My final bachelor’s project really has been a project I was hoping to do ever since my first year of studies. There are two areas that were most important for this project which were creativity and aesthetics but mostly user and society. The reason I wanted to work mostly on the last was that I consider myself to be a user-centered designer and due to Covid, I was not able to really interact with users. This meant that I had little to no experience in doing actual user tests or anything similar, so my FBP gave me the chance to train a skill that I really wanted to learn and adds to my Identity and Vision.

 

Throughout my final bachelor’s project, several things I learned in different courses were useful for my process and creation. For example, aesthetics of interaction was an inspiration for the creation of the sorting tiles and user-centered design was useful for the whole process of this project. Also, my minor in ethics and philosophy helped me look at things in a different light and add to my project as this showed me the importance of inclusivity and fairness.

 

After three years I have learned a lot and followed different courses to gather skills in each of the 5 expertise areas.  Business and entrepreneurship is an area that I focused on a lot in the first two years of my bachelor’s, so I followed the use learn line New Product Development and Marketing and the course introduction to business design. After diving deeper I understood that this commercial aspect of the design was not so much my interest. In the end, I did learn a lot of useful things from these courses, because creating marketable ideas is very important to be able to make sustainable designs. I developed a lot in this area, which will help me create designs that can be made for the market and be profitable. 

 

For creativity and aesthetics, I already had a little basis when I came to study Industrial Design, but my prior understanding was mainly based on my opinion and experience. In my studies, I learned that this area is more than just looks, but that It also is about ways of interaction for example. I learned to look at design from a different perspective and also how to formulate why certain choices are made from the course perspective of aesthetics. Not unimportantly I also learned that you can never design for everybody and that aesthetics are also personal and that that is okay.

 

Math, data and computing, was one of the areas that I struggled the most with. In the first year, I followed the mandatory courses and set my basis for these skills, but as I found it hard I often avoided these topics. I realized that I should face this problem to become a more competent and all-around designer, but it will never be my specialty. I chose to do coding parts on purpose within projects and followed the course of technologies for connectivity which really helped me develop these skills into a decent to good skill.

 

Then technology and realization, this area came forth in a lot of courses and projects. In most of the courses, I followed the goal was to make a prototype or design and this is where this skill set has been developed. In project 2 my group was able to create 4 different prototypes, by using different techniques, which helped teach me new methods such as laser cutting and working with fluids in design. The course aesthetics of interaction was a good place to improve on my quick and dirty prototyping skills for ideation purposes, but also woodworking. Something totally new that I learned in this area was working with electronics, which I started learning in the course creative electronics but have continued in the course technologies for connectivity. Building things was something that I already could do to some extent, but learning to build circuits was totally new. 

 

At last user and society, this is the area I really found myself in. I have spent a lot of time developing my skill set and knowledge in this area as this is something that I value very much as a designer and is a big part of my identity and vision. I went from little knowledge to this being my expertise. I have followed courses such as social-cultural sensitivity to understand intercultural design better, I have followed user evaluation methods to increase my skills to involve users and followed a minor in ethics and philosophy to get a better understanding of fairness and human thoughts. I learned from all these things that this is something I want to do, I want to design for people.

 

The course design research has also thought me the different possibilities of design. I never knew that research could be done with or through design. I learned that creating new tools can be very helpful to research certain aspects and that we as designers have the skills to do this and aid in process and result. In design research, the design is not the goal but the means to the goal, which is knowledge. This can help designers who are creating new products and to do this based on researched information that in the end will help create a better design that is more suitable. 

 

Not only did I develop myself in design skills and areas, but this whole period and all the activities I participated in have also led me to develop and create new professional skills. Industrial Design really gives students a good platform to practice presentation skills and together with the facilities that were offered to me by the Honors Academy I was able to really grow in this. Teamwork is also something that I practiced a lot as this is something that is also very important in the field of design. As I have always played team sports this was something I already was skilled in, but now I could apply it to a different field and also work with international students with different backgrounds and students who have different specialties and skills. 

 

Decision-making, time management and organization were also very important qualities that needed to be improved during my studies. I have led a quite busy student life by combining Industrial Design, Honors Academy, work, sports and extra circular activities such as UNID and the NAHSS (Netherlands-Asia Honours Summer School). All these things together have made me a very efficient worker with a good and tidy planning. 

 

Everything I did during this time has helped me make my identity and vision become more clear over the years. Starting in the first year I had a hard time writing these things as I did not yet have a good understanding of the possibilities of design. But now my identity is clearer and my vision more scoped. I know now what I find more important and what suits me better by having tried different things over the years.

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