I’m a driven person, who loves to create. The combination of technology and design has always fascinated me, where I see a lot of potential in the integration of software into the design field. More and more I see when I am working on a project, that thinking creatively for possibilities and most of all creating; that is when I’m in my element most. I tend to choose elective where I can freely work on projects without guidelines, to challenge myself to create without limitation. Most of the time this resulted in creations where the goal became entwined with my curiosity to learn some technology to make it move, react or interact.
The goal of my work lies in optimizing user experience design. Taking the perspective of the user as a focal point in my work, my focus lies on integrating their needs into a fast growing technological society. I aim to create, improve & bring joy where design and technology can help to make processes and products sustainable or more efficient. I’d like to do something meaningful, work towards improvements or a better way of living. I intent to always keep that in mind, and make sure to check if it is also received that way, as in my belief: design serves those who use it.
My strong believe lies in collaboration: with all the knowledge and enthusiasm combined, a good team can deliver more than one individual can do one their own. I do like to have my own task in that process, a gear inside the mechanism. I have always been very theoretical and precise, and I like having a clear heading to achieve the maximum focus, which can be a strength and a weakness. Stubbornness is sometimes difficult for me to set aside and I tend to be upfront about my view on things. However, I aim to be a listening ear, make harmonized decisions and be honest if it is needed to be critical.
If I get responsibility trust upon me, I will do everything to make it work. Curiosity and optimism are here my strong points, but also my obstacles. I never find difficulty with finishing in time, but it sometimes goes at the expense of myself when I go into too much detail or work on for consecutive hours determined to finish the job.
I find it very rewarding and motivating to make something for user needs. I loved discovering and learning new things, and enthusing others through my designs. After my graduation of ID, I will firstly finish my other bachelor's degree, but I will continue to look into software as a user connective tool in design.
I see software in design as a discipline with many possibilities. As a designer in this field, I want to investigate further the opportunities that are not yet fully developed toward UX design. As this combination is often underestimated, I hope to find a Master track where I can explore and deepen my knowledge about making software design for particular users.
After my education, I am interested to pursue software development for indispensable need. Currently, my intent lies in working for system improvement in hospitals as a new goal for my occupation. After discovering how it is lacking in usability and comfort in practice for doctors, I hope to be able to help improving in this pivotal sector.
In 2020, I started with the degree of Industrial Design at the TU Eindhoven. Here I look back on my journey towards becoming an user experience (UX) designer. In short, I highlight the projects that inspired and grew my interests towards this area. Although not everything can be mentioned, here I mention the projects that especially enriched my progression towards the designer I am today and what grew to contribute to the design field.
My first contact with user focused design work started in my student time. I became part of the student music association ESMG Quadrivium . As someone with experience in Adobe programs, I developed my promotional skills there by founding their House Style and making the majority of their concert – and member recruitment designs. Later on, this also became my job as a part of the EWUU and promotional team at Innovation Space, promoting the Challenge Based Learning at the TU/e.
These experiences contributed towards my design practice in two main ways:
- I discovered that finding the things to promote that are close to my values truly contributed towards motivating me to develop. This has also been a big part of inspiration towards the creation of my FBP UpSquare.it
- Because of the work experience, I had plenty of knowledge in Video editing, Adobe software use and knowledge about what is needed in aesthetic and psychological influences of design.
This project aimed improvement in the collaborative environment. MEEBA (Meeting Balance) is a modular device positioned on a meeting table, composed of a central station and individual elements (Meebits). MEEBA is able to recognize participation, and reacts with light to give all participants a chance to have their say. I developed my Technology and Realisation expertise by making the working central device, as well scannable NFC chips in the Meebits.
Find everything about the project here:
Main takeaways:
- A new interest into users research was found. Throughout the project, I learned to work with users with their needs in mind. The design needed to reflect what we discovered throughout the user research, and was eventually made to match.
- At this stage, my technological prototyping skills were good enough to build a fully functioning device. This drove me to also achieve this in later projects as well.
Picture by Thom Smits
Besides design, I enjoyed software so much that I decided to pick up a double bachelor's degree in computer science. Although there is much focus on back-end development, I tend to work with my vision as a designer where possible.
An example is where we had to develop a robot for the CBL course Embedded Systems, and I had the most wonderful teamwork which resulted in a well-collaborating team and a functional prototype. Computer Science group projects are very different than those in the faculty of ID, also because the majority of the study is individual. For this project, the course demanded every group to have Scrum Master, a task I took upon me. The previously learned skills in teamwork definitely made a positive difference, which was also reflected at the end of the course.
Picture by Matilda Fogato
My promotional interests in the music association grew into an interest to become more involved. In my 3rd year, I therefor decided to become part of the 59th board of the association as Chairman. Working with a wonderful team for a year, it established my teamwork, planning, public speaking and executive work in new directions, which will definitely contribute in future groupwork.
Simultaneously, I also developed my competences by working for the EWUU, a collaboration between the University of Eindhoven, Utrecht, Wageningen and Utrecht Medical Centre. Here I worked as a student representitive to promote and develop Challange Based Learning within these different Universities.
Board of ESMG Quadrivium 23/24 - Picture by Levi Baruch
