Past and Present Development
During my bachelor Industrial Design, I developed myself broadly as a designer. Volunteering at Stichting Move brought my interest in education to light. Through an internship at Studio Tast, I started focussing on design for education. To further specialize in education innovation, I chose to combine the Master's degree in Industrial Design with the Master's degree in Science Education, where I obtained my secondary education teaching qualification in O&O (Research & Design).
Within the ID master's program, I chose the Design Leadership and Entrepreneurship track. This track does not translate into wanting to set up my own company, but mainly into developing, sharing and implementing progressive perspectives in education. To this end, I specialized myself in the expertise areas of User & Society and Business & Entrepreneurship.
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During my master's I went on exchange to Kungliga Tekniska högskolan in Stockholm to further develop my future thinking, communication and project management skills. Furthermore, during my M1.1 I developed a tangible onboarding game to start a conversation with new employees about cyber security, data privacy and organizational regulations. As an M1.2 project, I created a speculative DIY-diploma to explore the student perspective on a completely self-directed University. In addition to my studies, I continued to work part-time at Studio Tast and further developed my leadership skills as chairman of Hajraa Outdoor, a large volleyball festival weekend with 5000 participants at the TU/e.
Creativity and Aesthetics
Over the years, I developed a toolkit with many different ideation and conceptualization techniques. As a designer, this enables me to approach and explore every project in a different, suitable way. My experience as a teacher and therefore realistic view, can cause me to shoot down ideas too quickly during a diverging phase. To force myself to explore broadly I like to do quick sketching brainstorms without restrictions where I put everything that comes to mind on paper.
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To embrace the complexity of different perspectives, I prefer to set up my ideation phases together with stakeholders, in the form of co-creation. I find it valuable when C&A and U&S join by providing creative stakeholder participation. In doing this, I try to spark an open and innovative mindset by visually and tangibly providing materials to engage with, such as the metaphor workshop to explore participants’ perspectives on motivation during my FMP.
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I developed skills in using aesthetics to stimulate imagination by seamlessly connecting designs to the context, such as in the speculative design of the DIY-diploma. On the other hand, I learned to use intuitive forms to spark curiosity and as an invitation to interact, which can be seen in the M1.1 group-game table design. Furthermore, I like to explore the use of provocative visual style to create a light-hearted and positive atmosphere, which I often find very important within teaching materials.
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Finally, I want to highlight the overarching theme of tangibility. With more and more digital developments in education, I see the power of rich interactions to activate sensorimotor information processing by designing based on the principles of embodied learning [1].
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[1] Skulmowski, A., & Rey, G. D. (2018). Embodied learning: introducing a taxonomy based on bodily engagement and task integration. Cognitive research: principles and implications, 3, 1-10.
User and Society
As highlighted in my Professional Identity, I place values ​​and perspectives of stakeholders as a central and guiding factor during my design process. I feel like users and stakeholders are the experts and I, as a designer, can combine and translate their insights to progressive visions and innovative designs.
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Partly thanks to the courses Design for Social Innovation, Design for Behavioural Change and Community Xperience Design, I extended my toolkit with many methods and frameworks on how to gather and analyse user and stakeholder input in suitable ways to empower the design process. It ranges from creative co-creations to structured evaluations. This toolkit enables me to combine methods and give it my own twist so it suits the target audience. For example, during my FMP I had students actively evaluate the fruitfulness of frames through hands-on co-creation and storytelling.
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My strength as a designer lies in using my social skills, including empathy and active listening, to level with stakeholders and give them the space to express their perspectives. I developed interviewing skills and grew in facilitating creative participatory sessions in which I stimulate participants to have an innovative mindset. As with the DIY diploma, I like to use speculative designs to spark imagination and stimulate discussion. Like during my FMP, I find participatory activities with varied professionals and therefore different perspectives together the most inspiring. I believe in connecting people so that we can learn from each other and gain new insights together
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My passion for education is clearly visible in all my designs. Following the master Science Education, I deepened my knowledge in the field of educational science and didactics. Through my network in and around education, I am eager to stay informed and spot trends in education.
Business and Entrepreneurship
First of all, I want to highlight the power of networking. I believe in bringing together different professionals to explore opportunities and formulate shared future-oriented visions on education. Like the workshop at the Dutch National Education Exhibition about the during my FMP newly created motivation frame, I would like to inspire education professionals by sharing new perspectives and then translating these together into practical implementations in schools.
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During a design process, I put a lot of emphasis on having a clear overview of all stakeholders and look at the problem from different perspectives. As preparation of my M1.2 I created a global overview of all stakeholders within the education landscape in order to identify conflicts. During my FMP, I used context mappings to bundle insights, identify needs and highlight perspectives from different stakeholders.
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I am extremely aware that solutions and proposed changes are often not stand-alone but approach a larger ecosystem, resulting in changing dynamics and stakeholders having to collaborate. At Studio Tast I am responsible for guiding the implementation of the Groow toolkit at school. With my own experiences in front of the classroom, I can guide constructive step-by-step applications of new innovations.
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As a strategy designer at Studio Tast, I learned to work with a strategic mindset and position projects with the values they create strongly in existing ecosystems. I learned to create strong underlying project visions and define unique building blocks for developing the concrete design. As a designer, I enjoy looking at projects from a helicopter view to identify, formulate and steer the transformation possibilities by extensive field research. Looking at transformation, I was able to participate in developing strategic plans at Studio Tast, considering further developments, investments, collaborations and communication.
