Portfolio - April 2012

MIKE LOVAS, BEng, MASc

Industrial Design Student OCAD University Toronto, ON Canada mikelovas@gmail.com

Bio 3D Design

Design Strategy & Research

Mike Lovas Harvest Table Flowstyx Sake Cups Paper Shoulder Bag Wine Aerator Sustainable Design Awards Mindfulness Technologies

Bio

I am currently studying Industrial Design at OCAD University, which is building on my background in biomedical engineering, healthcare research, and sustainable design. I am enjoying the human-centric and hands-on nature of design education. In my spare time I have been serving on the University Senate, making small objects in the wood shop, and serving as the director of the Sustainable Design Awards.

3D Design

The following 3D works have been completed for private clients and as part of course work in my Industrial Design education at OCADU.

Harvest Table (96”x 42”x 29”)

The brief for this extracurricular project was to design and build a durable, light-weight harvest table for 40 Oaks, a “deeply-affordable” housing complex/community hub recently built in the heart of Toronto for the Regent Park revitalization project. The Harvest Table was to be designed for a high traffic space, used by community members and a variety of groups, including a regular free-meal program. The materials were also to be 70% reclaimed. The Harvest Table was designed, built, and then donated to the charity, 40 Oaks.

Harvest Table | Process Century-old doors were found, manually stripped of paint, planed, and ripped to 1-Âź inch square prisms. The prisms were laminated together, thickness sanded, and sanded by hand. The table top was finished with polyurethane to maximize durability in a high-wear environment. The legs were planned extensively using CAD models to determine correct proportions and scale. The legs were made of steel bar stock, which were bent to shape, and TIG welded. An angle bar skirt was welded between the legs to stabilize the structure. The steel was torched and oiled to retain its finish.

Harvest Table | Final Design As the team leader for this project, I built the team from scratch; compiling a group consisting of an aesthetic-driven designer, a pragmatic conceptual thinker, and a highly-skilled furniture-maker.

The design team included Jenny Soojung Park, Mingus New, Patrick Kroetsch, and myself.

Beyond being deeply involved in the design and making of the table, I was the lead on forming the team, creating initial engagement, ensuring commitment, communicating with our client, and perhaps most importantly, keeping our schedule.

The Harvest Table showed at the opening of the 40 Oaks community center, along with other locally-designed and built furniture curated by the social design group Public Displays of Affection. The residents of the mixed-income housing units have moved in, and have recently begun enjoying the Harvest Table.

Flowstyx

(11” x 4-½” x 9”) Flowstyx is the design solution for a 3rd-year Industrial Design project for Research in Motion (RIM) and RADO. The design team for this project included Sam Kennedy, Devin Schaffner, & Mike Lovas. The Flowstyx was selected to be shown at the 2012 Interior Design Show in Toronto.

Flowstyx | Modeling & Form Development The goal of this project was to explore the concepts of communication and time, through a collaboration between RIM and RADO. Surveying the two brands and where their identities seem to be moving, we found intersections at the points of ambition, passion-driven, and relations.

Out of the ideation phase came the direction to pursue a small statue-like piece of art work for the home that would gently flow and sway, in the place of the typically intrusive ring tones and vibrations. This unique sculptural piece of technology would not only enhance the character of a room, but also the conversations with in it.

Flowstyx | Final Design The Flowstyx is a device that minimizes interruption when relaxation or deep conversation is desired.

It acts as a docking device that charges the phone and it also automatically sets the ringer to silent.

Incoming calls or messages activate the soft, frosted cylinders to gently sway like grass in the wind, subtly alerting the user of an incoming communication without an obtrusive ring or vibration.

Sake Cups | These sake cups are a personal project, exploring form, material, and process.

(2”Ø x 1”)

Sake Cups | Process I am experimenting with form, process, and material.

This series of small sake cups are an example of this exploration. I am developing a deeper understanding of the wood lathe and how different wood grains are expressed in this form.

As I have now made over 10 cups, I am beginning to hone the process such that a short-run can be produced cost effectively. Custom tools and tool rests, specialized lighting, cup templates, and food-grade finishes are being considered to make production efficient and enjoyable for the crafts-people (which include me).

Sake Cups | Working Prototype The materials, process, and form of the Sake Cups continue to be improved upon. Their final forms will be displayed and sold at a cafe/urban-craft store in Toronto this summer.

Paper Shoulder Bag (24” x 12” x 6”)

This project aims to provide young professionals living in condominiums with a status-friendly, grocery bag alternative to the traditional, single-use plastic bag or the often single-use “reusable” bag.

paper shoulder bag.

POV & design statement.

perceiv e

d statu

s curve

matt. single. childless. no relationship. young professional

*

in banking. recent MBA grad. living downtown to be close to action & work. gym. image +

status.

hair gel. party boy. cocktail parties.

doesn’t cook. eats out. coffee for breakfast. business lunch. business dinner or out with friends. new money. rarely does large grocery shopping runs. buys pre-made food, snacks, & mix. walks to store en route from work. never has his reusable bags that he collects at home. pays for reusables, he thinks they’re better for the environment & doesn’t want to look like a jerk. hates the looks of all grocery bags. would pay for better. clubs.

1 experience map.

perceived status curve

looks

single-use

cool,

but

bag.

not

3

2

3

user with plastic bags.

FSC

stylish.

2

*

recycled into new p aper bag s

‘non-jerk’.

too

cool.

1 experience map.

user with trendy shoulder bag, made of durable paper.

Paper Shoulder Bag | Final Prototype The final prototype for this project was a shoulder bag that was constructed out of heavy-gauge craft paper inspired by durable, classic-style paper g rocer y bags as well as popular courier bags.

