Overview of the past

Growth as a designer:

Almost four years ago, I started studying Industrial Design in Eindhoven. When reviewing the past, I made a big development becoming an industrial designer. After completing 11 projects and 38 assignments (see complete list below), I made a fair development in all the competency areas.

The projects made me aware of the cooperation within a team and the communication in between. In order to complete the design process successfully, it is important to have concrete communication between designers, clients, users and all involved people. The design cycle and research process form the base of designing. In order to make progression, good reflection upon my work, actions and myself is required. It is important to learn, how to learn. Not only while graduating, but also in the future. As an Industrial Designer engineer, I should be able to analyze complex systems and data. Moreover, I should be capable of visualizing complex reality and I should use academic precision.

The assignments I completed in the past provide me vital knowledge and experiences that I can apply in the design process. Ideas are generated based on prior research and a creative vision. Creative techniques are useful to generate and select appropriate ideas concerning the end-user. The integration of technology during the design process is important as a designer. Beside integration, programming, technical possibilities, seeking for the right technologies, methods and materials for concepts are skills a designer should master. During the design process, the (end-) user should be centralized. A product, system or service should fulfill the needs of the user. To observe, analyze and interpret the users I can use several methods like user testing, interviews or questionnaires. I can use this information to design a more suitable solution. Furthermore, as designer, it is important to be aware of the influence of a product, system or service might have on the society. Therefore, I should put the development of products in a broader perspective. Moreover, a critical point of view about the past can be useful. I can learn from their mistakes, in order make my design more successfully. To introduce new products on the market, it is important to know how the market will react on it. Knowledge about industrial business processes can support this. As a designer, sometimes I have to get a company-owner point of view. Design is just one of the many building blocks to make profit. Furthermore, as a designer should be able to create different forms of communication concerning the properties of the design concept. This can be visualization, sound, touch (tactile), symbolism or a combination of it. As a designer, I want to give my design a certain expression. This involves the way the user experiences the product (how it looks, sounds, feels, tastes, means etc.).

For more detailed information I invite you to look at the chapter ‘Overview of projects and assignments’ below.

Visual representation concerning my competency growth, click in to pictures to zoom in

Based on these visuals I can conclude that the competencies ‘ideas & concepts’, ‘integrating technology’, ‘user Focus & Perspective” and ‘form & senses’ have the most progression.

Overview of projects and assignments:

Down here you can see a rough overview of my competency development concerning all the projects and assignments I did in the past. The table also indicates which competency area are grown within a project or assignment. Feel free to click on a hyper-link to get more detailed information.