· · · Institutional Repository

This project is a case study focused on finding a way of integrating ubiquitous technology into a wearable appliance. This appliance assists artistic gymnasts for core position correction during practice on the balance Beam. It is expected that the correction of the core will help develop muscle memory for standing position on the beam and will assist in balance keeping. The final product is a four-way stretch leotard with fully integrated electronic elements. It contains four stretch sensors on shoulders, gluteus and abdomen and one bend sensor located in the lower back. As a feedback system, vibration motors are attached to those same areas. All the system is controlled with a Lilypad arduino mainboard and powered up with a Polymer Lithium Ion rechargeable battery.

This graduation report shows the development of Molly. It documents all the researches performed and all the conclusions that were made can be found in this report.

The goal of the study was to explore new possibilities for enriching the user’s television experience. The goal of the study comes from the phenomenon of changing human-product interaction concerning the interaction and experience between user and television. The focus in this study is on a group of young urban professionals who just started their professional careers and have an interest in innovative products. The television as a product has been changed over the years and will be changing even further due to technological innovations. The interaction between user and TV has evolved over the years from a social gathering towards an individual activity in which the user decides what the content is and when it is watched. The social deterioration is taken over by the rise of social media networks. Instead of face to face communication stories, experiences and opinions are instantly shared by means of social media. Media becomes social, and communication is media. Development of other intelligent devices such as smartphones and tablet computers makes the TV a part of a network of interrelated products that have an impact on the context of use of the television as such. Devices are interrelated which enables accessible cross-communication and interaction between devices. Context mapping is used as a method to create a detailed frame of user values, needs, and dreams. The results are used to formulate four different and possible concept directions that all respect the needs of the target group. During this study the concept directions “Focus/Ambient” and “Public/Personal” are explored. The first direction focuses on the TV as an object to focus on shifting into a background element. The second direction explores the possibilities of shifting the TV as a public device towards a personal device and vice versa. Both elements are captured with the Pico concept which is a concept that enriches the user’s TV watching experience by providing background lighting embedded with an intelligent, automated and personalized messaging service related to TV content. The concept is evaluated with the target group using focus groups resulting in recommendations for Vogel’s Products to do research in optimizing the concept for a full acceptance of the targeted group of users. The concept validation showed several valuable elements: a system or product should learn from the user, not vice versa, the product should fit user demands seamlessly, the product should be able to be personalized, and the product should offer the user freedom and control.

This graduation project is done for Tristar Europe B.V. The company’s core portfolio consists of domestic appliances, with a strategy to produce low-cost products in China to sell in a low price segment in Europe. However, the focus of the company is slowly changing and Tristar wants to become a more competitive and progressive brand. Tristar has detected an opportunity in their growing Funcooking section: developing a new product to take the lead in this market segment. The company desired a product that responds to the growing problem of obesity and help people cook together in a fun and healthy way. Research questions were set up to gain information about the company, funcooking, cooking & food, the market, context and obesity. The questions were answered during the analysis by retrieving the needed information through Tristar, literature research, an expert opinion and user research. The goal of this analysis was to formulate a grounded philosophy for the product that had to be designed. The ideal social cooking experience is like the Dutch Sinterklaas celebration with surprise gifts; the excitement and curiosity on forehand and spending the evening together in a cozy and relaxed atmosphere. Next to these feelings, people want to discover good food, feel balanced and share new experiences. Five core values regarding a dinner ritual were extracted; creating a cozy and relaxed atmosphere, togetherness, anticipatory pleasure, consciousness and activeness. These all contribute to enjoyment; enjoying each other and enjoying the food. With a design direction derived from the analysis, the ideation and conceptualization was started. The aim was to design a social cooking and eating ritual in combination with a corresponding funcooking device which evokes the diners in trying this new ritual. All ideas were built around the storyboard which tells the intended story of the social cooking ritual and keeps the core values in mind. Different parts of this storyboard were put into a timeline, each part having different designed solutions. By intuitively combining these solutions, the strongest ‘tracks’ in telling the intended story were extracted. The ‘TRIcook with app’ was chosen and further embodied. TRIcook ritual: The host will use the phone App to explore and decide on basic ingredients thereby afterwards sending invitations in which the diners will be asked to come up with a course based on these ingredients. Both the host and the invited diners will experience a growing curiosity due to the task. The diners will work together to create each course and the dinner will exist of cooking and tasting the different small courses after another. Working together creates togetherness and will be even strengthened by sharing all dishware and by presenting food to each other. Tasting and being conscious about the food is an important part of this ritual. TRIcook device: Using the TRIcook device, everybody is working together to create a dish: cutting on the three cutting boards, cooking on the three grill-devices and presenting this using the three plates. All parts are triangular and the arrangement will adapt to the users during the ritual, which contributes to the interaction with each other and the food. The plates and cutting boards have respectively a bended and hinged corner, which will invite the diners to pick it up, pass it around and present it to the other diners. Furthermore, pinchers are included eating tools for being in close contact with the food. A user test was performed to test if the diners encounter the intended social and food interactions during the ritual and whether this leads to a fun, cozy and healthy experience. This validation was twofold: on one hand the scenario with the tasks and the multiple courses and on the other hand the interaction with the designed product on the table.

