My Areas of Expertise

I really enjoy working with code, recording, organising, and sorting data to be used in analyses or graphs. The structure and logic of this come quite easily to me, and I love both troubleshooting code and seeing components come together. This was, for example, part of the reason why I was the sole member responsible for code in the course Making Sense of Sensors, and I am still proud of how incredibly clean and well that code worked. Furthermore, I am proficient with multiple coding languages and believe this is important for both research and design. In terms of the Expertise Area of Math, Data, and Computing, being able to efficiently process measurements from datasets is incredibly helpful for research insights.

Using code and ‘data’ processing with a more abstract visual output is also a very interesting experience. In the course Digital Craftmanship, I did exactly this; in the Processing programme, I wrote code that processes images to make these images return more abstract and meaningful memory representations to be included in our concept.

Continuing on the code topic from the Math, Data, and Computing Area of Expertise, I am also quite proficient with Arduino, Javascript, HTML/CSS, Python, Figma, and other digital prototyping tools. I learnt a basis for this during Computer Science in high school, and have only grown exponentially more skilled in this. Whether a project requires a digital platform or sensors and actuators in an electronics system, I tend to be in the group of team members responsible for this. During Making Sense of Sensors, for example, I helped both my and another team’s members troubleshoot their Arduinos, Mi-bands, and Data Logging Shields. In both my USE learning line and Project 1, I helped develop conceptual (semi-functional) digital platforms, while taking responsibility for the electronics in Project 1 and assisting this in several other projects.

However, prototypes do not only consist of technical and digital concepts. Since the start of my Bachelor’s, I have learnt a lot about physical prototyping: Through several of my projects, including Project 1, Project 2, and Aesthetics of Interaction I have developed skills in working with wood; including laser cutting and manual processes in Vertigo.

In this Semester, I have learnt a lot about CAD modelling as well. While I have previously used this at a surface level, Designing Actuated Systems has helped a lot in developing my CAD skills. In my Final Bachelor Project, I immediately took the opportunity to improve this skill, as it is something I had been interested in for a while. For my FBP, I designed my Aesthetic prototype in Fusion360 and 3D-printed this, while realising a functional prototype with a data logger and sensors in Arduino to make interactions with this prototype come to life.

Users and Society are two of the most important actors in my preferred field of design, which are deeply ingrained in both my vision and professional identity. I am very focussed on designing for neurodiversity and improving the Quality of Life for my projects’ target audiences. In line with this, I have followed the Quality of Life USE track, which has taught me a lot about risk mitigation and ethics to consider in product design and user testing.

Involving users in my projects is part of the design process that I find very important. I want to design for positive behaviour change and, as such, I believe users need to be involved in my design processes. Understanding users’ needs is imperative for good supportive design, and products and coupled interactions must be interesting and promote positive development. Providing different methods of user feedback throughout multiple stages of a design process can present great insights into users’ thoughts and experiences. Performing surveys is a wonderful way to gather large-scale quantitative data, which can help gain insights into target audiences when deployed in earlier stages of a project. Involving users in design through more personal interactions like co-creation sessions or design probes also helps with forming mutual understanding and more person-dependent results. In the later stages of a project, testing prototypes with potential users can help identify issues and strengths with current concepts. I am interested in exploring different ways to use these user interactions to gather information about a project, and I hope to make this an even more integrated part of my professional identity.

Interest Research processes One of my main design interests are research processes, as I find these invaluable for certainty in project development.

Compensate for difficulties with certain ideation skills by doing more research and more specific ideation; does not properly work, quick & dirty prototyping has lots of benefits too, still learning to improve this.