Creating a unique visual experience
The next time you reach for some loose change, there’s a chance you could find yourself holding the work of Kentville illustrator Bonnie Ross.
The owner of Ross Graphic has designed more than 36 collector and circulation coins for the Royal Canadian Mint. If the tiny letters BR are on the coin, then it is her work.
A Dartmouth native, Ross took a two-year commercial art program at Colchester Regional Vocational School in Truro. After working with advertising agencies in Halifax and Toronto, Ross struck out on her own in 1984. She launched Ross Graphic in Halifax before moving to the Annapolis Valley 10 years ago.
While Ross is best known in the graphic design industry as a coin designer and stamp illustrator, the bulk of her work comes from individual businesses, associations and local start-ups in the Kentville area. Her clients also include government agencies, graphic design firms and advertising agencies across North America. She also does “big stuff” such as interpretive maps, info graphics and exhibit illustrations for agencies like Parks Canada.
Ross particularly enjoys working with new businesses, helping them find their voice visually through branding, logo work and research. Her specialty is combining typography with custom illustrations for maximum visual impact. She also partners with local web technicians to provide her clients with custom designed websites that attract the desired clientele with ease of navigation combined with brand consistency.
“I also enjoy rebranding and giving a business and new, fresh look,” she says.
An effective logo has many components, Ross adds, including timelessness, versatility and simplicity.
“It has to tell your story and also draw the eye,” she says.
“It also has to appeal to the clients that you want to attract.”
In addition to coins, Ross has also worked in tandem with other illustrators to create stamps for Canada Post. Many of these have a distinct Nova Scotia flair, including barques and brigantines approaching Halifax Harbour under full sail. Sir Samuel Cunard is portrayed introducing transatlantic mail service on ocean-going steam vessels, while the Millennium Collection features illustrations of famous Nova Scotia singer Portia White and Sir Alexander Graham Bell.
She also worked on a stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of NATO in 1999. That commission had an eerie similarity to current events, as new flags had to be hastily added to the design at the last minute when Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined the alliance.
As one of the first digital illustrators in the Maritimes, Ross was both a pioneer in the industry and active on behalf of her fellow illustrators. She spearheaded the launch of the Nova Scotia Illustrators Network in the 1990s to lobby against double taxation on illustration work, as well as rampant copyright infringement. Intellectual property rights were not robustly enforced in the days before the Internet, Ross recalls.
“Illustrators were routinely getting ripped off,” she says. “Young illustrators, especially, who were just starting out tended to be meek and quiet when their work was used without their permission. Things are different now.”