The Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) is Canada's "university of the imagination."
Established in 1876 by the Ontario Society of Artists, the university was originally known as the Ontario School of Art, and was incorporated as the Ontario College of Art in 1912. OCAD was the first school in Canada dedicated exclusively to the education of professional artists in fine and commercial art. In 1996, it was renamed the Ontario College of Art & Design. Today, OCAD is the third largest of the approximately 40 professional art and design universities in North America.

The Faculty of Design has declared that the philosophical base of all of our design programming will be 'Design and Humanity'. It can be defined as follows:

The goal of Design and Humanity is to create objects, communications, environments and experiences that nurture community, humanize technology, satisfy human needs and empower the individual. Design and Humanity strives to achieve the maximum quality of experience for people for each ecological unit consumed in its creation, production and use.