The Paper Shoulder Bag included the following features: • made use of existing technology & manufacturing for recycled paper.

• required slight modification to existing paper bag manufacture.

• made of 100% recycled, heavy gauge craft paper, or paper created from FSC certified lumber • use water-based, biodegradable glues.

• makes use of existing recycling systems.

• more attractive and functional than typical reusable grocery bags and classic paper bags.

Wine Aerator

TASK ANALYSIS WINE AERATOR

Wine Aerator | Task Analysis This was a class project aimed at rapid class producing many ideas for the re-design of an everyday object. The Wine Aerator represented something in my life with distinct design opportunities, such as: slow pouring, dripping, and requiring two hands to operate. This project is an example of my ability to deliver ideas quickly and then develop concepts through sketching and ideation.

UNCORK WINE BOTTLE SEPARATE DEVICE TAKE AERATOR OUT OF HOLDER REQUIRES A HOLDER HOLD AERATOR OVER A WINE GLASS SUPPORTED ON A TABLE USER MUST NOT PLUG AIR HOLES WITH FINGERS PICK UP WINE BOTTLE REQUIRES 3 “SUPPORTS” OR HANDS TO HOLD BOTTLE, AERATOR, AND GLASS POUR WINE SLOWLY THROUGH AERATOR INTO GLASS REQUIRES A SLOW POUR SO THAT THE WINE DOESN’T OVERFLOW STOP POURING ALLOW AERATOR TO EMPTY COMPLETELY REQUIRES USER TO SHAKE OUT LAST DROPS AS WELL AS DRIPS THAT LEAKED OUT OF THE AIR HOLES PLACE WINE BOTTLE ON TABLE PLACE AERATOR INTO HOLDER WILL DRIP ON TABLE WITHOUT HOLDER ENJOY WINE! RE-CORK WINE BOTTLE (IF NECESSARY) & STORE RE-CORK WINE BOTTLE WITH ORIGINAL CORK OR USE ANOTHER DEVICE FOR THIS WASH AERATOR/HOLDER & STORE 2 ITEMS TO WASH AND STORE

Wine Aerator | Rapid Ideation The final design directions would meet the following criteria: intuitive, one-hand pouring, fast pouring, no dripping, affordable. The illustrations on the right show possible solutions that quickly fit into or onto the bottle and maximize turbulent flow to increase aeration.

Turbina

Conch

Design Strategy & Research

The following are on-going extracurricular projects that involve research, planning, organization, and team leading in a design context.

Sustainable Design Awards | Design Strategy & Leadership The Sustainable Design Awards (SDAs) is an annual, student-lead initiative aiming to help inspire young designers to approach their projects through the lens of ecological-sustainability and social-consciousness. Each year we invite our peers to develop ideas to that will create meaningful change through their designs. www.sustainabledesignaward.ca>>

Sustainable Design Awards | Design Strategy & Leadership The SDAs came into being after I realized that our core industrial design studio lacked an integrated concern for the shadow sides of mass-production: social and ecological impacts. After discussing this issue with my fellow students and professors, I decided to start this initiative that would help inspire my peers to approach their school projects through a ecologically-sustainable and socially-conscious lens.

In its second year, the SDAs have grown into a school-wide event open to students of all faculties, attracting numerous high profile sponsors like the David Suzuki Foundation and Vans Shoes, and notable jury members, such as Allan Chochinov of Core77. Next year we plan to increase our scope and impact by expanding - opening the submissions to a broader field of design disciplines and high school students, inviting submissions from across the country, and launching lecture/workshop series.

After identifying the need, I quickly dove into ideation to determine the most effective avenues to approach this hole in our education. The resulting directions pointed toward creating an initiative from student-level, as it would be the closest to the “user� and the most nimble, able to evolve rapidly to address current concerns.

After broad consultation with my peers, professors, and school administrators, I launched the idea and almost instantly found financial backing from a number of sponsors. Since the launch in 2010, we have grown substantially in terms of our offerings, sponsorship, reach (the first year was only open to 2nd year industrial design students), and volunteer support. This year I manage a team of 9 volunteers, an operating budget of $6,000, and multiple events.

Mindfulness Technologies | Design Research I have worked in research for many years in a variety of fields and in different capacities. As a Research Assistant of the Mobile Experience Lab at OCAD University I have been engaging in research at the intersections of mindfulness meditation and digital/mobile technology. The premise of this project is to leverage ubiquitous mobile technologies and the known effectiveness of mindfulness meditation to reduce symptoms of patients with chronic pain. With our collaborators at Simon Fraser University, we are attempting to develop software and hardware that will aid the practice of mindfulness for persons who suffer from chronic pain but may be resistant to the idea of meditation or have a low threshold for focused attention. We are using biometric devices (heart rate, breath rate, galvanized skin response, and brainwave monitors) to act as a method of providing a user biofeedback as a training tool for mindfulness.

In these images, we are testing projected visualizations onto a users closed eyes while mindfulness instructions are played through head phones. Biometric data is collected and will eventually be used to guide the instructions (e.g. if the a brainwave dips past a certain threshold, a particular message will be played to the user).

In my role as a designer on this research team, I have performed literature reviews, conducted usertesting, presented findings on mindfulness & design, and organized a day-long innovation session with researchers from across the country including pain specialists, psychologists studying mindfulness, clinicians, biofeedback game developers, artists and designers. I will be presenting our work at the GRAND conference in Montreal, May 2012.

MIKE LOVAS, BEng, MASc

Industrial Design Student OCAD University Toronto, ON Canada mikelovas@gmail.com