Professional Identity

As an interaction designer, I am fascinated by the diverse, novel and non-traditional interfaces we can use to navigate the digital world, by leveraging emerging technological innovation. By designing new interfaces for existing systems that we already use, I enhance their user experience and/or make them accessible to new target groups. Rather than asking whether a technology can support my idea, I ask what design opportunities a technology offers to solve my problem.

To successfully change a system’s interface, my first step is to understand the essence and value of the existing system based on three key perspectives: users, industry, and technology. I learn why and how users engage with current systems, finding their practices, frustrations and reasons to use them by engaging with the user. I find out how the market operates and a product reaches the user, by researching existing products and working with industry stakeholders. Finally, I study the technological landscape to identify which technology is suitable for the industry in the design context. This triangulation enables me to distill complex information into graspable and actionable design problem/goal and principles.

I make interactive functional prototypes throughout my entire process. These prototypes serve as a tool for co-design to gain meaningful feedback from stakeholders but also as a way to find the limit of what I technology can do for the design.

The common denominator of all my designs is a certain playfulness. I found that I can apply this approach and skillset in various contexts . This ranges from making games for children to making professional tools more natural and dynamic.

Vision

My aim is to design new interfaces that better align with the systems they control. I want to change and improve user experiences of existing systems by retaining their essence and value while transforming the interaction through innovative interfaces. As technology evolves, so does the potential for more tailored and effective interfaces. The rapid advancements in computational power, sensor quality, and affordability constantly bring new design opportunities that were before considered unrealistic.

Traditional user interfaces like the mouse, keyboard, and touchscreen are versatile and generalize well to a wide array of scenarios, offering a good initial solution. However, I believe that well-designed situated solutions with alternative interfaces can bring great value to specific scenarios. This is due to their seamless and intuitive nature, breaking down physical barriers, providing accessibility to new users and promoting engagement, immersion, and fun.

I have found that the best way to design for meaningful use and market adaptation, is to understand what sets these interfaces apart and build on the their true value. It is a pitfall to ONLY rely on the playful nature that these designs afford, which might turn them into a gimmick. This way, we can create more long-lasting non-standard user interfaces that allow us to interact with the world around us in a more meaningful way.

Designer skills

After completing my master’s, I am reflecting on what I have learned by framing these outcomes in different areas of expertise.

Technology and Realization

Technology is central to my design process. It is crucial to deeply understand technology and its opportunities and limitations. It is a core element in defining the problem and design space, not only a solution. My final master project demonstrated this deep understanding as I present a solution that is innovative but also technologically achievable in the current market.

Additionally, I can quickly create interactive functional prototypes with high demonstrative value. These porotypes help me gather meaningful insights. During and after my final master project I created Qwiz, which was used to successfully tested in a real world classroom. Additionally, I put my final bachelor project Corpus into the Philips museum, where it can be currently used.

Finally, as a designer focused on creating novel and non-standard interfaces, I often need to leverage my math, data, and computing skillset to realize unique high-level interfaces. For example, I optimized Qwiz marker detection to smoothly run in the web and created proper data flows. Moreover, I automated the marker cube blueprint generating process through automating this task with a Python script.

User & Society

When designing new interfaces for existing systems, understanding why and how these systems are currently used is important. I achieve user understanding both through literature/theory and research in real life. During my final master project, I involved real users throughout the entire design process by conducting interviews, observations and tests in the classroom. My strength lies in executing these activities quickly while still achieving highly relevant results.

When it comes to the usability of my designs, I learned that the most important part of usability is explaining what the design is meant to do. Once users understand the purpose, they tend to figure out the functionality themselves. While preparing Corpus for the Philips Museum, I realized visitors struggled with the interface because they did not understand its goal. Once this was addressed, the design became a valuable part of the exhibition.

Business & Entrepreneurship

A designer must understand market viability and how a design reaches users. I learned which interfaces and technologies make products (un)successful and why through market research. In my SCIO project, I collaborated with CTOUCH to understand how industry products reach the user. Furthermore, I consulted with various industry experts from Studio Tast, LessonUp and Gynzy, to find out what it would take for my design to be integrated in industry products.

Creativity & Aesthetics

I use creativity as a guiding force throughout the design process iteratively by ideating, prototyping and evaluating multiple designs in an exploratory way. Additionally I use it as a focused step developing solutions that interpolate between user, industry and technology, and puzzling together a solution that satisfies all three. For Qwiz, I combined possible inputs from the marker cubes with common educational information structures to find relevant formats. Similarly, I developed marker cubes that were affordable, sustainable, functional, and aesthetic, showcasing creative solutions.