2023 Award Winner!
Harry Cotaras
Born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia I moved to Toronto, Ontario to complete my design education at Humber College. I find inspiration in nature, architecture and the shared human connection - with my practice being rooted in process driven, evidence based design. My goal is to design products, and experiences, that provide people with a sense of awe and contentment.
Meet Harry
How my Nova Scotian roots inspires my creativity and personality.
The Four Essential Pillars for Design Excellence
The four essential pillars encompass human-centric design approach and the understanding of full-bodied, three dimensional physical interaction of user, product and environment. The projects generate innovative solutions using research-driven, evidence-based designs which focus on the user experience.
Enhancement of Human Lifestyle
Designed specifically for eight to twelve year old's who are struggling with dyslexia, ReCess aims to bring about better confidence in themselves and their reading abilities.
Far too many young dyslexics think that they are less than other students. The confidence that they get early on from reading success sets them up to pursue further education.
Human-Interaction & User-Centric Design
The seat and screens are where the child will interact. Considering this, playful multisensory ways of learning were designed into the chair and UI.
In the chair, this is done with the use of haptic feedback underneath the saddle, and rockers that allow the children to fidget. In the UI, the AI characters were considered to create a more playful and enjoyable experience.
Ergonomics & Human Factors Design
The developing bodies of eight and twelve year old's vary greatly. The chair's curvature with varying height was designed with these reasons in mind.
Additionally, the interior space the pod creates needed to feel private enough without causing claustrophobia. As well, the distance the screen is to the child's eyes was considered for optimal viewing.
Sustainability & Social Responsibility
Educational products are often made with mass manufacturing in mind. Ultimately this means the use of plastics to keep costs low.
Alternatively, ReCess uses steamed ¾” plywood and 100% wool for the seat and acoustic panels. Not only does this reduce the use of plastics, but it also means the children are being exposed to more natural, real materials.
ReCess - Dyslexia Tutoring Pod for Schools
Project Summary
Reading and writing are fundamental skills for every child to be successful in our society. With dyslexia affecting numerous Canadians, the need is there to make sure every child is able to read and write well. Young dyslexic children aged eight to twelve, are especially prone to experiencing the frustrations learning to read gives. While there is assistive technology for helping the children read, comprehend what is being read, and speech to text software's - these really only assist the children, rather than teach them proper literacy skills. ReCess is a tutoring pod that brings the specialized teachings of the Orton-Gillingham method directly to the schools - where it is accessible to all dyslexic students. It provides the necessary support to the dyslexic students through multisensory learning and AI tutoring.
Thesis Summary Motion Presentation
ReCess is a dyslexia tutoring pod for schools. This video will show the different features and benefits the pod and chair provide.
Thesis Visual Presentation
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Thesis Development Process
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3D Design Development & Modeling
Physical Model Video
The making of ReCess.
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