Design Groups Toronto

Figure & Form w/ Harley - 2nd Session

Making the case for service design

How do you communicate the value of service design at your workplace? Where does your team stand, **and** what is your role within it? We all know service design creates value, but pinpointing exactly *where* your org stands, and what role you should be playing to move it forward, is a different skill entirely. This session is about getting clearer on that. **Format:** Design jam **What to expect:** * A quick icebreaker * Opening context — a fast recap of the article and why it matters * A spotlight share — one person walks us through where their own org sits on the model, and what that's actually looked like in practice * Main activity — working solo, then in pairs, then as a full table * A quick close — one small thing to try shifting this month **To get ahead:** Read the [Service Design Maturity Model article;](https://service-design-network.org/community_article/the-service-design-maturity-model-a-strategic-framework-to-embed-service-design-into-an-organisation) it's a quick one, and it'll give us a shared language for the night. The model breaks organizational SD maturity into five stages Explore, Prove, Scale, Integrate, Thrive) and tracks how a service designer's role shifts through each: from scout > doer > trainer > facilitator > leader. No need to have it all figured out before you arrive. Just come ready to think out loud with a few new people. See you there!

THROUGH Opening Reception

New paintings by Mark Viola explore layered identity, movement, and perception through translucent, process-driven works. Through explores translucence, movement, and the layered nature of perception. Figures emerge and recede within surfaces that reveal the process of their making, inviting viewers to look beyond the immediate image toward what lies beneath. In this way, the act of painting becomes inseparable from the subject itself. The accumulation of layers echoes the psychological and emotional weight carried by each figure, suggesting that identity is not static, but continuously constructed, obscured, and revealed over time. Rather than offering resolution, the works remain open—holding space for ambiguity, motion, and multiple readings. Through ultimately asks not only what we see, but how we see, and what might be uncovered when we choose to look beyond the surface. [ENROLL NOW](https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/through-opening-reception-tickets-1989021637260?aff=ebdssbdestsearch)

Water Lantern Festival — Wishes on the Water

Indoor Draw & Sketch Hangout - MaRS Discovery District

Hi everyone! We're doing an afternoon sketching hangout at the MaRS Building food court tables- Enter MaRS from Collage Street where the statue of two men are sitting by the glass doors. Turn left and head down the escalator. Turn left at the bottom of the escalator and head down the hall past another escalator and Foosball table the event will be held at the far end of the food court. **First time meeting us and still not sure about the vibe?** Check out photos from **[past in-person events of 2023](https://www.meetup.com/artsrecto/photos/34212927/)** Please bring your art supplies. Digital tablet, dry mediums, watercolour set, really anything that doesn't smell and is non toxic and easy to clean up. Please be considerate and leave the space as clean as it was before. Feel free to grab a drink or snack if you'd like. *Note the food court is closed but there are a couple of coffee shops in the area at street level. **Where to meet exactly?** MaRS Discovery District at 2pm **How to get there?** \- Public transit \- get off at Queens Park subway station\, walk East along Collage you should see glass doors with a statue of two men sitting at a table outside\. Instructions stated above Looking forward to meeting you all :) ================ **Support This Group 🥰🤩** We hope you're enjoying the Arts & Rec events! If you'd like to give support, please consider making a small Ko-fi donation of $5-10 USD at [https://www.ko-fi.com/artsnrectoronto](https://www.ko-fi.com/artsnrectoronto.) . This helps cover meetup and miscellaneous expenses with hosting events! For more inquiries, please PM me for more info! Thank you all so much!

Discover Biidaasige Park – Toronto’s New Waterfront Gem

Join us for an evening exploring Biidaasige Park, Toronto’s newest waterfront destination and one of the city’s most beautiful urban nature spaces. This thoughtfully designed park blends wetlands, ponds, meadows, and scenic walking trails with spectacular views of the Toronto skyline. It’s quickly becoming a favorite spot for photographers, bird lovers, and anyone looking to escape the city’s hustle without leaving downtown. We’ll start with a coffee in the Distillery District before taking a leisurely walk to the park together. 🌿 What Makes Biidaasige Park Special? • Stunning panoramic views of the Toronto skyline • Peaceful ponds and restored wetlands • Excellent opportunities for bird watching and nature photography • Beautiful walking trails surrounded by native plants and wildflowers • Quiet spots to relax, enjoy the sunset, and connect with nature • One of Toronto’s newest parks, designed to bring wildlife and people together along the waterfront We’ll spend about an hour exploring the park, taking photos, enjoying the scenery, and getting to know each other before walking back to the Distillery District. 📍 Meeting Point Balzac’s Coffee shop in the Distillery District 🚶 Schedule 5:00 PM – Meet for coffee and introductions 5:30 - Walk to Biidaasige Park together 6:00 - Explore the park for about an hour Enjoy skyline views, nature, birdwatching, and photography 7:15- Walk back to the Distillery District Meetup ends around 8:00 PM We can go for a drinks or two at the end if folks are interested. 🎒 What to Bring • Comfortable walking shoes • Water bottle • Camera or phone for photos • Light jacket for the evening Whether you’re a nature enthusiast, photographer, or simply looking for a relaxing evening outdoors with great company, this meetup is a perfect chance to experience one of Toronto’s newest and most beautiful waterfront parks.

