Expertise Areas
On this page my development in the 5 expertise areas throughout my bachelor is described.
Creativity & Aesthetics
The first experience with C&A I had in this study was in the sketching elective I took in my first year, learning the basics of exploring and communicating ideas through sketches. I further developed my skills in the elective Trends & Forecasting, where I learned to break down aesthetics into different components, such as shapes, colours and textures, among others. This allows me to apply a certain aesthetic to my own designs.
Over the course of the bachelor, I developed myself in film making. Writing, directing, filming and editing most videos needed for courses, I learned how to create videos with different qualities, like communicating a concept, educating the audience, or entertainment, and developed my own style. I used this skill for professional purposes, such as the DIY logo reveal or the Round One interview with VANAD ceo Arthur Nederlof. I also applied my skills to create personal projects (see Extracurricular), further exploring my personal style when it comes to film making, with a focus on nature.
My interest in film making was inspired by my longstanding passion for photography. Starting around age 10, I have developed myself as a photographer in different areas. From composition to colour grading, I have created my own style. This skill was further improved on my exchange to New Zealand. In my photography course there, I learned how to create a coherent body of work, using photography as a vehicle to explore themes. I also learned about different types of photography, their respective histories, famous photographers and associated techniques. Covering topics such as analogue, object, portrait, landscape, astro, camera obscura and night photography, I learned valuable techniques that allow me to express myself as a photographer and be aware and flexible when photographing anything to communicate a certain aesthetic or feeling.
On my exchange I also had a graphic design course. I had previous experience with graphic design, often creating the posters and logos for projects and courses, but this course elevated my understanding and work flow of the topic as a whole. I learned how to create a coherent style, and the numerous factors that play into it. I learned how to make a style guide – an instruction for future designers to adhere to in order to create a certain look, and ways to show this off to customers, such as a hero shot. I also learned to create mock-ups of my designs using Photoshop, allowing me to bring my graphic designs to life and clearly communicate my ideas.
I started my own company, Moonen Graphic Design, where I sell graphic design and photography services.
In my FBP, I used my skills to create a branding that was consistent throughout different deliverables, from the product to the website to the video and the report. I designed a product with a clear visual style that speaks to potential customers, as I learned from the demoday where multiple people asked if they could have the bee hotel.
A selection of my images, displaying nature's beauty.
Click images to view full size
On top of the skills I acquired during my time at Round One, I also managed to expand my professional network with startup founders, investors, and other people from relevant organisations such as other funds, law firms supporting student startups and experienced c-suite professionals open to coach startups. With an eye on my Master’s Strategic Product Design and my FBP to possibly further develop, this network is as valuable as the skills I obtained during my board year.
Additionally, I worked at webdesign startup Scrollmate. Being such as small company consisting of only 4 people, I gained a lot of insight in the way the business was run, the pricing was determined, customers were found and communicated with.
During my FBP I applied my knowledge by actively reaching out to experts and stakeholders to talk to them about my design. Additionally, I set up a financial plan to grow to company over the course of three years.
I got my first B&E experience in this study during the course Introduction to Business Design. The basics I learned here, such as making a business model canvas or stakeholder mapping, were applied during P1, where those tools were used to support design decisions.
I spent one year on the board of student-run venture capital fund Round One Ventures, where I was Deal flow Director. This means I was responsible for analysing startups for potential investments of €75.000. I talked to founders to analyse their team and product, as well as experts and customers to validate the market. I gained insights on what it takes for a startup to develop an MVP, find their first customers and build out their niche to receive follow-up investment. I also attended multiple start-up related events such as the Phillips Innovation Award, Den Bosch Startup Night and was invited as a coach to the first TU/e contest presenting round.
As the first board of the fund, next to our standard responsibilities, everyone was responsible for fundraising. I talked to investors, helping to achieve the start of the fund with €1.5 million raised. Besides that, we were also all responsible for recruiting the next board. This led to me giving presentations and interviewing possible candidates.
Business & Entrepeneurship
Me during my time at Scrollmate.
