While growing up in North Battleford, a career in graphic design never seemed attainable for Jorda Thomas. Now, she has returned home with a silver medal for Canada after competing at the 2026 WorldSkills competition in Shanghai.
“In North Battleford, I didn’t have much of an introduction to graphic design,” Thomas said. “It was actually a friend who introduced me to design. Through his support, I was able to see that I could contribute something bigger than myself through design.”
After graduating from high school, Thomas enrolled at Saskatchewan Polytechnic, where she learned the business and creative sides of graphic design. The program opened the door to numerous opportunities to develop her skills and eventually represent Canada on the international stage.
Competing against 29 designers from around the world and representing her province and country was a memorable experience, Thomas said.
“I never thought I would be able to honestly go to that level with graphic design. I didn’t know it was a route. Being able to bring silver and Best of Nation back home, where so few Canadians even know what WorldSkills is, it’s wild and I’m so excited to have done that!”
(Image Credit: Jorda Thomas/ submitted)
The four-day competition was divided into branding, packaging, editorial design, advertising and animation. Each day presented a fast-paced challenge that required competitors to apply their creative strategies to new projects.
“You can prepare only as much as you can, but you don’t know what the client will be. You don’t know what target audience you’re reaching out to. A lot of that is interpretation on the spot and applying everything that you’ve really practised and trained for,” Thomas said.
She spent more than a year and a half preparing for the competition, fine-tuning her skills and even taking a solo trip through Europe.
“I needed to broaden my perspective on marketing beyond a North American perspective because it’s very narrow. There’s so many different ways you can tackle it,” she said.
Thomas also received formal training from former instructors in her graphic communications program, who guided her through timed project simulations that gradually increased in difficulty, from the national level to the WorldSkills competition.
moving forward, she will continue working in the advertising industry while hoping her achievement will inspire other young designers across Saskatchewan to explore opportunities in the field.
“Sometimes it’s taking a chance on yourself and really embracing the opportunities can take you further than you really ever imagined,” Thomas said. “Especially youth, they don’t see all these doors before them until they really start opening up in their future years. It’s amazing to know that there are these opportunities, there are these different routes that you can take!”
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