Savio M. Mukachirayil
University of Illinois
This portfolio, which I’ve assembled for the role of Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Illinois, offers a concise overview of various projects I’ve undertaken at educational institutions, design agencies, startups, private companies, and in personal ventures.
I have designed the portfolio to communicate my work efficiently, respecting your time.
I’ve specifically chosen these six projects because I believe they showcase the skills you are looking for, such as research, CMF design, computer modelling, rendering, sketching, storytelling, novel methodologies, and approaches to designing products and experiences. Additionally, they highlight collaborations across disciplines.
Please consider this portfolio as a sampler of my experiences. If something piques your interest, I am happy to discuss it further.
I appreciate your time and consideration of my application.
Sincerely,
BracePal
Roots
Forming Memory
Bare-ly Seen
VibeCheck
Silsila
VibeCheck
Intention
Improving our ability to perceive, understand, and manage emotions empowers us to act based on reason, which is crucial for exercising a free act. Furthermore, developing emotional intelligence enables us to relate to others and build stronger relationships.
Context
Children in the concrete operational stage begin to recognize and label emotions. Increasing their interactions with people through digital mediums can aid this development. Grandparents, a generation rich with stories, often have fewer people to share them with.
Solution
A cross-generational board game targeted at children aged 7 to 11 years, designed to improve their emotional intelligence by having them correctly guess the emotions of other players through the stories they narrate.
Process
Ideated from the insights in literature reviews in psychology and developed based on the results from quick prototyping and user studies.
Future Works
Tailoring the game for individuals who particularly struggle with perceiving others’ emotions, such as those with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Game-play
Every player starts with the same hand of emotion cards.
Each player takes turns in being the protagonist; who creates their story, whilst everyone else are listeners.
The protagonist takes a random “scenario“ card (first half of the story) and a random “event“ card (second half of the story).
After reading the scenario and event, they select emotion card(s) and places it face down.
Other listeners take turns in asking questions about the story, however, one cannot ask “how they felt“. Additional details of the story is created by the protagonist.
The listeners consider the emotion(s) the protagonist may be experiencing and places face-down the corresponding emotion card(s).
Cards are revealed simultaneously, and the players that correctly guesses the emotion(s) progresses along with the narrator. No-one progresses if the emotions were not identified.
First player to progress to the End is the winner.
Research-Based Design
To teach emotions effectively, there needs to be a clear and efficient communication.
According to literature, the human face conveys a lot of information regarding emotions which is why emojis (exaggerated simplification of human faces) were used to convey the emotion and the name of the emotion underneath it.
Colour theory was also broadly referred to when selecting the colours for each emotion.
The game play was developed through multiple quick prototypes, initially testing within the group before testing with others.
It was identified that two different categories of story cards creates a larger variety of stories: 20 scenarios and 20 events creates up to 400 stories.
Silsila
Promote discussion on the ethical implication of companies collecting and trading data on its user’s product interaction to predict their user’s behaviour, by speculating how this practise could be “used by parents to safe-guard children”.
Context
Digital companies track user behaviour on their platforms. Many of the most popular YouTube channels are tailored for children, who make up a large portion of the platform’s audience. As parents juggle work and personal responsibilities, they often find it challenging to monitor and interact with their children.
Solution
Intention Process
In a world where children spend one-third of their day online, Silsila presents a child’s digital twin to the parent based on the data synthesised by various platforms like Google and Meta. Conveying informations such as watch times, genres, and references to profanity, violence, sex etc.
Started with researching how digital companies track customer interactions with their products and exchange this data with other companies to gain a more comprehensive understanding of user’s behaviour. This was intersected with the insights gathered from interviewing young parents regarding their concerns on social media content.
Future Works
Designing a digital user interface that conveys the synthesised data to the parent.
Discussions
The goal of a speculative project is to be an object of discussion. When exhibited at, Exhibition Road, London, there were many who found the project interesting. Including young adults, parents and people who works with online child-
Some concerns were regarding the controlling parent that could abuse this technology by monitoring every act and limiting the ability to
The less conscious the parents are of their children’s online interactions, the less connected they become, endangering the parent-child relations, so others thought that the idea of Silsila could give opportunities for parents to teach children how to navigate the
There are existing softwares that automatically blocks certain sites, although helpful, there are many downsides: it takes the parenting aspect away from the mother or father and replaces it with restriction; the parent-child interaction is not present; the child is not given the opportunity to understand why something is couldn’t be an app, others thought that digital screens are already distracting which is the problem in
Design
As an artefact that conveys personal information about your child, it should be treated with a certain level of sacredness.
