Vanessa Lam
13 April 2017: His 3D printed phone case designed to help players of global phenomenon Pokémon Go was a viral success, now Jonathon Cleaver is starting his own business – all ahead of graduating from the University of Canberra.
The 22-year-old graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Design (Honours) on 12 April and is developing his own design and 3D printing business, InIteration.
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Jonathon Cleaver graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Design (Honours) on 12 April and is starting his own design and 3D printing business. Photo: Kim Pham.
“It feels like such a relief to have completed my honours and now working towards establishing my own business and working with clients,” Mr Cleaver said.
“I’m excited about the possibilities the 3D printing industry has to offer, as it is still changing and evolving. We don’t know what’s in store for the future, so it’s exciting getting to be at the forefront and helping drive the wave.”
At the height of last year’s Pokémon Go craze, Mr Cleaver developed the Pokéball Aimer Case, a 3D printed phone case to help gamers catch Pokémon easier. His design quickly went viral, with Mr Cleaver selling more than 300 cases on his Etsy store.
“I never expected the design to become as popular as it did. My idea was a case that goes around the phone to help guide my fingers so the Pokéball in the game goes straight, and from there I developed a prototype,” he said.
Mr Cleaver was able to incorporate what he learnt developing and commercialising his design into his honours project, titled ‘Understanding public response to 3D design on 3D printing design sharing website’.
“My thesis compared what it was like being a new website user compared to an established one, and the feedback and engagement received from different 3D printing websites,” he said.
During his honours degree, he also had the chance to go on a faculty-led program to China. There he worked alongside Chinese design students, looking at designs to assist with healthy ageing.
“It was great as we got to experience opportunities that we wouldn’t have been able to do as visitors or tourists on our own, such as visiting a professional enamelling place and making our own enamel brooches,” he said.
Having graduated from the University last year with a Bachelor of Industrial Design, Mr Cleaver said the course provided many opportunities to get into different areas of design work.
“I developed a keen interest in 3D printing in college, so the industrial design course seemed like a great way to get into that by getting to use the design aspect and learning to use the computer-aided design programs. Then through my honours, I learnt to think more about the way I release my designs online, by building a bigger story behind them to improve the response and engagement. Along the way I expanded my design skills and discovered it was really fun getting to make things and help people,” he said.
“The course taught us such a diverse range of skills but also allowed us to customise it to our individual interests.”
Mr Cleaver has also made his designs, which include Pokestop at the Coffee Shop, fidget devices and Christmas light clips, available for free via MyMiniFactory, a social platform for 3D printable objects.
Read about more of our recent graduates:
