Business & Entrepeneurship
Throughout my design journey, I learned the importance of economic viability in design. A concept only becomes impactful when it is also commercially viable. Therefore, I see entrepreneurship as a crucial driver for sustainable innovation.
In the elective space in my curriculum, I focused on courses about entrepreneurship. The USE track Technology Entrepreneurship provided me with theory concerning the evaluation of entrepreneurial opportunities. I applied this to projects by considering value propositions and using models relating to revenue, services and micro-economic processes.
Additionally, during project 2, I learned to stablish connections with stakeholders that were not the main target audience at first. Interestingly, interviews with them led to insights to create a design that takes multiple involved parties into consideration. This was my first step in managing a process with multiple stakeholders. During my internship at the student team InMotion, I expanded on this experience within a real-life entrepreneurial context, namely the macro-economic challenge of the energy transition. I conducted research among stakeholders and at a trade fair where I had to convey the value proposition of the team to multiple stakeholders. I identified problems in the communication strategy causing misunderstanding among stakeholder segments who lack knowledge to grasp the technological challenges and the importance of reached milestones. This damaged the conveyance of the value proposition. I engaged with industry experts to understand and analyse the multiple stakeholder network, to gain feedback and to validate my concepts for improvement. I applied the concept of technology democratisation to position design as a bridge between technological advancement and public understanding. This helped the student team to create meaningful connections between their innovations and their stakeholders, leading to a expanded and more sustainable business network.
In addition to my design activities, I took on the role of marketing lead at InMotion. I learned to navigate processes of cross-functional teamwork within the multidisciplinary team, where I dealt with dynamic requirements, constraints and dependency.
As a board member of the student association SSRE, I filled the Assessor function. I was responsible for organizing career oriented networking events. I engaged with interesting companies, and organised a business tour where students visited companies to explore career opportunities after graduation. This experience learned me to position myself in the corporate world. Not just as someone with requests, but as someone who offers value. And, as a bonus, I was able to pick up knowledge about intellectual property and patenting along the way.
Creativity & Aesthetics
Dealing with aesthetics is a essential part of design. For me, it is not just about making something look good, it is about communicating ideas in a creative, appealing and professional way. I enjoy wrapping designs in positive and inviting aesthetics to stimulate engagement with target users. I try to embrace chaos and use colourful visuals to give my work a energetic appearance.
During the course From Idea To Design, I got introduced to a variety of Ideation techniques. I preferably apply these in group settings. Therefore, I took responsibility in my project 2 to prepare all the team’s brainstorms where I applied different text-based, sketch-based, prototype-based techniques. Also during my Final bachelor project, I involved peers in ideation to gather insights from diverse perspectives and create holistic design processes. This collaborative approach helps me to refine my ideas and to get a complete overview of the narrative behind a project.
Since the course Creative Programming and my Project 1, I have been very inquisitive to learn how to work with digital visualizing tools. Over time, I have become a skilled user of programs like Processing, Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. I am also experienced in film editing using Premiere Pro, and learned to create professional sketches during the course Exploratory Sketching. I use all these tools to turn ideas into presentable and explanatory concepts.
Also, during the course Aesthetics of Interaction, I learned to have a critical attitude towards the use of physical and interactive materiality. During my internship, I was able to apply this attitude in a practical context designing affordances for a device meant to encourage interaction in a public space.
Math, Data & Computing
Math, Data & Computing offers designers the tools to get a grip on matter that they can’t grasp with the naked eye. It enables the possibility for more holistic and abstract design, leaving room for interpretation and sparking conversation. Therefore, I have been developing skills in coding and data visualization over the past years.
During the USE course Data Acquisition and Visualization, I learned to make sense of large datasets and turn this into meaningful information. Also, I learned during the course Calculus to work with a systematic approach when dealing with numbers and I learned to identify appropriate measurable variables during the course making sense of sensors. All this knowledge combined led to the integration of data-driven design approaches into projects. Take for example my Final Bachelor Project, where I collected multiple types of quantitative data and gave the data meaning by identifying patterns through Python preprocessing. I designed algorithms based on statistical thresholds and logic-based filtering to translate the virtual patterns into real-world meaningful physical memory evoking artifacts that describe behaviour in a holistic manner.
Next to quantitative data and computing, I also make use of qualitative data generation. During the course Design <> Research, I learned to use design as tool for my research activities, and gathered qualitative information to answer my research question. I expanded on these skills in my Project 3 where I conducted field research using explorative data collection methods to get a grip on behavioural patterns and understand cognitive processes.
Technology & Realization
Novel technologies provide designers with many tools to turn their ideas into tangible and functional prototypes. It allows them to either quickly validate concepts, or dive deeper in material selection, production details, and feasibility. Realization bridges the gap between concept and execution, and therefore it is important for designers to master skills in this area.
Throughout my bachelor’s curriculum and extracurricular activities, I have become familiar with realization methods. During the course Creative programming, I learned the basics of code-based visualization in Processing and Arduino. I expanded on these skills throughout my bachelor by taking responsibility for electrical and visualization matters. For example, in Project 3, where I applied this knowledge in a practical application to create a working prototype that combined processing day cycle visualizations with soundscapes played with Arduino speakers.
During my project for GLOW 2022, I learned more methods for working with wooden and plastic materials, like laser cutting and plastic moulding. I combined all this knowledge to challenge my realization skillset in the public art project by creating over 100 autonomously running devices on a small budget. In collaboration with electrical and mechanical engineers, I learned to design frugal electrical systems and got a better understanding of hardware specifications.
After this, During my internship, I collaborated with electrical and mechanical engineers again to learn about technical challenges of battery cooling systems. Based on this learning activity, I designed an installation that included interactive mechanisms to simulate battery charging and cooling. But, I challenged my knowledge again by exploring opportunities to reduce my impact on the environment. I learned how to involve sustainability as a key consideration in design for reuse by implementing the right materiality and disassembly features.
During the course Creative Mechanical Design/Engineering/Manufacturing, I got a grasp on basic 3d modelling skills using Fusion 360 and 3d printing. Additionally, During my Final Bachelor Project, I learned how to involve Artificial Intelligence in a project as collaborative co-creator through prompt design. I used a iterative process where I start with small instructions and step by step expand prompt structures with more instructions to generate better results of LLM generated 3d models. I combined this with my previous knowledge, which resulted into a exploration of how computational creativity can be transformed into tangible artifacts.
User & Society
As a designer who values user-centred approaches to projects, I recognize that users and society must be considered in almost all steps in my design processes to ensure that the final result meets the user’s needs and expectations. Linked to my entrepreneurial mindset where I believe that a design must have value for a user, I have to understand and empathize with the user and environment which I am dealing with.
During the course User-Centered Design, I learned to involve users as main stakeholders in my projects using methods like personas. I applied this for example during my internship, where I gained insights from involving stakeholders in qualitative research to contribute towards the democratisation of difficult topics and spark the feeling of community.
Additionally, during my Final Bachelor Project, I depicted a cultural trend of individual self-documentation that causes psychological discomfort and harms the value of festival experience memories. I challenged the norm of smartphone based self-documentation and designed a more meaningful alternative while keeping the needs of my users as main perspective. The resulting design was a set of memory evoking artifacts, which inspired reflection and storytelling based on a psychological believe that remembering is the act of reconstructing experiences rather than just a image that is summoned in the mind. In later stages, I analysed the design from different perspectives to validate ethical and economical value. Therefore, I used design as intervention impacting the role of phone usage in society.