This is conveyed being a screenless decorative wall piece with the fingerprint scanner on the inside wall.
Screens and moving motion can catch attention when not intending to notify.
The fingerprint scanner is not clearly visible, easier for those who are familiar with using the artefact.
The textured dial allows comfortable rotations which is the interface for navigating the projected information.
Fingerprint sensor
Projection Lens
Memory Form
Exploring the interaction between form and meaning that is directly derived from historical events. To broaden the scope of a product’s function beyond its utility.
Context
Historically, ornamentation and decorations on objects were able to convey social status, culture, and history. However, this was very expensive and time-consuming. Today, mass manufacturing processes have allowed utilitarian objects to be affordable and replaceable, but they are stripped of personal meaning and/or story
Solution
Intention Process
In collaboration with an Iraqi photojournalist, the audio from video footage of a protest in Iraq was manipulated to serve as the parameters for forming the objects. By embedding data, the form serves as a reminder and a token of a moment in time, like a photograph.
Audio data from a video was converted into vectors, which were used in Solidworks as cross-sections for the objects. The lampshade was FDM 3D-printed, and the prayer beads were SLA 3D-printed due to their small size.
Future Works
Exploring other techniques such as 3D-printing with porcelain and wax to design objects like flower vases, candles, and urns
Collaboration with Maroa-Isabel Al-Sahlani
Video is captured at the event
Audio is visualised and exported as vectors.
Vectors used to define and construct geometry in CAD, for 3d printing.
0:04 0:02
0:06 0:08 0:01 0:05 0:03 0:07 0:09
0:10
Beads are used in Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, as aids in prayer and meditation.
A series of ten beads was made according to ten-seconds of audio.
Photo by Maks Karochkin (https://flic.kr/p/7cuUiM)
3D printed Lampshade
Exhibition at Nanyang Technology University, Singapore. 2022
PosturePal Elbow Brace
Intention
Improve the quality of life for people that do jobs that requires a high amount of wrist movement, it can be demotivating to do you job when you have an injury.
Context
Lateral tendonitis is an injury that occurs at the elbow through holding objects when the wrist is in a weak mechanical advantage through daily wear and tear. An injury that is common yet and long lasting but can recover if adjustments are made.
Solution
After resting the injured muscle, the patient continues with daily jobs wearing PosturePal, which informs the wearer of their incorrect posture through LED and haptic feedback.
Process
Interviews were conducted with a patient suffering from lateral tendonitis, an expert in physiotherapy and ergonomics, and fitness coach who has suffered with the injury in the past. Then the ideas on how to correct posture was prototyped in lowfidelity functional prototype.
Future Works
Develop a higher resolution posture correction device.
Loughborough University
(Persona based off interviews)
There is pain near the lateral epicondyle
The tendon has been damaged
Overworked muscles
Repetitive work over a long period of time
Work done in bad form (Active insufficiency)
The most efficient way to hold something is not the most effective use of strength.
Incorrect user intuition Why? Why? Why? Why?
“How Might We help sufferers do their job with better form?”
Why?
Root Cause?
Orthographics with underlays
3 directions
x2 Flex sensorconnects to the glove magnetically.
-
x2 internalsPCB/ LED/ Haptic feedback/ Qi charging
x2 Main housing
Frosted Perspex Injection Moulded
Modern inspo
Soft inspo
Glove - Recycled Polyester Fabric
Elastic Strap - gets clipped onto
1 User wears the brace
2 User does task with bad posture.
3 Haptic & visual feedback notifies the user.
4 User adjusts their posture.
Functional prototypes with flex sensors, LEDs and haptics, that activates when user has bad posture.
Roots
Intention The development of persons that have had their support networks destroyed through conflict. To aid genuine refugees become contributing members of society as smoothly as possible as the negative perception regarding them is often related to their burden on a fragile society and their lack of integration.
Context Solution
In the UK 1 in 3 refugees suffer mental health problems, but only 3% are referred to mental health services. Refugees also struggle to integrate into a country they don’t feel valued in.