Grow Your Art Career • Conversation with KEVPOP

You know how to make things. Maybe you've always known. Maybe you figured it out over years of practice, failure, and starting over. Either way — the making part? You've got that. But there's another part. The part that happens after the work is finished. How it finds an audience. How it finds a home. How you keep going long enough to make the next thing and the thing after that. Nobody really teaches that part. I'm KEVPOP. I've taught community education courses and workshops at public and private universities. I've received thousands in grant funding. I've shown work around the country. I've spoken globally from the US to Indonesia. And the thing I kept hearing from artists everywhere, at every stage, in every room? *Nobody told me how any of this actually worked.* So let's talk about it. This is a free, candid conversation for working artists, emerging artists, and anyone who makes things and wonders what a sustainable creative life actually looks like — not in theory, but in practice, right now, in the real world. **We'll cover:** 🎨 How artists are building lasting careers right now — the paths, the models, and the ones most people overlook 📋 Grants, open calls, and residencies — where they live, how to find them, and why most artists never apply even when they qualify 👥 What artist communities actually offer — peer support, accountability, access, and whether the paid ones are worth it 🌍 Public art activations — how showing up in the world builds an audience over time 💬 Your questions — bring them. This is a conversation, not a lecture. I've been in those rooms and I'll tell you what I actually know. **This event is free and open to all 10,000+ members**. It's also the first glimpse of something larger we're building. More on that at the event. Come curious. Come with questions. Come ready to talk about the part nobody talks about. **Reserve your spot today.** *KEVPOP • 10,000+ artists, collectors, and art lovers across North America.*

Fashion Implied/Lingerie/Fine Art w/ Katie Marie from LA (#2)

Rooftop dining at Queen's Harbour - Queen's Garden Table 2

Rooftop dining at Queen's Harbour - Queen's Garden Table 1

Fashion Implied/Lingerie/Fine Art w/ Katie Marie from LA

Java Compiler Superpowers: Annotation Processors, Error Prone, and Coding Agents

Java has compiler superpowers that most developers never use directly. **Did you know you can write code that runs inside** ***javac***? That you can inspect classes, methods, types, annotations, and syntax trees while the compiler is working? That you can generate source code, report custom compiler errors, or write checks that understand what code means rather than just what text it contains? Most Java developers have already used these capabilities indirectly. Frameworks like MapStruct and Spring Boot extend the compiler to generate code and metadata during compilation, making them feel like ordinary framework features when they’re actually compiler extensions. In this talk we’ll explore another powerful compiler extension: **Error Prone**, Google’s open-source static analysis framework for Java. Error Prone runs inside javac, understands the structure of your code, catches bug patterns at compile time, and can be extended with custom rules that report diagnostics, suggest fixes, and enforce architectural standards. We’ll also see why this matters in the age of coding agents. Prompts and documentation can guide an AI, but compiler diagnostics provide deterministic feedback. By turning architecture and coding rules into compiler errors with clear, actionable messages, we can guide both developers and coding agents using the same reliable feedback loop. You’ll leave with a practical mental model of Java’s compiler extension APIs, understand how Error Prone works, and know how to build your own compile-time checks. **About the venue** Free Times Cafe has bistro-style seating and a full food and drink menu. Please consider helping to support the venue by planning to have supper during the talk. **Speaker Bio** Adib Saikali is a distinguished engineer at Tanzu by Broadcom, focused on helping Tanzu’s largest customers design and build cloud native applications and platforms using Spring and Kubernetes. Adib is the author of Securing Cloud Applications a book that teaches application developers the fundamental security technologies and protocols required to secure cloud native applications. Over the past 25 years Adib has worked at startups and global enterprises on numerous software systems in a variety of roles, from software developer, architect, agile coach, and CTO. He has developed a 360-degree view of what it takes to build software systems efficiently, and economically.