Present
I use my skills in B&E, U&S and M/D&C to feed my decision making in the areas C&A and T&R.
Creativity & Aesthetics
FBP, sample collection
FBP, Exploratory Loom
During my first years as a Bachelor I used iterative processes (through sketching and paper modelling) and a goal oriented mindset towards design cases and target groups to complete projects. This rapidly evolved in my last year after my participation in Exploratory Making where I came in contact with the explorative design approach. I chose to adopt this approach in my FBP to push myself away from my goal oriented mindset, which proved to be highly successful. Through this exploration I got to experience the transformations in framing of a project that will result in something unexpected.
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Methods I use to navigate this approach is through emergence where I will act on inspiration and new ideas. I document all the explorations and emergent factors in a workbook to organize and be able to analyze each aspect of my process. The body of work documented in my workbook would inspire next iterations.
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I inform my creative decision making through intuition, emergence, technical feasibility (T&R), market feasibility (B&E), user interaction (U&S) and (design) knowledge gained throughout the process.
Math, Data & Computing
FBP, sample 26
FBP, Processing code for weaving draft program
FBP, computation of warp crossings
Project 3, snippet OOCSI code from final demoday code
As I mentioned in ‘Past’ I developed my coding skills through making a program for data communication between OOCSI, ESP-32 and an Arduino Mega. Working on this code gave me the confidence that if coding was needed I would be able to do it.
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For my FBP I implemented a computational aspect in the Exploratory Loom that I first didn’t recognize as computational because I felt that computing was always related to some kind of coding. However, when reflecting on the aspects of the Exploratory Loom and the complexity it offers, I understood that there was in fact a computational aspect to it. The way a weaver can thread this loom, is in my opinion, very much a computational way of weaving. The multiple warp beams gives the loom the opportunity to weave in multiple dimensions which the user has to compute a specific pattern for.
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To aid the user in communicating their complex samples I also made a simple program in Processing where they can fill in a weaving draft with an additional legend with icons for each complex step taken that would not have been able to be communicating in traditional weaving drafts.
User & Society
FBP, user testing
Project 3, working with repair cafe volunteers
For many projects I have conducted user tests to create an understanding of the users approach to a certain demonstrator or product. In Project 2 we conducted multiple user test that led users through an immersive tutorial to gather qualitative data on their experience. Project 3 showed me how working with a specific community, for this project repair volunteers, could help in navigating a project in such a way that it can be used for societal change. I tackled this by gaining knowledge through working with repair café volunteers that have informal repair knowledge and comparing their perspectives with those within formal design education. Working this way helped me learn how to gather different perspectives and use these to create an interactive demonstrator to bridge the gap between them.
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I also conducted user tests for my FBP. Through these tests participants showed me how valuable they are when it comes to improvements on the experienceability of a product. Their participation can give new insights and multiple directions for improvement in the overall aesthetics of interaction and mechanism of the design (C&A) (T&R). These user test create a user-centered focus in the design process and helps me to determine together with my B&E skills if there is a need for a certain product on the market.
Technology & Realization
FBP, woodworking
Project 3, electronics
FBP, mechanism iterations
FBP, woodworking
FBP, 3D modelling
FBP, finish for Exploratory Loom
I realize my designs through all sorts of making skills such as woodworking, 3D modelling, paper modelling, laser cutting, soldering/organizing electronics and all other sorts of crafts. I use my creative thinking skills together with my crafting abilities to realize my prototypes (C&A).
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I have the ability to recognize the most appropriate materials for each type of craft when realizing mechanisms or other designs, on a low and high fidelity level, resulting from my deep tacit knowledge on machine understanding accumulated over the last years through, mainly, my internship and working at Het Beun Collectief. For example, the heddle designed for the Exploratory Loom was prototyped on a low fidelity level with a model made from foamboard and metal wire to test feasibility of the design and mechanism (skills gained from Exploratory Making, C&A). This later developed into a high fidelity prototype with a working mechanism made feasible through 3D modelling (learned during my internship). I see this industrialized by laser cutting strong metals to create a precise and strong product to be able to be brought to the market (B&E).
Business & Entrepreneurship
Internship, promote Scheublin&Lindeman in VTWonen 'Weer Verliefd Op Je Huis'
FBP, loopholes workshop
I followed many (design) business courses during my bachelor were I learned about business models, marketing strategies, IP rights and product viability. I used the theoretical knowledge gained by these courses to construct viable business plans for multiple projects and used it together with analysis of user test for my FBP to realize a viable selling point.
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The way I am able to determine if a product is feasible for market entry is through gathering knowledge on the needs of the user, accumulated through user tests (U&S), and through analyzing the overall design of the product together with material choices to be able to determine if it can be fabricated on an industrial level (C&A, T&R). The Loopholes workshop given in the CWS squad was a useful tool for this approach.
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During my internship I also gained valuable insights on how a design studio could be run and got to join meetings with external parties to experience collaborations with other companies.
FBP Reflection
I chose to do my FBP in the Crafting Wearable Senses (CWS) squad because after my internship and time at het Beun Collectief I wanted to focus my design skills towards crafts. In the CWS squad I took on an explorative process to develop my approach as a designer. I wanted to develop in this approach to see how far I could push my creative thinking and making skills, I also wanted to integrate more Math, Data & Computing (M/D&C) in my project, develop my own style and accumulate feedback from users through user tests.
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In the beginning of my project I did not quite understand how my process was emergent but through the documentation in my workbook and the ‘Map your Journey’ workshop from the CWS squad, I understood how my process had emergent elements that led me to certain explorations.
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Because of the nature of an explorative design process there was not much time for improvement on the Exploratory Loom. I feel that my strengths lie in analyzing user tests to iterate further on the final design and create a more meaningful and better experienced product.
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Before I was able to make the Exploratory Loom I often got stuck in the process of exploring, it occurred multiple times that I did not know how to continue because I did not have a clear goal to hold on to. Visiting museums or talking with other weavers helped me with getting a step further because of their feedback and expertise.
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Although M/D&C did not have a relevant input in the process for most of the time, I did see how computing came forth out of the complexities possible with the Exploratory Loom. During this project I discovered a new way of looking at M/D&C where I did not only see the expertise area as coding but also as finding complexities within patterns and how one can compute these.
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When looking back to my FBP I feel I have developed myself on multiple levels. I found a way to navigate my exploratory process which taught me the freedom one can have within a design process when you do not hold on to a specific goal as much. I feel the Exploratory Loom is a great example of this and shows how designers can look at already existing machinery in a novel way.