I was the weird kid who said “I want to be a technical inventor when I grow up” at like 8 years old. After designing and trying to build an automatic potato peeler for my mum, as she hated peeling potatoes, I immediately knew that that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to help people by inventing new technology. That goal never went away.

Now I’m a no-nonsense designer who focusses on technical innovation that can have an impact on the world. This means that I’m driven by designing solutions that solve people’s issues. The sense of gratitude that real impact-driven designs can have on people is worth everything. When I see people struggle with something, I get inspired to research and improve their situation. However, I do not only want to make user-centred designs, I do not want to make speculative designs, nor futuristic ones. I want to make designs that people intrinsically want to and can use in their real lives. I want to design technology that truly can be implemented in the current system as this is a way to realize the impact.

I have always liked learning through exploration. I’m not one to go into projects blindly, but I’m also not going to read every single theory in the book before trying to use it. Of course, I can research everything about a problem beforehand, but I can also just talk to the people that have this problem, and do some field research. That way rather than just knowing, you also start understanding the problem and its implications.

This method of learning has made me a broad all-rounded research and development designer, with a strong connection to users and technology. I’m not afraid to try new things or in Pipi Longstocking fashion “I have never tried that before, so I think I should be able to do that”. This is exactly the value I think Industrial designers have within multidisciplinary settings. Rather than being an expert at one thing, we can connect the entire process, disciplines, and background together. While we understand technology and engineers, we also understand business and users. During my projects and extracurricular activities, I have often taken on a role of leadership within the team, for instance by ensuring that there is a planning, goals and everyone can contribute. I believe that my broad and solution-driven mindset translates through organizational skills.

Within the current society, there is a shift towards a more individualistic world with growing gaps between groups of people (Santos et al., 2017). I think technology is only making this gap bigger as more and more AI enters the conversation. While such technologies are making part of life easier, they are simultaneously complicating others (Demers, 2019). I think it is important for designers to take a step back and first ask the question what the goal of these technologies is. Are we truly helping people by designing this or is it more for the novelty and the “more is more” mentality that lives in current systems. E.g. do we really need an app for every appliance in our home? Do we really need insight into heartrate and sleep data 24/7? I don’t think so.

I think it is time to take a step back and look at the people around us. What are the issues that they are facing? Which group is currently underserved or underrepresented within technology or design? And most importantly how can we help them?

As a designer, I believe that one should aim for a change of behaviour or gathering of knowledge with the products that one designs. If you want people to use the product, you need to ensure that people think about the product, and see the usefulness even after some time has passed. I don’t want to design gadgets or trends. I want to help people in the long run. Which is difficult, but in my opinion, way more valuable.

As can be seen in my identity, I believe design should have an impact, and I think the first step to accomplish that is collaboration. Collaboration between designer and user, between designer and engineer, between designer and the market. There are a lot of really smart brains working on perfecting an existing system or increasing sales by 0.5%. That is not me, nor what I think we should ambition. I want to dive deep into the issue, talk to the user, and see if there is a way to relieve the issue through technology.

During my bachelor’s this translated into a co-creation process, where I found it difficult to trust myself to make decisions. Within my masters, I tried to shift this into a process where the user is still central but also leaves enough room for creative freedom for me. I aim to explore this further in my future career.

Santos, H. C., Varnum, M. E., & Grossmann, I. (2017). Global increases in individualism. Psychological science, 28(9), 1228-1239.

Demers, D. (2019). Current technology only manages to complicate things. Retrieved on 19/06/2024, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/10/08/current-technology-only-manages-to-complicate-things/