A simple, low-tech solution to help people navigate their environment by directing them to services like job centers, language classes, and health clinics. The charities prints and hands out these cards with important local information and directions, reducing the reliance on smartphones and internet. Only the required cards are given out so not to be overwhelming and be appropriate to the stage they are at.
Process
Inspiration from Daryl Davies philosophy: integration of people and communication breaks down barriers. Through our conversations with charities, we learnt that the lack of a support network sustains their instability, prolongs their mental health problems, and makes them susceptible to exploitation. By encouraging interaction with the general public and becoming familiar to their new environment they reestablish their lost roots and regain their footing.
Future Works
Equality is the human right. We are all entitled to live with dignity and fear. However refugees feel they need to be “anonymous” and avoid being expressing themselves As a result they are not receiving the health services issues. In the UK 1/3 refugees suffer mental health problems, but only Refugees also struggle to integrate into a country they don't feel valued communication difficulties and lack of human interaction because of healed through people, human interaction will help human interaction”
STAKEHOLDERS
INTERVIEWS
MEDIA
-Inform the to the refugee
-Shares government refugees.
-Shares information negative or
-Mainly responsible
UK GOVERNMENT
-Want refugees economy.
-Provides as refugees.
-Supply housing
-Processes impacting
-Want to be refugee crisis
REFUGEE
-Require translators broken the
-Want to help possible
-Supply refugees them to be
-Wants to housing and
-Provide a isolated/ and
Semi-structured virtual interview with Ms. Trimingham who used to work for the British Red Cross.
Features Satellite map and compass at the front helps with navigation.
The front side of card provides information about services in their area.
The rear side displays the directions to the desired service.
Adjustable location pin to mark their position on the map.
Symbols convey important information beyond language barriers.
The cards are stored in the rear section of the device for easy access. Visible tabs on the card to swap easily.
Additional cards are given by the charity as the needs change.
Bare-ly Seen
Intention
Highlight our natural tendency to become desensitized to the suffering of others in our society. An unsympathetic outlook on their concerns can make them vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking.
Context
Singapore has a very beautifully curated landscape, designed by talented individuals. Much of the labour is completed by migrant workers, and it’s easy to overlook the realities of their working conditions when their work is so aesthetically pleasing. Occasionally you’ll see groups these construction workers being transported to and from work in open pick-up lorries without seating or seat belts, which has led to severe accidents. The 2022 Fifa World Cup had just finished also, where there were similar concerns.
Solution
A simple, satisfying, looping stop-motion animation highlighting our tendency to become accustomed was displayed in two public locations with different aspect ratios. Tensquare, a multistory building, has a screen size of 15m by 2m, while the Nexus Mediawall has a screen size of 21.2m by 14.4m.
Process
After living and making observations, we created a simple, looping stop-motion animation that was easy for commuters to understand as they passed by. The message was clear but kept subtle to avoid scandal or polarization, ensuring it wasn’t perceived as an attack, an encouraging yet critical approach.
Future Works
Foreign labour can significantly make objects more affordable and drive more profit but at what cost? I reflected on whether most designers consider the working environments where their designs are produced.
Collaboration with Maroa-Isabel Al-Sahlani
Message
The piece starts off with the title “Barely Seen” , which to suggest the subject is barely visible but also this work attempts to uncover who is not visible. After a few rotations, the next section saturates with the colour yellow and simultaneously you start hearing the sound of hammering that is in sync with the movement in the section. After a few cycles, the next section saturates in colour and audio again, as each section saturates, it builds onto what happens to be a cacophony of sounds one may hear at a construction site. The colour yellow was chosen as it is vibrant and draws attention, also it is the colour of a traditional safety helmet construction workers wear.
The looping stop-motions are very simple and appears to have no beginning or end, making them satisfying to watch. There is also scrolling text which goes across the 14m screen that reads “work in progress”; “do not disturb”; “sorry for the inconvenience”, which are signs one may read around a construction site but also symbolises the different thoughts people may have towards such topics in society, “blissful ignorance”, is also visible.
The text within the paper crafts becomes visible as the animation loops, it’s a poem about our contradictory behaviour in relation to our anatomical tools, a message to the reader about how we have these senses such as our eyes, ears, mouth, hands, but we can have blind-spots to vulnerable people in society.
Workers at the famous Changi Airport
Photo by Maks Karochkin (https://flic.kr/p/7cuUiM)
Thank you for your time