The Philips Design Probes are a ‘far-future’ research program aimed at understanding lifestyle post 2020. The program aims at identifying probable systemic shifts in the social and economic domains likely to affect our business and create intellectual property in new areas. By developing future scenarios (narratives) and accompanying concepts (provocations) the Probes team aims at challenging conventional thinking and stimulate debate both inside and outside of Philips Design. This debate helps to develop an understanding of the research domain, which can then be translated back to medium- and short term projects, stimulating people in thinking things can be done in a different way. At first the focus of this project was on finding out how insights on the Electronic Tattoo provocation could be made valuable as a source of inspiration for the internal design community of Philips Design, Therefore the context studies were aimed at the internal and external communication of the Electronic Tattoo provocation and the current insights generation and communication. From these context studies it became clear that the main problem preventing the insights from the provocation being inspiring for the designers was the lack of engagement of the designers with the Design Probes. This lack of engagement is caused by the fact that the designers do not feel they can contribute to the Design Probes and do not see the link with their own work. This is caused by the lack of dialogue between the Probes team and the designers and the limited amount of information the designers get about the purpose of the Design Probes within the innovation strategy of Philips Design and the narrative behind the provocation. These findings led to the formulation of the design focus for the concept development, which is on the design of a communication tool to stimulate dialogue between the designers and the Probes team, make it easy to share inspirational materials with colleagues and with that enable the inspirational information from the Design Probes to spread through the company. The communication tool should match the current way of handling inspirational materials of the designers, allowing for serendipitous encounters with inspirational materials outside their project scope, stimulating critical thinking about the proposed future possibilities and the development of their own point of view about it. The information from the Design Probes should be communicated when the designers are looking for inspiration themselves at their personal workspace, as part of their daily work. When looking at the insights, it is concluded that contextual insights should be generated for the Electronic Tattoo provocation as they are currently not available. The contextual insights allow the designers to connect to the experiences of the consumers as well as their own, which helps them to develop their own opinion about the issues addressed in the probe narrative and the insights. Three concepts have been developed; the Probe Sketch Tables, Personal Probe Book and Probe Talks App. The concepts are based on the same principles,but make use of different media. For the evaluation an experiential prototype was made of one of the concepts and tested at Philips Design in Eindhoven. The conclusions from the evaluation are that the concepts complement each other and should be implemented together, as they all match different preferences of handling inspirational materials of the designers.

Executive Summary Current walking aids are very limited in functionality. Although the recovery of temporary injuries is a dynamic process, the present walking aids stay static. It is up to the gut feeling of patients and verbal feedback of therapists to determine what partial weight bearing should be applied on the injured leg. This graduation report describes the development of the Smart Tip, a monitoring device that expands the functionality of the standard crutch. The focus in the analysis phase of this project was on the rehabilitation process. Beside a literature study, interviews with four therapists and an internet survey amongst another 80 therapists were conducted. Also a focus group session with three experienced crutch users and several observations were carried out, in order to understand the context and use of walking aids. Every therapist treats injuries in his own way and many factors can influence the recovery process. This is why the design of a new aid must be a tool for the therapist rather than a source of medical advice. The research in the first phase has lead to a potential design direction: a walking aid that informs the users and adapts to different phases of the recovery process. The Smart Tip can monitor weight bearing activity on the leg and is adjustable in compliancy. It can be programmed to the patient and his injury. The device gives direct feedback to the patient and the therapist can read out data about everyday physical activities afterwards. It gives the therapist the opportunity to adapt the settings in case of changes in the treatment. A prototype of the concept was tested on 10 healthy participants. The prototype was connected to a laptop, so data from the sensors could be stored and feedback could be activated. From the results in usage and experience some improvements were made on feedback and compliancy. The feedback in the final concept can be changed from practice-configuration into everyday-configuration. The feedback is summarizing and simple. The spring is adjustable from 0 to a maximum of 2 cm travel. In this way full support or shock absorption can be establish. The Smart Tip gives therapists the opportunity to measure progress of patients in an objective way. The Smart Tip is now developed into a technical concept, but further investigation is needed before it is ready for production. The effect on the patient’s body and the rehabilitation period are still questioned.

