María José Avelar, Graphic Design Student, Earns RGD Honourable Mention for Sugar Spirits
Her project Sugar Spirits has earned national recognition at the RGD Student Awards in the Retail Design category.
María José Avelar, a student in our Bachelor of Applied Design in Graphic Design, has just received an Honourable Mention in Retail Design at the RGD Student Awards, Canada's leading recognition for emerging graphic designers, organized by the Association of Registered Graphic Designers and sponsored by SLD (Strategic Design, Instant Impact, Lasting Growth).
Her winning project, Sugar Spirits, is an immersive artisanal rum brand and tasting room concept rooted in Salvadoran mythology. The concept was built from a single design idea: that a rum bottle can be a vessel for sharing culture, tradition, and folklore. To achieve this, María José structured the entire project around three core strategies, worldbuilding, sensory engagement, and narrative storytelling, ensuring that every touchpoint, from the bottle labels and tasting card to the happy-hour menu, gift card, and event posters, reinforced the same mythology.
The brand was designed for an audience that seeks more than a product — people drawn to immersive, story-based experiences, ritual gatherings, and brands with authentic cultural roots.
Each spirit was conceived with a distinct flavour profile tied directly to its folkloric character: black cacao, roasted coffee, and night pepper for one; ember chili, black lime, and toasted cacao for another; and wild lemongrass, jasmine bloom, and moonlit citrus for a third. Flavours that don't just taste like something, they feel like a legend.
In María José's own words: "Sugar Spirits carries my culture, my storytelling, and my love for immersive design. It reimagines Salvadoran folklore through artisanal rum, sensory materials, and AR-driven creature mythology. Seeing it recognized at a national level means more than I can express."
The Recognition
The RGD Student Awards are one of the most significant distinctions in Canadian graphic design, recognizing emerging talent across a wide range of disciplines each year. Receiving an Honourable Mention in Retail Design, a category sponsored by SLD, one of the world's leading retail design agencies, is a meaningful acknowledgment of María José's ability to transform a deeply personal cultural vision into a fully realized, professional-grade design system.
Congratulations to María José and to instructor Anne Ahmad Burnett for her guidance and mentorship throughout the project.