and, generally, even our social media images that we design for clients are accessible. Educating our clients about the importance of accessibility is important to us and a core value.