In the fifties Holland became a thriving nation. The gastronomic culture flourished. People came in touch with foreign cuisine. Cheese fondue, stone grilling, fondue Bourguignonne and gourmetten were introduced and became very popular. The collective term of these dinners is table top cooking. The gastronomic culture in Holland however, has changed. After the heydays of individualism, today's trend is to eat together again. Informal dinner parties are organized by the group of young creatives of generation Y. But the traditional types of tabletop cooking are not popular within this group. Its ritual does not fit the lifestyle of generation Y, but does have some strong qualities. The goal during this graduation project is to use the positive characteristics of tabletop cooking and to turn it into a new informal dinner table ritual which fits the lifestyle of young creatives. To accompany the new dinner table ritual, several products are designed. The target group of this project are the young creatives. This group is between 25 and 30 years old. It exists out of the higher educated people who are graduated recently and have started their first job, mostly as creative entrepreneurs. Young creatives are conscious about their impact on the earth. In daily life, they try to deal with the environmental problems by saving energy and buying biological products. Based on this, it must be possible to use the products of the new dinner table ritual on a daily basis for different purposes. When the target group organizes a dinner party, the menu is creatively putted together by ingredients bought at the daily market. They describe themselves as a creative and experimental chefs. Therefore, the new dinner table ritual should not prescribe what should be eaten. Multiple houses were visited in order to get an understanding in the Diderot unity of the target group. It appeared however, that the Diderot unity of the target group is its initial state. The interior and personal products do not visualize a coherent story. Therefore, a design language about the ritual's product could not be formulated from these visits. A style impression could be made however. It is described as: modern but warm and organized but playful. In order to get an insight in the qualities of a tabletop cooking evening and into the dinner rituals of a normal dinner party, multiple dinner parties were organized with the target group. A very positive characteristic of a tabletop cooking evening is the group bonding. Group bonding arises because people go through the complete ritual together. But a negative characteristic is that people are constantly focused on preparing food. During a tabletop cooking dinner little time is left for social conversation, while at a normal dinner party people socially interaction constantly. The group bonding is at a normal dinner party, however, is less. Based on the conclusions of the analysis phase, the idea to design a stackable dinner party was born. The vision was to create a delicate and gratifying dinner party where curiosity is set. During the stackable dinner party, multiple dishes are stacked in front of each diner. A traditional 3-course dinner is not prepared. Instead, the dinner exists out of multiple smaller dishes. To prevent the preparation of a traditional three course dinner, cups are designed. The first course will be shared and is visible. This initiates the dinner party. The other courses are prepared and stacked too. These courses are hardly visible, curiosity is created. Another positive aspect is that the host does not have to leave the dinner table for dinner preparations in the kitchen. When a course is finished, the empty cup will be taken from the stack and the next course will appear. The empty cups can be nested. After the first designs were drawn, prototypes were build. It came clear that the cups were designed too small. Furthermore, the stack-ability and nest-ability of the cups were not satisfying. The design was reshaped. Everything that was designed using a computer looked a lot different in reality. The lesson learned, making the product by hand gives a better insight in its real shape and measurements. To accompany the new dinner table ritual, which is named “aan stapel', a cookbook is composed. Four menu suggestions are put together. The dishes differ from very easy to challenging. To accompany the cups from the dinner table ritual, cutlery and drinking glasses are designed. In order to create a complete dinner table ritual, it is recommended to design placements and napkins as well. The final design is tested by the target group and it became clear that the designed dinner table ritual fits the target group. It is an informal dinner party. The stack of crockery is inviting and the overall stackable dinner party is a joyful experience. Because of people's curiosity, the food is eaten more fast than at a normal dinner party. Hopefully, in five years from now, the young creatives have embraced 'aan stapel' as their new dinner table ritual, if an informal dinner party is organized.

