Innovative, boundary-pushing, collaborative and meaningful. This is how we often describe our industry partnerships. Our students delve into all aspects of real-world, human-centred design challenges, and our industry partners make it possible to tackle real issues. Whether through our Industry Advisory Committee or our project partners, we are grateful for those industry relationships that bring invaluable learning to our students' design education.
Industry Project Spotlight
Partner: Ohm Bicycles
Course: 2nd Year Design Studio
The students of Product Design's second year collaborated with North Vancouver-based company OHM bicycles. The students visited the company and got acquainted with their goals, aspirations and vision for market growth. After some weeks of research and exploration of concepts, three ideas were proposed to OHM in a presentation at the Wilson School of Design.
Here are presented two of the proposals; one is a centralized control display; current displays provide limited information, and sometimes cycles require more than one display which is attached to the handlebar of the bike. This proposal integrates the display in the stem and several functions like speed, GPS, heart bit, etc. The second project was a carry-on bag that would better integrate the aesthetics and the needs of OHM bicycle users.
Ohm Bicycles - Student Projects
"OHM Gear Bag" designed by Jas Singh, Justin Havard and Pilar Bildo.
"OHM Interface One"display system designed by Odette Mejia, Matthew Hill, Chelsea McCullough, and Elvis Roque.
Industry Project Spotlight
Partner: Santevia Alkaline Water Systems
Course: Design Studio
Project: Design Blitz, 2nd Year Class
Santevia water systems transform ordinary tap water into clean, clear, mineralized drinking water. They are based in Delta BC. In the Design Blitz, Product Design students were asked to come up with alternatives to Santevia’s existing pitcher design for the purpose of having a new look for a new smaller “slim” size pitcher (2.8 L capacity).
Industry Project Spotlight
Partner: Interactive Institute (Sweden)
Project: The aesthetics of CO2e
This project was initiated as a collaboration between Wilson School of Design and the Interactive Institute from Sweden. The Interactive Institute is an experimental, interdisciplinary research institute focusing on specific areas in different studios. One of the studies, Energy Design, explores (interdisciplinary) how to motivate more sustainable lifestyles in relation to energy. In one of Energy Design’s current research projects, the focus lies on exploring ‘How climate goals can be portrayed to enhance the individual's understanding of their own energy use and carbon footprint.’ Through the project, there is aimed to develop a new method utilizing wearable sensors and personal video tracking in order to display how the energy usage and carbon footprint of individuals relate to Sweden's climate goals for 2020.
The project intended to make clear how individuals’ everyday activities relate to the climate target. It generated new knowledge about how individuals experience having the opportunity to reduce their energy usage and carbon footprint by being given access to high-resolution data in relation to their actions. In this collaboration, we were especially interested in the aesthetics of a carbon footprint. How can we, through design, make the concept of a carbon footprint more concrete and tangible so that people can relate to it more?
Aesthetics of CO2e - Student Projects
Student Work:
'Penguin Paradise Game'
'AKMON your true footprint' by Odette Mejia
'CO-DAE Footprint Analyzer Ring' by Pilar Bido
Industry Project Spotlight
Partner: Canadian Sport Institute, Team Canada Wheelchair Rugby
Project: Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Athlete Cooling Vest
“Maintaining thermoregulation in elite athletes and in particular athletes with spinal cord injuries is essential to their health and athletic performance. Having the partnership with Jaymes and Laura with the support of the Wilson School of Design at KPU was very helpful for us as a team. They are the experts in design and were able to come up with a product that fits properly, looked great and most importantly helped cool our athletes while they were in competition at the Rio Paralympics.”
Melissa Lacroix, Sports Physiologist, Canadian Sport Institute
Learn more about our partnership with the Canadian Sport Institute.