The path to Associated Engineering's Creative Leader role was a winding one for Michael Tolboom. He shares, "I left high school with a love for chemistry, and thought for sure that the University of Alberta's Organic Chemistry Specialization program was my ticket to happiness and a future career. But there was so much calculus. I took a year off, learned to play guitar, and got back into illustration, after a decade of teachers telling me not to doodle in the margins."
Back at the University of Alberta, but this time in the Visual Communication Design program in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Michael found a much more inspiring, calculus-free environment, with classes in layout, photography, typography, and even stage lighting design. A chance visit to University newspaper The Gateway led to an ongoing commitment for a comic strip (Moe), which later became the first syndicated strip in the Canadian University Press system. One of the strip's fans, Stephen Dodd, offered Michael his first job in the design world, at boutique graphic design firm Black Type White Paper (BTWP) in Edmonton.
Michael admits, "Stephen and I were learning everything the hard way, on our own. The design world changed so fast in the 1990's, with the production techniques taught at university being made obsolete by computers. Fortunately, the design theory I'd learned still held!"
As BTWP (later renamed Transcena) grew and expanded to the UK, it exposed Michael to diverse graphic projects: identity design, book covers, publishing and layout for the Edmonton Symphony magazine, layout for the APEGA newsletter of the day, and site design for the Alberta Government in the early days of the world wide web. Associated Engineering was a web client, and when Transcena wound down in 2008, Michael made a call to Associated Engineering's Vice President, Business Development, Lianna Mah, pitching a dedicated in-house design role for the growing firm.
He recalls, "I had seen stories in AE Today about people celebrating 25, 30, 35-year anniversaries with the firm, and thought that was a very good sign for the company culture. Coming to AE was the best decision I could have made - Lianna was great to work with as a client, and she's been even better as a colleague over the last 16 years."
In his current role as Creative Leader, Michael advocates for good visual design in both internal communications and external project and proposal work.
"Graphic design is visual problem solving - a specific solution that interprets and presents information to a specific audience. Designers have this toolkit, this knowledge of how humans explore an image, read type, and conceptualize information, that we use to make the mysterious sensible."
At Associated Engineering, that toolkit gets put to use in projects ranging from process graphics, to client reports, to murals and signage, to the whole spectrum of staff communications.
His project highlights include the project website and identity design for the Deh Cho Bridge, for the Government of the Northwest Territories; the Assembly of First Nations' report on the National Infrastructure Gap; and the Burlington Climate Resilience Report.
"It’s always rewarding to share what I’ve learned on my own journey as a design professional. The best designs are often invisible, but I relish the challenge of presenting the excellent work of our engineers and scientists in a way that supports our reputation as an innovative firm."
Internally, Michael enjoyed developing the visual design for the company's Strategic Plan documents, and collaborating with our Climate Risk Team to develop our 16-part climate change awareness training videos, along with a poster series on climate change in Canada.
"I have a couple of quotes on my desktop to remind me of the twin wolves of graphic design. 'We can’t become the hands of unethical men… the worst of what we create will outlive us.' reminds me of the designer's responsibility. The other quote, 'When it looks right to the person who's paying you, it's perfect', reminds me that sometimes you've just got to put down the stylus."
Michael is currently Vice President of the Edmonton Chapter of DesCan, Canada's Society for leading, supporting and advancing professional design communications. He loves cooking as a path to relaxation, plays a variety of instruments (poorly) in his home studio to have fun, and enjoys travelling with Maria, his wife of 20 years.
He is also one of the hosts of the AE Live podcast and a long-time participating fundraiser in Associated's annual Movember campaign.