Math, Data and Computing
In my opinion, gathering data from users and stakeholders helps to view a project from multiple angles and can function as the foundation of design choices in an iterative design process. I use SPSS and Excel for quantitative data analysis, as can be seen in my Science Education Thesis. While acknowledging the importance of quantitative research, I prefer to use rich qualitative data gathered through interviews, co-creations or evaluations.
The large amount of qualitative data gathered during my FMP was analyzed using affinity diagramming where important themes and insights were identified. Also, all focus group workshops with the DIY-diploma were analyzed by coding transcriptions and clustering insights thematically. It is important to be aware that this analysis is about interpretation, where biases can play a role. In order to reduce this limitation as much as possible, I therefore prefer to present translated insights back to participants for confirmation. To share data, I like to visualize the insights in clear narrative-filled clusters or translate them into infographics.
Technology and Realization
With a developed practical attitude, I know how to take an abstract concept into a detailed and realizable product. Managing the start-up production of Groow at Studio Tast, I worked a lot with a laser cutter, a 3D printer and got a certificate to work with a Zund CNC milling machine. The possibility to work independently with the machines, allows me to do quick prototyping and explore, for example, various materials as wood, cardboard, metal, paper and acrylics. While prototyping, I think it is crucial that the expertise areas C&A and T&R come together for creating a finished look and feel. By making products for Studio Tast and physical prototypes in all my ID projects, I have specialized in producing products with a high level of detail.
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My skill set in this expertise area is to create high-quality tangible products to communicate, test and implement, rather than creating technologically advanced products. During the ID bachelor, I developed basic skills in coding and programming, which enables me to create simple interactions such as composing an interactive story via Inky to research immersive storytelling for the course Constructive Design Research. When working in multidisciplinary teams, I can think along about the technological enrichment of design ideas, but I leave elaboration to others who are specialized. As with my FMP, I use clickable demos to show the options of an integrated teaching system. To conclude, in line with my vision, my strength and passion lie in the development of physical products.
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Design and Research Processes
My way of working is usually exploratory where I am guided by new insights and different perspectives from stakeholders. I put great importance on active participatory methods such as co-creation and focus group evaluations. With this explorative nature of designing, it is necessary to embrace the complexity of the educational landscape and take a helicopter view every now and then to map the context of a project. Because of the diverse group of stakeholders within the educational field, I choose to master a wide range of design methodologies and approaches so that I can move flexibly through design processes adapting it to do full justice to stakeholders. I am aware that combining approaches and moving through different steps also requires a changing attitude, for example, being empathic, open, explorative or critical.
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For my FMP I followed the Frame Creation process, which is more structured than I am used to. Within this method, I have sought as much flexibility as possible and have made choices about stakeholder participation based on my own intuition as a designer. Despite the structured process, I really appreciate the underlying idea of ​​'framing': redefining and creating new approaches to problem situations. Looking at problems, concepts or opportunities differently has stimulated valuable conversations with education professionals.
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In my opinion, the most valuable outcome of this process was the newly created frame with the vision ‘let's learn from demotivation’ and the conversations that are sparked by it. From here you can design a practical solution, but I also see value in using methods like Speculative Design and Design for Debate to focus on stimulating discussion. In this way, the goal is not necessarily a solution, but mainly on changing a mindset and way of approaching the problem. As a designer, my strength lies in creatively facilitating multidisciplinary conversations to jointly formulate and achieve (small) practical changes within education. In doing so, I use design to stimulate new ways of thinking.
Professional Skills
Lastly, I want to highlight a few professional skills that define me as a designer within the track Design Leadership and Entrepreneurship.
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First of all, with a positive mindset, I am always eager to learn and I am not afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone. Filled with enthusiasm, I like to delve into new subjects and I am always open to learning from others, which allows me to continuously expand my network within education.
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Next to learning new things, I see myself as a visionary who likes to share new insights and explore new possibilities within education by connecting people. Facilitating engaging workshops such as during the Dutch National Education Exhibition, gives me energy. I also feel comfortable with the pioneering role of contributing to the research proposal for the Dutch Initiative of Education Research. In line with this, I have further developed my leadership skills as chairman of the volleyball festival Hajraa Outdoor where I learned to communicate effectively, adapt quickly, adhere to tight schedules, manage people and maintain an overview. Furthermore, I deepened my knowledge in trendspotting, future thinking, project management, leadership and communication with courses during my exchange in Stockholm.
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My experience as a teacher gives me the opportunity to level with empathy with educational professionals, which puts me in an advantageous position to initiate and guide transformation. The strong combination in which I am active as a teacher and as a designer in the field of education innovation is recognized and has led to me being nominated as National Education Talent of 2024.
Future Plans
I envision a two-way career path in which experiences and knowledge can provide enrichment in both directions. First of all, I can't wait to get back in front of the class as an O&O teacher in secondary education. On the other hand, I look forward to stimulate transitions as a designer from within or close to the educational field. I am excited to work on eye-opening projects that spark discussion, mainly focussed on curriculum design, vision determination, teaching approaches and student ownership. Other than that, I want to position myself as an innovative expert and guide of transitions within schools and education in general by empowering and connecting people.
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