This graduation project originates from a discomfort of a patient who couldn’t obtain common food in a natural way due to an obstruction in the digestive tract. Therefore, the patient needed tube feeding, which had to be administered into the digestive tract using a nasoenteral feeding tube. Despite the importance of the tube, the user experience throughout the tube feeding treatment was very unpleasant and intense. Further research regarding the user experience of nasoenteral tube feed- ing showed that patients experience many problems during the process of this kind of tube feeding treatment. First of all, bringing the tube in- side the patient’s nose, throat and gullet down to the stomach or small intestine feels very uncomfortable. Furthermore, patients experience all kinds of problems during the daily use of the tube: it causes pain, irritation or fear, it interferes with their freedom of movement, it makes them un- comfortable in public and it brings along a time consuming maintenance. The maintenance of the tube and accompanying system to administer the feeding is time consuming due to the fact that the whole system needs to be flushed with water several times a day to avoid obstruction. Besides, the tube is fixated with sticking plasters that need to be replaced two or three times a day as they don’t stay in place or cause irritation. Next to these problems, some also concern the removing procedure of the tube or inadequate knowledge of heath care professionals. During this project a concept of a tube holding device has been developed to improve the user experience of nasoenteral tube feeding. The concept focuses mainly on the daily use of the feeding tube as the problems that occur in this phase influence the user experience the most. Due to the new concept it is possible to fixate the feeding tube on the face of the pa- tient after it has been brought inside their digestive tract. Throughout the daily use of the tube, which can last for a few days or several weeks, the tube will now kept in place by means of the tube holding device instead of fixating the tube with multiple sticking plasters. The tube holding device consists of a clamp to fixate the feeding tube and a headband that can be placed on the head of the user. Together these parts make sure that the tube interferes less with the patient’s freedom of movement, which is a big improvement compared to the current situ- ation. Furthermore, the tube holding device avoids kinking of the tube, guides the tube naturally down to the administration system, captures the weight of the feeding tube and the fixation of the tube looks more subtle. Finally, the tube holding device makes sure that the patient wor- ries less about undesired movements of the tube as it is fixated quite tight inside the device and the maintenance of the tube is less intensive due to the fact that the sticking plasters are no longer necessary.

The purpose of the study was to explore the solution space of introducing a new product for oral care that can be combined with the new Philips biofilm management substance. Technical pre-conditions were gathered about the new biofilm management substance to know which requirements should be taken into account when rating concept ideas based on feasibility. In addition User information was gathered through observational research, a generative session and personal care interviews about their experience of doing oral care and personal care activities. The biggest problem is that consumers experience oral care as a time consuming activity with a preferred result of feeling fresh and clean. This resulted in a specific interaction vision, describing that the new product should focus on enhancing the freedom of brushing with a fresh and clean experience. Three concept idea categories were created and examined and lead to one single concept idea, the tongilicious. This concept focuses at a tongue-brush that smoothens the tooth surface and spreads the new biofilm management substance around in the mouth in order to clean the mouth. This concept has been validated with the user with the help of focus groups, resulting in recommendations for Philips to do additional research to the feel of control of the current toothbrush compared to a tongue-brush. This validation showed that the tongilicious concept was experienced as being refreshing, providing a freedom of movement and is seen as an additional tool to the present oral healthcare.

This thesis is focused on enriching the experience of a customer at an online apparel store. More specifically on how to make an online apparel store stand out among other online retailers. The author follows a design approach based on the exploration of the overall shopping experience. By exploring the shopping experience in physical and online store, the online product representation, product interactions and the personality of the brand are determined. After performing an observational research and conducting interviews with potential users, the customer persona is elaborated. To exemplify how this approach work and to provide inspiration for other designers a case study of G-Star RAW is carried out. An extension to their online store is designed to allow the user try a richer product representation, an extended field of product interactions and to help the user to better recognise the personality of the brand. A brand that provides satisfying experience of online product exploration is more appreciated by customers. Thus it is able to stand out among other brands and reconfirm itself as an authorit

This report describes the development of an innovative infrared wellness device for the Philips VitaLight department in Drachten, the Netherlands. The project was focussed on shaping a new infrared experience by seeking innovating in terms of interaction. For this purpose, the Vision in Product design methodology (Lyod, Hekkert, van Dijk, 2006) was applied in concert with a large number of focus group sessions in order to create a concept that is truly designed around the user. The proposed concept was built to a set of three fully functional prototypes using open source hard- and software such as the Arduino LilyPad.The models were tested by six consumers in the Philips homeLab simulation living room. First reactions to the new infrared experience and the design as a whole have been very positive; users were surprised by the versatility of the device and enjoyed the comforting warmth that was given of.The completion of these test brought to light points of attention for future development and indicated that there could be a demand for this device in today’s fast moving society.