My first moments of growth within this expertise area were during the creative programming and electronics courses in the first year. There, I learned the basics of programming (in Processing) and working with electronics, like building circuits and using sensors and actuators to incorporate into designs. These skills were applied in courses like Making Sense of Sensors, where a data collection tool was built to measure and record light intensity at a set interval throughout the night. In Project 2, these skills were applied to create a functioning interactive prototype, used communicate the mechanical workings of the concept.
In the course Aesthetics of Interaction, I applied my skills to design a wake-up experience. To achieve the end result, I programmed an LED ring that could be controlled with a potentiometer, and soldered everything together.
The most important aspect of this expertise area for me is being able to create working prototypes that can be used to effectively communicate ideas in an interactive manner, or can be used as a completed product. A first example of this would be the interactive iPad application that was created for the Heijmans design challenge. The application clearly communicated the intended functionalities of the concept, and the interaction clearly made the client enthusiastic about the idea.
In the course Responsible Innovation, we were tasked with designing low-tech solutions to supply off-grid portable hospitals with electricity and water for a client. The focus was easy transport and implementation and low price. This prioritization of realization forced a different perspective and new considerations, such as price and weight of certain products. The end result was a specific solar panel setup and a method of filtering water using sand and plastic containers.
Technology & Realisation
In Project 3, SoCo, a tool to increase casual contact between coworkers, was created. The concept was realized to the extent that the product was able to be deployed at two different offices over the span of several weeks. The created minimum viable product (MVP) had a measurable positive effect on social cohesion in the office, was able to gather sufficient data, and shed light on aspects of design that usually don’t feature prominently in this study, such as the durability of a product and its resistance to wear and tear.
In terms of creating a finished end product, I gained experience at Scrollmate. As a web design startup, we built custom websites for clients. Here, I learned the amount of meticulous work needed before a product can be considered finished and delivered to a customer.
In my FBP, I created an interactive platform to communicate the idea of the designed product-service system. Furthermore, I made prototypes that were used to communicate with stakeholders, such as the beekeeper, and were used in a user test and subsequent deployment.
The SoCo and holder I made
In my FBP, I used several tools to involve the user in my design process, such as a co-creation and a user test. These tools helped me analyse my progress and make the necessary changes to satisfy users. Additionally, I focused on large societal trends such as sustainability and biodiversity to scope my project.
Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G.J. & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and Organizations, Software of the mind: Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for
survival, McGraw-Hill, New York, USA.
In the first part of the study, I learned about the concepts of usability and user experience, and acquired the necessary skills to implement these concepts in my designs, such as user tests.
In the elective Trends & Forecasting, I gained knowledge on analysing and predicting trends. This allows me to play into what users are looking for when designing consumer products.
With Responsible Innovation, I learned how rural African societies view the Western healthcare system. I become aware of the importance of cultural research when working on such a project. In the elective Intercultural Design I expanded my knowledge on this and learned to assess strengths and weaknesses of designs within different cultural contexts. I became more aware of my own biases and got familiar with tools to educate myself on cultural differences, such as Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (Hofstede et al., 2010).
During my time at Round One Ventures, I had to do due diligence on startup ideas. I researched societal trends to find potential markets as well as interviewing experts and (potential) customers to validate value propositions. I learned to look at concepts from many different perspectives (eg: investor, customer, developer).
User & Society
During Data Analytics I learned the basics of Python, allowing me to communicate data with visuals, and to manipulate and structure quantitative datasets. These skills were further developed in Making Sense of Sensors, where we collected our own data using sensors and analysed it in order to draw conclusions. I also learned about the importance of handling data properly, implementing the FAIR principles in the project.
In Project 3, I learned more about qualitative data, collecting it through semi-structured interviews and analysing it with a thematic analysis.
In my FBP, I used several data gathering methods. I extracted generalized data from the co-creation session, analysing each product on several aspects. From the user test I gathered data about the time division of the workshop, as well as specific pain points throughout the workshop. From the subsequent questionnaires I gathered quantitative as well as qualitative data to that allowed me to test hypotheses and improve my design.
Additionally, I built a financial model to calculate the expected costs of running B&Bee as a company, and to calculate the needed sales to sustain financially.
Math, Data & Computing
A project redesign I did to adapt a product to a different culture
Data visualisation from
Making Sense of Sensors