Embracing Filipino culture through community and design.
OVERVIEW
The University of Waterloo Filipino Students’ Association is a club driven to help educate Filipinos and Filipinos-at-heart about the Filipino culture. Not only to gather for social occasions, but to create a tight-knit community sharing our many talents and resources.
We strive to foster an inclusive environment that welcomes all UW students by increasing awareness of Filipino culture through our “3 E’s”: educating the campus about our heritage, empowering Filipino identity and representation, and enriching our community through vibrant cultural and social events.
Going into my first year at Waterloo, everyone was telling me to join a club, and when I joined UWFSA as a Junior Executive, I quickly understood why. The sense of home and family I instantly felt was one of the main reasons why this club has such a special place in my heart, and has helped me build such meaningful relationships with so many different people at Waterloo.
Serving as the Creative Director, I shared my passion for design and visual strategy with the Filipino community, flourishing as a designer and a community member.
EVENT PROMOTION
Some event posts used to promote our upcoming events and any news about our team! UWFSA hosts multiple events throughout each term, while staying on theme with the time of the year. From my own experience, the events are such a good way to socialize and meet others while relieving some stress from the harsh UWaterloo study terms.
STORY REMINDERS
Instead of traditionally reposting our content to remind our followers about our events, we implemented a system within our design process to ensure that we have a reminder graphic to post a day or two before our event! Although it’s a pretty simple addition since we can translate the content from a post to a story, it really helps with the in-person retention at our events.
CONNECTED GRID SYSTEM
To make our super cool Instagram page even cooler, we adopted a system to incorporate a different theme for row on our feed! This is done through extensive planning to know what each cover will look like, and communication between the events team to ensure all information is displayed correctly while having fun and coming up with a theme that will wow UWFSA followers as time goes on.
MEET THE TEAMS POSTS
When it comes to finally getting to unveil our lovely executive team, it genuinely feels like Christmas morning.
The meet the teams slides showcase every person who contributed to the success of UWFSA during the term, and it’s truly an embodiment of the amount of excitement and joy that being on the team comes with.
It’s been so exciting to direct, from concept to production, from Canon EOS R7’s to Figma files, the posts that showcase the people who contribute to building such a tight-knit community.
REFLECTION
It’s the people that make the place.
It’s not often the physical characteristics of a place that make it special but the human connections.
The past 2-3 years of contributing to UWFSA initiatives has consistently made me 1% better as a designer, and as a member of a large, growing community. It’s truly been a pleasure to honour my culture and represent my people in a meaningful way that I am sincerely passionate about. From winning basketball intramurals to having a blast at cottages with the executive team, I wouldn’t trade these meaningful experiences for anything.
Along with everybody else that I’ve crossed paths with on the club, I’m especially grateful for my directors and coordinators; Angel, Jasmine, Naomi, Thyron, Alyanna, Pio, Timothy, Sydney, and Cedric. It’s been so awesome to learn with them and create cool things for the club!
