Design for the user experience

I learned a lot about the research methods proposed (contextual inquiry, cultural probes, diary studies), one of which in particular, as my team and I specifically chose and performed the research method called contextual inquiries. I learned how to use the data generated in these methods. I learned how to grasp the relevant data from the large quantities of data that we acquired, by transcribing, coding and theming. I believe that this will be very useful for me in the future, as it the method of analysing is widely applicable.

 

I also learned about the ‘’Human Needs’’ theory, which talks about products addressing basic human needs and how to design for and add extra dimensions to products and services, and the ‘’Economical Paradigms’’ theory, which places products and services in certain ages according to production focus, product usage and regard for economical or ecological impact. The report can be found here.

 

Product Innovation Processes

The course Product Innovation Processes (PIP) focused on how the processes of developing and launching new products look like, on what the objectives of these processes are, and on how organizations can successfully manage the development and launch of product innovations.

 

Creative Mechanical Engineering and Design

This assignment is an introduction into sound Mechanical Design and - Engineering principles. Topics to be discussed will be Mechanical Design principles, material properties and selection, manufacturing processes and basic mechanical calculations. Furthermore, readily available tools like materials databases, solid modeling design tools and Finite Element Analysis tools will be demonstrated. I was able to apply this knowledge in my Final Bachelor Project when 3D printing. The report can be found here.

 

Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

This elective was all about making a ‘’Dragon’s Den’’ pitch. What do investors need to hear to be convinced? What business and design assumptions need to be validated? Is it feasible? Does it fit within the company? There was a strong competitive atmosphere between the teams, I learned that this worked very motivational to me. The report can be found here.

 

New product marketing

This course provided an overview of the most important theories, models, and concepts in new product marketing. I learned about how customers with similar needs can be bundled into segments and how firms identify target markets and analyze which are most profitable. The course used a mix of lectures, group assignments, presentations, and interactive cases to apply theory to real-life business situations.

 

Intellectual property rights for new ventures

This course is an introduction to intellectual property rights, e.g. patent law and, to a lesser extent, to copyright law and design/utility model law as legal areas of prime importance to technological development. Know how protection is of course part of the course. ‘

 

Our legal protection plan for a previous design project was selected among the 10 best, and we got the opportunity to present our plan in front of an Innovation Lab jury. Unfortunately , the results can't be disclosed because of an NDA.

 

USE Track: Secret Life of Light

A USE track is a collection of consecutive courses concerning the same subject. I chose the track called ‘’Secret Life of Light’’ because of my passion for lighting.

 

Anatomy and psychology of human light perception

In the first course, I learned a lot about the anatomy of the human visual system and how it processes light signals. This included effects on human behaviour and effects on our sleep-wake cycle, both greatly influenced by light.

 

During the second elective, advancing Light for human functioning, we went more into depth about the anatomy of our perceptual system and psychological aspects of light, which I found extremely interesting. The module also touched upon conducted researches and certain research criteria, which were useful when we had to come up with our own research proposal at the end of the second course. I learned about criteria like baseline measurements, control groups, external factors and various other things.

 

I also participated in an extracurricular course called ‘’Physics of Light and Lighting Design’’,  going into the more technical aspects of lighting (lux levels, unified glare ratings, etc.) so I now have understanding of anatomical, psychological, and physical aspects of light, resulting in a strong base of knowledge with regard to light.

 

After this, I did a project with a few others, where we designed an interface for the lights in the Lucid.Bar, a place where people come to work individually, have meetings, socialise and where the Thursday drinks are held. In this project, I learned about laser cutting, which I had never done before, I learned about communication between lamps and an arduino, and we conducted some user tests to see how people would  react to and interact with our product.

 

A video on this concept an be found here

 

Disruptive Business Processes

Through numerous examples, our assignor Aarnout Brombacher explained to us how big companies tend to segment their processes, for instance into marketing, design and engineering. If done incorrectly, this leads to massive communicational shortcomings, resulting in hilariously failed products. We were to pick a failed product (ours was blu-ray) and see where it went wrong, by analysing the awareness level of the company in MIR-levels, devising cause and effect diagrams, researching history and competitors.

 

Exploratory Sketching

Sketching can greatly enrich creative thinking and concept development. Through building confidence in sketching, design students will learn to use this skill as a powerful and intuitive tool in their design projects. I learned about the basics of sketching, using different sketching tools, making layered sketches, and how to direct attention to certain elements of your sketch.

 

Design Management

Students are able to apply a methodology to understand the strategic and operational demands of design management in the creation or development of a branded customer experience (proposition). With this understanding they can position their own specialty and expertise as a designer within the larger context of a branded environment, plus they are also assertive to management in their day to day design practice.

 

Financial Aspects of Innovation Projects

The goal of this assignment is to support students in developing the financial dimension in their design projects and how the financial impact of such a project is on a company. The aim is to create awareness of and experience with a hands-on model and tools for analyzing the financial aspects of New Product Development in order to prepare decision-making and pricesetting, and in making tradeoffs during the design process. The report can be found here.

 

User Focus Basics

Understand the nature and the structure of a User-centred design process. Being able to apply basic methods for the different stages of a user-centred desing process. Understand basic psychological concepts relevant to the design of valuable and easy-to-use interactive products and services.  The report can be found here. 

Planning and Roadmaps

Platform design can be seen as one of the mechanisms to make a design future proof. Using platforms is an efficient means to explore and follow market developments. Designers can build in dynamics (of technology and market) and adaptivity (of the product) in new product development, and anticipate on latent customer needs. Students should be able to demonstrate their basic understanding of platform design and roadmapping by analyzing a pre-defined innovative and intelligent product according to the theoretical concepts. The report can be found here.

 

Bachelor College

Bachelor college is a collection of courses that is obligatory for all TU/e students. It consists of Calculus, Applied Physics, Modeling, USE Base (Ethics), and Engineering Design. These courses focus on the basic knowledge that the TU/e believes every engineer should have