Past, Present & Future
PAST
With the diverse courses I already took before my final bachelor project, I developed a lot already. With creative programming, I realized that as a designer having some programming skills is highly relevant. When you have programming skills you can make a digital prototype.
At the beginning of my study of industrial design, I followed the course from Idea to Design. In the course from Idea to Design, I learned different methods of generating ideas. Brainstorming is the most obvious way to generate ideas, but with my group, I also tried other methods like 5-3-5 Brainwriting which means that there are 5 participants in a group to generate 3 ideas every 5 minutes. Pass on to the next participant for inspiration during the next round, so 5 rounds in total. Other methods of generating ideas that I learned during this course are sketching, prototyping and whole-body storming. These methods are also something I used during project 1.
Then there is the course sketching, I followed this course in my second year because in my first it was full every time, but I am so glad I was able to follow this course! The course is a lot of work, but with the skills I learned, I can immediately implement the other courses I had at that moment and also the courses I now follow. With the skill of sketching, you can communicate your idea much better and it can even help you with brainstorming.
Then there are the projects, one of the projects I liked most during my studies is project 2. This shows my vision of a sustainable automotive interface (see the figures above). This is a multifunctional interface based on the key design concepts of the Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR. By manifesting three frequently accessed functions this interface will improve the user experience drastically. The reason this interface could improve the overall experience so much is because the user doesn’t have to search for the right menu on a touchscreen, therefore performing the task more efficiently with the added benefit of a more feedback-rich experience. The touchscreen can be occupied with navigation or entertainment applications. The interface’s placement and form factor make it accessible and easy to interact with. Because it is so compact, 80mm in diameter, it can also easily be placed in the futuristic interiors of autonomous cars.
When working on a project I find it very important to involve the potential users of the product, to make sure that the project is sustainable and that the potential market of the product is established. One course that combined all these aspects for me is the course business plan, where we made an application like google maps for visually impaired people and people in a wheelchair see figure 3.
Another course that helped me a lot is the course Materials Selection. In this course, I made POLAR, which is a clothing brand specialising in environmentally friendly products. The mission is to raise awareness about climate change, global warming and the melting poles by selling garments that are hand-made with ecological materials and easily recyclable. In this particular case, we are launching our new line for newborns. It is a bodysuit with our logo silk-screened with photochromic paint. This way you will see if your baby is exposed to ultraviolet radiation and prevent your little one from suffering from skin diseases in the future, see figure 4.
Furthermore, especially the projects that took a whole semester have taught me a lot. When working on something for a longer period of time it gets easier to dive in and easier to really get the feeling of how it is to be a designer. I feel like to get to a good and professional design, you need more time than just one quartile since that doesn’t give you enough time to think everything through. With the longer projects, I learned to combine the different expertise areas more into one design.
I as a person have also developed a lot in the last few years. Presenting when starting this bachelor’s, was one of my weaknesses but has now turned into one of my strengths. With all of these things combined, I can say I have become a more diverse designer. If you’re curious to see more of the projects I did during the past three years click here.
PRESENT
Currently, I am busy with my FBP (final bachelor project). Within this project, I aspire to implement all five expertise areas and show my vision and identity. The (B)RIGHSUIT, my final bachelor project is a wetsuit whose goal is to make wind and kite surfers feel safer when surfing.
When looking at the first expertise area Business and Entrepreneurship the development of this started in the first year with the elective introduction of business design. During my second year, I followed the use line business and entrepreneurship and during my exchange also two courses were focused on this expertise area. Within this expertise area, I learned to make business models, and how to improve the customer journey and the branding of designs. This can also be found back in the development of my FBP. This is the aspect that I personally am interested in most and that is why I am also planning to do a master’s degree in this field.
Creativity and Aesthetics, this expertise area comes back in every project and a lot of courses such as sketching, but also especially projects like POLAR or TOOS. In this expertise area, I developed in a way that where before I would think that things are impossible now, especially when brainstorming the idea is that everything is possible. Now, only after the first ideating session do I start thinking about what is practical or possible to actually make. Furthermore, I am not a person that usually thinks a lot about if colours or shapes fit together but designing with the creativity and aesthetics aspect in mind taught me that appearance can make or break a design. That is why appearance is also something that was carefully chosen in my FBP.
The Math, Data and Computing expertise area is an area that also plays a big role in a lot of different courses and projects of mine. When looking at for example projects like the twist assist, virtual reality museum or RGBreath a lot of coding and data processing was needed to make these projects work and give them meaning. Also, in with the (B)RIGHTSUIT this expertise area was used. Especially when looking at digital prototyping, the idea is to communicate and identify the most important aspects of the design. Instead of making a physical one make a non-physical model that also communicates the idea.
Technology and Realization also comes back in the projects like the twist assist, follow you hall light and the interactive game. All these designs use sensors, use object-oriented design and can communicate with the users. Most of my projects that are shown on this website use most expertise areas, as the expertise areas also overlap and complement each other. When looking at the final bachelor project the technology and realization part can be found back in the prototyping and making of the wetsuit. In this development stage, the whole wetsuit was designed firstly online before sending the final design to the laser cutter and sewing the whole thing together.
As earlier mentioned in my vision I find it important to involve the user in the design process, the User and Society aspect plays a part here. In projects like guidable and twist assist there were interviews conducted with the user to validate the concept and improve the final design. In other courses like the self cleaning doorbell co-create sessions were organized to understand the user more and also to gain more insights into the problem which I was designing for. With the FBP there were three interviews conducted, not only with the potential user but also with retailers of current wetsuits.
As earlier mentioned most projects I did have overlap in the different expertise areas. Even though at the beginning of my studies I didn’t understand why identifying this is important I now see how one expertise area can complement another and how when all the expertise areas are integrated well a design can have a bigger impact.
FUTURE
Looking into the future I know one thing for sure and that is that I want to do a (pre-)master programme. However, which one is still unclear, but I am doubting between two choices. The first master’s degree that I would like to do and got accepted to is one at the University of Glasgow which is called global markets local creativities. Within this study, the study track that I would like to do is Sustainable Business Development.
The second option is to stay at the TU/e and follow a pre-master innovation management, which is part of the Industrial Engineering faculty. Choosing this option is the safer option since I wouldn’t have to move and search for a new room and new friends etc. However, I see myself as quite an adventurous person and I really enjoyed my time during my studies abroad for one semester.
The two masters have quite some overlap, they are both are aimed at business and entrepreneurship. The first option is more focused on international business and the second one is more focused on operational processes and innovation. What I really like in my current study is the fact that it is interdisciplinary and that is why for a master’s programme I looked at programs that also have that aspect.