PAST

In my bachelor in Industrial Design, I worked on several projects within New Futures Squad. I focused on user centered design, usability, and interaction, often aimed at improving comfort and convenience in contexts such as smart home systems. In my Final Bachelor Project, I created a beer tasting experience that allowed me to explore interaction and materiality. During this phase, design mainly functioned as a tool to create engaging experiences and intuitive interactions, with limited attention to broader social or cultural contexts.

During my master, this focus shifted from exploring smart home systems to connecting with people from different backgrounds. Through traveling and conversations, I became aware of my own privileged position and of the realities that exist outside my social bubble. This sparked my interest in how design can bridge social bubbles and bring different perspectives together.

Through the Design for Social Innovation course, I was introduced to ethnography as a design method. Combined with my background in film, this evolved into a practice of visual ethnography within design.

PRESENT

User and Society

I see design as a way to understand people in context and to create situations where new perspectives can emerge. This focus developed through practice in projects such as De Familie van Gestel, where I learned to position users as active participants.

FUTURE

In the future, I aim to further develop my work at the intersection of social design and entrepreneurship. My goal is to create interventions that are meaningful for users while also being viable for organizations and municipalities.