The focus of this graduation project is on work-related stress for Generation Y. Stress, is a major concern in current and future society. Generation Y(1978-1994) will, in specific, be effected by workrelated stress in the near future, due to contextual trends and their characteristics. This graduation project explores which possible solutions Philips can provide companies to sustainably manage work-related stress.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a physical disorder that affects the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitations. It is the most common physical disability in childhood with an incidence of 2-2,5 per 1000 live born children in the Western world. The Sint Maartenskliniek, department Toddler Rehabilitation, in Nijmegen, offers an intervention therapy to children of 2,5 to 8 years old that, due to brain damage (CP) at a young age, are inflicted with a less functional arm (hemiparesis). The children do not naturally use their affected arm in their daily activities, which counteracts the development of the arm and can even increase their disability. The aim of the graduation project was to design a product for the home context that stimulates children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy to incorporate and use their affected hand in daily activities and play. Over time it should become more natural for the children to use both of their hands in their activities. The design approach had an exploratory character as it has not yet been researched how products in the target area would be received by the children and parents. Children, their parents and their therapists were closely involved throughout the project. Besides literature research, observations and interviews, the daily life of the children was mapped by means of a contextual study. It is found that the children do not associate home with the use of the affected hand, like they do in therapy. Such an association should be brought to the home-context. Furthermore the children need external input as a reminder. But to break learned-non-use it is also important to motivate the children and raise awareness. This awareness could also help to build a positive self-image. The insights gained in the exploration phase were used as input to formulate a design vision and as inspiration throughout the rest of the project. It was chosen to design a concept that stimulates conscious competence and to follow a behavioral change approach. According to this approach the concept should consist of a behavior trigger and a motivator. The behavior trigger was characterized as an activating trigger. This trigger should attract the attention of the children and bring the message to act now! The motivator was characterized as reflective reward. The motivator should be fun and meaningful. It should persuade the children into action, but also make them aware of it. Overall it should offer the children an achievable challenge to empower them to feel confident and proud while feeling in control. Several concept directions were evaluated and prototypes were tested in a controlled setting and home-context, finally leading to the proposal for the concept ‘Kjoepie!’. ‘Kjoepie!’ is a package of products that together elicit the use of the affected hand at home. It consists of a tactile cue (vibration bracelet and portable sensors), a visual cue (activity pictograms) and a reflective reward system (reward boards, reward cards and treasure chest). The sensory cues are placed in the surroundings of the children to trigger the use of the hand for daily life activities like opening doors and drawers, switching light switches, dressing activities, eating dinner, playing with blocks or other play activities. When the children receive the trigger they can immediately act upon it. After performing the action or activity the reflective reward will follow. The product parts can be used and combined in a variety of ways. A custom program of use can be set up to match the children’s abilities and personality. This program of use will be set-up by the therapists in consultation with the parents. Development steps are recommended to finalize the design and to optimize the use.

