Master
Throughout my master, I focused on acquiring the tools for realising my vision. In that process I refined my identity and vision.
My identity developed through incorporating critical perspectives beyond myself by situating my projects in a context continuously. After initial struggles, I found ways to merge experimenting and organically growing processes with working from a context and how these qualities support participation. Inspired by Deep Democracy, I improved my collaboration.
I situated my vision in the current world contrasting with my holistic perspective on sustainability, relating to Sustainism and More-Than-Human philosophies. I deepened fostering empathy through connection with Contact Theory and considered the psychological role of autonomy in intrinsic motivation for behaviour change.
To approach my vision, I developed the themes Making Change, Towards Sustainability, Context & Other Perspectives and Storytelling. These involve all expertise areas, but I mainly focused on Creativity & Aesthetics and User & Society. For further support, I followed the Design Leadership Entrepreneurship track.
Creativity & Aesthetics
I believe this area is about creative processes and how to navigate them to develop original ideas, and storytelling through form and interaction.
I further developed my organically growing creative processes by widening the role of exploration and experiments. Besides material driven (E-lement (M1.1), Constructive Design Research (studio), Grimeoire (Unexpected Material Engagement)), this exploration can be context driven (Dirt Stories (M1.2), Sharing Non-Human Appreciation (M2.1), EcoSystem Investigation (M2.2)), and theory driven (Inclusivitea (Matter of Transformation), Cowlivia (Design for Behavioural Change).
material driven
context driven
I improved my storytelling through finding ways to visually support more complex designs to allow for intuitive aesthetic interactions. The attention to details in visual presentation contributes to a holistic and convincing image, which is especially important in speculative design (Future X (Researching the Future Everyday)).
visual support
design for storytelling
Grimeoire reflection 
Dirt Stories demoday setup with ethnography booklets 
Sharing Non-Human Appreciation gardening kneepad storytelling exercises 
EcoSystem Investigation demoday pitch © Twycer / http://www.twycer.nl
User & Society
For me, User & Society is about the designer’s perspective on and positioning in society and its challenges, about how their work is situated and its suitability ensured. I deepened my vision on society and my position in it as designer in the courses International Development and Sustainability, where I learned about the importance of including local perspectives to enable positive impact, and Matter of Transformation, where pragmatic and humanistic philosophies encouraged considering my position as designer.
I obtained a more holistic and more-than-human centred perspective through feminist care ethics (Unexpected Material Engagement), design-related literature and activities (Dirt Stories, Sharing Non-human Appreciation, EcoSystem Investigation, MOVA).
I broadened my skills for involving context in my design to improve its social sustainability (Identity), reaching from participation through surveys to expert involvement and sensory ethnography).
Business & Entrepreneurship
This area is about collaboration with stakeholders and managing those relations with an entrepreneurial attitude, the designer’s economical vision and the ability to analyse a context to spot opportunities. I developed my attitude through visiting multiple network events and involving parties in my design processes (Creating Corporate Entrepreneurship, Dirt Stories, Sharing Non-Human Appreciation, EcoSystem Investigation).
In collaboration with NGO’s and courses Creating Corporate Entrepreneurship and Researching the Future Everyday, I encountered how capitalism wants to continuously grow on a planet with limited resources and how value can be created beyond money, resulting in attempting approaching business post-capitalistically.
To see opportunities, it is important to analyse the current context and market (benchmark) and consider potential in detail, for which there are several tools. These help in communicating ideas to stakeholders and explore innovation, but require further validation, as they are simplifying reality.
Creating Corporate Entrepreneurship envisioning future opportunities based on trends 
Creating Corporate Entrepreneurship spotting an opportunity by linking two fields to gain a competitive advantage 
E-lement problem solution fit canvas to analyse design’s value 
EcoSystem Investigation customer journey adjusted to include different levels of users (participant and facilitator) 
EcoSystem Investigation tripple layered value proposition to analyse value for partners, planet and society 
EcoSystem Investigation Sustainable BMC for considering opportunities and impact
Technology & Realisation
For me, this area is about turning ideas into interactive and tangible prototypes to allow for communication and testing for further development. This involves lo-fi prototyping and quick prototyping by using available materials, machines and implementing ready-mades (recycling, reusing, repurposing).
E-lement using paper and wire to ideate on working mechanisms 
E-lement sketching to further communicate mechanism ideas 
Matter of Transformation including readymades to create a working prototype 
Sharing Non-Human Appreciation lasercutting for quick realization 
EcoSystem Investigation scale model for communicating concept 
EcoSystem Investigation model with recycled materials to test mechanism
When a concept turns into a prototype, the material and production details become relevant, and its sustainability can be considered. I broadened my knowledge and skills for “plastics”, raw organic material (or interaction with it), and textiles.
