During the first week of the minor we got together in a group and explored each other in order to find our common identity. The goal was to eventually create a ‘light-object’ that embodies that identity.

After an afternoon of chatting and getting to know each other we started searching for our common theme. We found out that our theme was speed, since everyone was in one way or another ob-sessed with speed.

The light-object as it’s shown in the picture gives the user a sense of speed, as he/she is completely shut off from his/her surround-ings and subjected to a warp-speed effect. The actual light comes from inside and is only shown to the person ‘inside’ the object.

It was a great way to get to know each other and be introduced to the world of Co Design.

SHARED IDENTITY

ZODIAC AEROSPACE gave out the task to improve the flight experience for a certain target group, by changing the use of the front/rear galleys. Our targetgroup was ‘Young Families’ After a couple weeks of interviewing, deskresearching and fieldre-searching we came up with a number of insights which we could work with. These insights provided us with a solid base to start designing from.

Eventually we came up with the ChildCare concept. It consists of two parts:- A room in the back of the galley in which all the basic needs for young parents with children are present. This room serves as a place for the parents to go in case of trouble and to make sure other passengers are not disturbed.- A promotion film which is shown to all the passengers on the airplane, creating awareness and understanding for the young families.

This project made us familiar with fieldresearch and interviewing techniques. The techniques we used made for a very complete and thought through result.

ZODIAC AEROSPACE

This project was done for the Dutch Design Week (DDW). During the DDW a couple of taxis drive around, ferrying all the people to their destinations. Each individual taxi had to have an art-object on the roof.

Our assignment was to design and make an art object for Designer Bingo, which involves designs that haven’t quite made it. Our design features a massive shark with a tiny rope around its tail. Clearly showing its completely impossible to catch it.

In the end our design wasn’t chosen to go on a taxi, but nonethe-less we were very proud of our sharky.This was definetly a very hands-on project, allowing us to develop our handworking skills.

DUTCH DESIGN WEEK

This small assignment was mostly about getting useful information out of people on a very personal level. There were certain tools we were provided with as you can see on the image.

Sadly these tools didn’t turn out to work very good for me person-ally. The people I interviewed didn’t really understand what to do with them and were very reluctant to coöperate at first. After a while we did use the tools and had a very nice conversa-tion, still gaining the information I needed.

DESIGN FOR LOVED ONES

The Safe Cycling project was done in collaboration with Well De-sign & Inscene. The goal was to investigate the braking behaviour and causes of accidents involving racing-cyclists. We used a lot of researching techniques such as interviewing, sur-veys, observing, concext-mapping etc. The whole assignment was mostly research-based, so the end result is a very extensive report with a lot of results and reccomendations.

Because the assignment was mostly research-based we got to practice a lot on that field. It was very interesting to see how much information you can get out of someone, and how much that helps you in getting the goals clear.

TOUCHPOINTS PROJECT

This assignment was purely there to reflect on this minor so far. It was sent out about halfway through. It was very nice to simply stop and think about what I’ve been do-ing the past few weeks.

TAKE HOME ASSIGNMENT

The ‘Week of the bedside table’ basically means the participants are placed all together in one building and have one week to work on the idea that has been lingering in their minds. The idea I had was that of a magazine for students that are about to move in to an appartment. The magazine features 4 different rooms (super basic to extremely extravagant) from which the student can draw inspiration when it comes to furnishing their own room(s).

It was very nice to see people constantly helping each other out. You really get the feeling you’re in a community of like-minded people. For me personally this was the best week of the entire minor.

WEEK OF THE BEDSIDE TABLE

This project has been initiated by the board of directors from the Hogeschool Utrecht. The main goal was to change the behaviour of students, employees and visitors on the HU, in order to get them to separate their garbage.

Together we came up with a toolkit that has all the things you need to change the behaviour in your building. It consists of a handbook, in which you’ll find a complete guide from start to finish. Next to that there the campaign surrounding it. This campaign consists of posters, flyers, banners, a mascot etc. Everything you need to make a lasting impact.

For this project we pulled out all the stops. During these 8 weeks we’ve done it all, from field/desk/other research to prototyping, reflecting and presenting. This project is currently continued by the HU itself, so stay tuned.

SIGNATURE PROJECT