This report describes the research and design process resulting into „MooVe‟, a train toilet concept designed to increase user involvement in maintaining toilet cleanliness. As a master thesis project, the process was carried out at the Product Development department of NS [Dutch Railways] in Utrecht. » The department sets new train specifications based on customer research; » The results of this project contribute to the improved design of future train toilet. This project explored possibilities of introducing: Innovative train toilet features that optimally motivate and facilitate users, to keep the toilet tidy. The research addressed user-attitudes towards keeping the train toilet tidy, of any usage-dirt. » It was found users are particularly cautious in use, when they do not experience cleanliness. The current lack in tools results in considerable effort, required from the users willing to tidy. Both disturb the motivation of users to make an effort in tidying up; » Privacy was found to allow excuses of users: “not to tidy up, even when one notices the toilet is in need of tidying up”. It negatively affects the moral judgement (to self-justify) not-to-make an effort in tidying up. Users are optimally motivated and facilitated to tidy up, by introducing train toilet features that: trigger the user‟s moral to tidy up; and enable users to maintain (at least) crucial issues of cleanliness, with ease. Particularly moral users with the anti-littering norm on their mind are now likely to make sure the toilet if left neat and tidy. » To prevent users from self-justifying not-to- tidy up, motivating features were designed to trigger the user‟s moral through increased social awareness and an increased sense of –possible- social rejection (by toilet users and by train passengers). In this way, the „demoralising‟ effect of privacy on users was counteracted, not privacy of the user itself; » In addition, experiencing less anonymity (from toilet users and from train passengers), by reducing the contrast in anonymity (in the toilet and in the train), was envisioned to encourage the user‟s moral to tidy up. » To prevent disturbing the user‟s motivation by either lack of tools or lack of cleanliness, facilitating features were designed to maintain cleanliness of crucial cleanliness elements, with minimal user effort to satisfactory results; » In addition, perceiving how these features –having been used- benefit the cleanliness of the toilet to the present user‟s advantage, was envisioned to encourage use of the features. An experiential prototype study was set-up to test the concept, in a research setting. » Because the behavioural sciences of research into social pressures and motivations are outside the scope of this design project, the prototype study was intended as indicative-only in obtaining the design goals. » By using the prototype, it was determined whether the concept features were: not disturbing privacy or toileting; were noticed by the participants; and were used as designed. » In addition, indications of reduced anonymity were sought. » Key conclusions and recommendations to NS are listed here.

This thesis proposes a design strategy for pleasant touch. Literature is reviewed on the importance of pleasant touch, existing implementations in products and design for tactility. A lack of competence is found on how to design for pleasant touch in the interface of products: functional pleasant tactility. Therefore, a design vision is created by the author as a designer, on how to design functional pleasant tactility. The envisioned design strategy is then implemented through a case study of a Bang & Olufsen TV remote control. The case study includes 3 sequential phases: exploring, designing and evaluating functional pleasant tactility in the given context. Exploring was done through workshops where design students were asked to touch objects with various material properties. Pleasant movements were performed with the objects, and matching functions were imagined, resulting in ‘actions’. Those actions were analyzed to discover three underlying themes of inviting, mastery and logic. In the designing phase those themes were translated into three corresponding design concepts, and worked out into prototypes. In the evaluating phase those prototypes were tested with that target group, and the results were used to create a final design concept. As a researcher, the author then concludes with a design strategy that is expected to work for the broader context of industrial design, and recommends further research with this strategy for different products and companies.

In every prison and other custodial institution in the Netherlands prisoners can be secluded either for punitive reasons or for self-protection. Research shows that the manner in which prisoners are secluded in the Netherlands can seriously affect one’s brain. This project aims to improve the experience inside isolation cells for prisoners who are secluded for protective reasons. Responsibility must be taken, since one day these people will become part of society again. Current situation In the Netherlands, foreign nationals awaiting their repatriation are placed in detention centres. These people are likely to become distressed, due to their uncertain future. Their reaction to this situation can vary from having nightmares to attempting suicide. If this occurs they need to be protected for themselves. The only way to both give these people a safe environment and keep an eye on them is to put them in an isolation cell. Such cells allow 24-hour surveillance and provide as few stimuli as possible. No personal goods are allowed inside the cell, nor is distraction in the form of television or books present. This situation may lead to sensory deprivation and permanent damage to the brain. The prisoners already have psychological issues, for which they are brought to the isolation department, and the current way of treating them may do more harm than good. The research Observations were carried out in the detention centre in Rotterdam and interviews were carried out with both employees and (former) prisoners. Next to that a literature study about sensory deprivation and the context is done. The findings are clustered in two emotional situations many prisoners experience inside isolation cells. First uncertainty on the prisoner’s current situation can cause anxiety. Second is the lack of stimuli, which can lead to having negative thoughts. Next to that it is found that human contact is very important; the more a prisoner connects to the world around him, the faster he can go back to the housing department. Research also points out three undesirable situations involving the guard-prisoner interaction. The guard’s uncertainty about the prisoner’s state of mind negatively influences their interaction. Negative emotions coming from locking up a person and the strict conciseness of all moments of interaction can give an uncomfortable feeling to the guard as well. These situations negatively influence the interaction and the guard’s safety. The concept A future interaction is designed to improve the current situation. The guard needs to be encouraged to start the interaction and the prisoner needs to become involved in it. The interaction is supported by the TimeTable concept. With the concept the prisoner gets to tell his preferences and gets some freedom in forming his day programme. This will provide him with a feeling of autonomy and certainty. As both prisoner and guard sit together and have a conversation, the contact throughout the day improves and will distract the prisoner from his negative thoughts. The TimeTable helps the guard interact with the prisoner. He receives tools, which help him feel secure in the situation, next to that it allows a more humane way to treat the prisoner and therefore a more positive feeling for the guard. The five elements of the TimeTable and their properties are: Table – Instead of having to put the meals on the floor, the guard can now bring and leave the food on a table the prisoner can comfortably eat from. Pouf – The guard brings his own pouf; in this way he does not use any of the ‘prisoner’s furniture’ when having a seated conversation. Notebook – A manual for the guard, which contains questions the guard can ask the prisoner. The prisoner’s answers are written down in the notebook. Poster – The prisoner’s answers are copied onto a poster that can be hung on the wall as a record of the interaction, and a schedule of his day programme. Whiteboard – The guard writes down the agreements made with the prisoner on a whiteboard in the team office. His colleagues from all disciplines are aware of and can act to these agreements. It is also a tool to easier talk about the interaction and reflect on that.

