Mary Hirvela

Alumni

I am an enthusiastic and disciplined creative problem solver. I seek to create fun and colorful designs that push the boundaries of what we think is possible. I have a diverse skill set and bring together art, business, research, technology, and engineering to deliver innovative and user-centered products. I am a curious and open-minded individual who is always learning and observing.

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MyVue

MyVue

MyVue

Class: Capstone Studio  |  Instructor: Roger Ball

MyVue is a pair of augmented reality glasses designed to aid slow fashion bloggers. Slow fashion is all about being more conscious of what we buy and making more ethical, sustainable clothing choices. These bloggers need their wardrobe to be very versatile since they choose to buy fewer things, therefore the open-brow frame design and magnets allow for different styles of lenses to be interchanged.

MyVue transforms the in-store shopping experience by projecting information onto its lenses about a product when the product’s barcode is scanned. Additionally, it allows bloggers quick links for their social media so that they can live stream, post, tag, and communicate with their audience.

This project involved a lot of rapid prototyping with 3D printed frames, laser-cut lenses, and fabric dye. I had never designed a pair of glasses before these, and it was a really fun challenge to 3D model such a complex form and then get to actually make them. I enjoy designing in the spot that merges high tech and beautiful forms.

ArtXR

ArtXR

ArtXR

Class: Capstone Studio  |  Instructor: Roger Ball

ArtXR is my final project as an undergrad student at Georgia Tech. I wanted to dream big and imagine what the future of art might look like. ArtXR is a virtual reality program that allows artists to create immersive, interactive extended reality art installations. These installations are a combination of virtual reality painting and touchable real-life set design that bring a physical touch sense to digital 3D/environmental art. For a more thorough overview of the project, please visit: https://youtu.be/yHzYwg103-A

The original goal of this project was to create an example of the art using virtual reality equipment and building a physical set. Due to Covid-19, creating this became impossible. Instead, I decided to learn how to use Adobe Character Animator to rig illustrations I created in Adobe Illustrator to demonstrate the concept. I used Adobe After Effects to pull together all of the graphics and animations I made to form a video. I had so much fun getting to use my imagination and learning new skills for this project.

Orion Grill

Orion Grill

Orion Grill

Group Members: Tiffany Roberts, Roberto Mendez, John Allen Dyer, and Chianne Connelly
Class: ID/ME Studio  |  Instructors: Stephen Sprigle, Wayne Li

This project was a collaboration between Industrial Designers and Mechanical Engineers. My team was tasked with designing a unique gas grill for Orion Outdoors, who currently sells a line of charcoal convection cookers. This project was a great exercise in working on a multidisciplinary team and working with multiple stakeholders. I learned a lot about communication during the course of this project.

As one of three industrial designers on the team, I was largely responsible for leading the team and facilitating communication between the two disciplines. I helped to lead us through the design process and introduce design concepts to my engineer teammates. On the design side, I was responsible for illustrating concepts and determining the final form and functionality of the grill. A grill has a lot of parts, and I learned a lot about designing for manufacturing and all the costs that go into a product like this.

Our team’s final grill design was focused on making the experience of grilling more convenient and versatile. Our design centered around a modular grate design, that provides different shapes of grates for different cooking scenarios. The grates have handles and are all small enough to fit into a five-gallon bucket for easier deep cleaning. The grill’s side tables curve slightly toward the user and provide surface area space equal to the cook surface.

Bike

Group Members: Heyward Smith, Stephanie Webster
Class: Product Development Studio  |  Instructor: Kevin Shankwiler

This project put all of my product design skills into practice. My team began by going out early in the morning observing and talking to bike riders, doing first-hand research. From synthesis of the research, we chose to focus on designing a bike that provides storage for all the things a commuter brings on their ride. The result was a triangle frame design that would allow for a range of accessories produced by the bike brand to connect to the frame. We designed a special triangle-shaped locking mechanism that could connect the accessories to the bike. The triangle frame also allows users to strap on and attach any other thing they would like. It offers them the flexibility to be creative with how they ride.

Something cool I got to do with this project was to develop the form in virtual reality. We used gravity sketch along with some CAD models to quickly explore the form of the bike. We also used virtual reality along with a real-life stationary bike to test out the position of the seat and handle bars on the bike. This was a lot of fun, and I also really enjoyed playing with the bright colors and aesthetic of the bicycle design. In the end we prototyped the bike by 3d printing the entire frame! To make something of this scale was so cool to do.