“plastics”
E-lement heatpress settings on cellophane origami structure (cellophane does not have a glassing temperature like actual plastics) 
E-lement using heatpress to mold cellophane between paper sheets 
E-lement vacuum molding plastic 
Constructive Design Research how different plastics and organic materials interact with dommelwater over time.
raw organic
Constructive Design Research sewing reed 
Unexpected Material Engagement grinding orange peel 
Unexpected Material Engagement leather from dried orange pulp 
Dirt Stories cloth probes to capture dirt and moisture in cotton 
Sharing Non-Human Appreciation capturing organic material in unraveled cotton 
EcoSystem Investigation capturing wet bark and lichen with paper 
Felting with wet seaweed for hat making
textiles
E-lement weaving tricot and copper wire 
Matter of Transformation batik with tea and beeswax 
Sharing Non-Human Appreciation sewing punch needle embroidery 
Sharing Non-Human Appreciation crochet with hemp 
MOVA crochet pattern 
MOVA DIY instruction 
EcoSystem Investigation sewing pattern 
EcoSystem Investigation try-out of pattern 
EcoSystem Investigation piped button hole 
EcoSystem Investigation attaching zipper
However, some design is digital. I can communicate such designs to developers, recognizing others’ strengths (Identity).
Math, Data & Computing
For me this area is mostly about processing unique and qualitative data. In my master’s I encountered new types of data and explored with analysis and visualisation. My designs incorporate limited math and computation, since they are more conceptual and often situated in nature.
unique data
Constructive Design Research annotating experiments involving algae growth on plastic 
Unexpected Material Engagement analysing experiments 
Dirt Stories comparing use of probes 
Dirt Stories reflecting on unique data aspects 
Dirt Stories visual themes 
Sharing Non-Human Appreciation graph with prototype qualities 
EcoSystem Investigation reflecting on non-human traces
Bachelor
Identity
Comparing my identity at the start of my studies with my current version: An obvious change is that the content of my current identity is more specified and elaborate. At the start of my studies, I was in the background in teamwork. In my second year, I learned to organise and lead, but this resulted in having too much responsibility, which blocked my creativity. I found a balance when making more lo-fi prototypes again, which resulted in preferring to approach a design process through making and experimenting. I learned to use my intuition and to ensure smooth teamwork.
Vision
When comparing my first and current vision, I can still see that there is a common core: An urge to improve society. Over the years it was polished, sustainability became more important and specified. Also the notion that designers cannot have a full overview of their designs’ impact was added. I became aware the difficulty it can be to change behaviour. As designer you can have a vision, but that is a limited perspective a, and therefore it is unethical to expect behaviour change based solely on your vision. This illustrates the importance of involving other people in a design process.
Areas of Expertise
User & Society
This area of expertise is about the connection between people and design. How design could be fit for a specific user and how it could be adapted to large cultures and societies. I developed the most in this area over the past few years. Driven by my vision, I did many related projects and courses. In User Centred Design, I learned to base my design decisions on user studies. In the courses Design <> Research, User Evaluation Methods and Project 3 (UNA), I learned and applied to doing proper user studies and I discovered that I am a good interviewer. In the courses Socio-Cultural Sensitivity, Intercultural Design, Design for Debate and ID Green, I learned about societal aspects. What to take into account when designing for another culture and about the existence of theories like Hofstede’s 6 cultural dimensions. I became aware of biodesign and circularity, and applied the latter in UnravelSpin. Furthermore, I learned how to provoke people with design and about my ethical boundaries. To better understand people and their behaviour I followed Introduction Psychology & Technology, but also volunteered in the project Social Heroes, where I stepped out of my bubble and experienced a reality check.
Creativity & Aesthetics
This area of expertise is about form giving, design processes and using your creativity. I developed my experience and knowledge in doing design processes in almost every course, but mostly in From Idea to Design and the projects. In Trends & Forecasting, I learned about benchmarking, trends and recognising the visual language of designers. I also started to develop my own visual language. I mostly did this in Aesthetics of Interaction, Perspectives on Aesthetics and my FBP(UnravelSpin). These courses also helped me develop an eye for aesthetics, which is e.g. important in photography & filming. I developed my ability to visually explore my ideas in Exploratory Sketching. Learning to work with Adobe programs was essential for communication.
Business & Entrepreneurship
This area of expertise is about selling a design and doing market research, but also about service and what happens to your design when it can no longer be used. I developed it throughout the USE learning line New Product Marketing & Development, where I learned about marketing strategies, market research and how to apply the knowledge provided. I learned more about all kinds of canvasses with business strategies in Design Innovation Methods, and applied the knowledge in ID Green and my FBP(UnravelSpin). I also learned about intellectual property and how to protect your designs in Intellectual Property Rights for New Ventures.
Technology & Realization
This area of expertise is about bringing a concept to reality. In the courses Creative Programming & Electronics, I developed basic skills, which now allow me to communicate about these technical aspects of my designs. This was useful in Engineering design, where I was the only person familiar with the use of electronics. My development in digital realisation skills relate mostly to the use of Adobe programs (Xd). I learned to use skills like origami for lo-fi prototyping and further developed my skills in soft things, especially sewing, spinning and knitting, but also unravelling.
Math, Data & Computing
This area of expertise is about using data and models within your design and design process. I learned about math in Calculus, but also applied it when making the formula for UnravelSpin. I mostly developed skills in data acquisition in Design Research, User Evaluation Methods, Making Sense of Sensors, and in the projects. I learned to process quantitative data in Python and R in the courses Data Analytics, Making Sense of Sensors and Marketing Research and Design Methods. In User Evaluation Methods I learned to use standardized questionnaires and the functions for analysis in Excel related.
Luna Snelder 