A growing amount of people is eager to cultivate their own food on a small scale. However, nowadays solutions to not offer the desired support nor experience. Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop an innovative concept (product, service or integral solution), that supports and motivates “inexperienced gardeners” with restricted time and cultivation space, to grow their own food. User research should result in an overview of gardeners and motivators in order to develop a solution that is sustainable over the years in terms of support and motivation.

This report is the result of my graduation project at Calendar42. Calendar42 is a web based smart, learning, mobile calendar service aimed at decreasing the cognitive load of the user. Decreasing cognitive load is important in today’s information overloaded society, but more so for a specific group of people: hearing impaired. In the Netherlands one in ten people have some degree of hearing loss. A lot of these hearing impaired people have difficulty in daily situations where they must miss out on information and communication. Hearing impaired people are supported by technology to assist them in their daily lives. They prefer mainstream technology because it does not have the stigma of disabled attached to it. New developments in smart information and communication systems are already greatly improving inclusion. The goal of this project is to design a new product, based on the smart technology of Calendar42 to improve the life of hearing impaired people. The target group focus was directed at hearing impaired students a group that has enormous under participation in regular higher education. Several studies were conducted with hearing impaired students and professionals to gain a frame of reference and find out what problems they face and solutions they desire. Most occurring problems include, interaction with peers, stress due to unadapted education and multitasking. Most occurring wishes include speech to text technology, better support during lectures, hidden “anti disability” tools and broader spread of sign language increasing awareness. Through interviews with experts it became evident that the philosophy of Design for All is desired. So the design of the product should not only be with hearing impaired students in mind but must also be beneficial for other students and possibly education institutions. With it the term situational deafness becomes relevant. Five great concepts were developed according to a main concept model which revolves around the technology platform of Calendar42. The concepts are: 1. Tactonic feedback for mobile phones, 2. Visual ambient information, 3. Matching through Calendar42, 4. A gesture campaign and 5. Crowd-sourced note taking. After evaluation with a set of criteria the best choice was found to be the concept of crowd-sourced note taking. This concept enables deaf and hard of hearing students to also have lecture notes; something truly critical for every student. To quote a hearing impaired student: “Because of my impairment I am not capable to make notes fully independently, this is due to the fact I am constantly missing things. This concept is the ultimate solution for this problem because now I can make complete notes AND notice when I made the wrong interpretation.” Through a number of design cycles, literature research and testing the idea is elaborated into a final visualization. Behind the concept lie four working principles that are tested in an experimental study. The research model shows the four conditions tested: linear sequential entry individually and in a group and non linear entry individually and in a group. In this study a total of 34 students contributed, 25 of them answered a questionnaire which provided qualitative and quantitative data. The results show that the best mix of functions is a note taking tool which enables non linear editing and group/collaborative work. This concept was also evaluated with the target group who found it be useful and appealing. Based on the findings of the study and the evaluation a final design was made. This final product design is named “Ensemble”. This crowd sourced note taking web application features a spatial canvas, non-linear editing and a rich variety of formatting and input options.

Designing a tool for the childcare workers in the Emma Children's hospital