Within this graduation project, the qualities and potential of bioluminescent micro-algae will be explored with the use of the Material Driven Design Method, as described by Karana et al.(2015). This project aims to provide designers first insights in the behaviour of the bioluminescent algae by looking at the relation between movement and light. The first step will be to understand the different factors that influence the growth of the organisms, in order to be able to create a sustainable living environment that allows us to effectively maintain and grow the organisms. Afterwards, reflecting upon the growing process and creating general guidelines for effectively growing material. Next, the response of the material in regards to different types of stimuli was explored and three types of agitation forms (rotation, pulse and vibration) were evaluated; providing first insights in how the type of stimuli affects the characteristics of the light, with a focus on changes in total light output over time, differences in experiential qualities and boundaries of the material. Based upon the questions that resulted from the exploration phase, a research structure was defined. Within the research, key insight in the flash characteristics and overall behaviour of the light, with regards the temporal form, textural qualities and spatial distribution of the light, will be analysed; taking the first steps in describing the complex relation between movement and experiential qualities of the light. In the end, providing an overview of factors that can be adjusted to alter the flash characteristics and general behaviour of the light. The project is concluded with the design of a research object, in the form of a small scale interactive exhibition; displaying the findings of the research phase and sparking the interest of other designers; stimulating further research and promoting the use of bioluminescent materials.

This thesis provides the reader with the necessary theoretical frameworks to understand the research aimed towards answering the question: which associations do people have with atmospheres influenced by dynamic light textures? This question is then used to provide a framework of guidelines for the designer. A review of lighting design history introduced the terms ambient luminescence, focal glow and play of brilliants proposed by Kelly (Kelly, 1952). Research into perceptual psychology then disentangled principles of perception to the reader, after which it was found that mood was commonly used to measure the impact of environments. Contradictory results of studies suggested that mood lacked a reliable method of measurement. In a study by Vogels (Vogels, 2008), introducing the term atmosphere as a stable alternative for mood, defined as the affective evaluation of the environment, was introduced. In this study, the impact of static light conditions on atmosphere perception was investigated. It was found that four underlying variables are of influence when perceiving environments with static light conditions: cosiness, liveliness, tenseness and detachedness. Focusing on dynamic light conditions, a distinction was made between using real-world or abstract dynamic patterns as stimuli. The way people perceive real-world scenes was found to vary depending on culture and background (Nisbett & Miyamoto, 2005) (Kuwabara & Smith, 2016), leading to the preference for abstract patterns. A translation of abstract patterns into dynamic light textures was made by considering the principle of ensemble perception. Inspired by the natural world 39 stimuli were created. Participants were subjected to these stimuli in an experiment, finding that participants use the same words when describing atmospheres influenced by dynamic light textures through a frequency analysis. Participants’ responses were clustered according to their meaning, resulting in a 40 word lexicon. A set of 13 stimuli were shown to 16 participants in a second experiment, and participants’ responses were recorded using a questionnaire containing the 40 word lexicon.  It was found that participants gave relatively the same responses. Additionally, it was found through a principal component analysis that three underlying variables are present in the perception of atmospheres influenced by dynamic light conditions: tenseness, liveliness and detachment. Furthermore, it was confirmed that people are able to distinguish between the perceived atmospheres. Cosiness was not found to be a principal component in our construct. Regarding the workings of the underlying variables found, we found that liveliness is influenced by organisation of shapes in the texture and colour contrasts. Tenseness is influenced by the complexity of individual forms within textures; it is also influenced by colour contrasts. Brilliance contrasts in the texture influence liveliness of a space; sharpness contrasts influence the sense of detachment. Dynamics in the textures, like the rate of change, influence both the liveliness and tenseness axes and might influence the detachment axis. The findings of the experiments and analyses were used to develop a framework usable by designers, noting however that several points of recommendation were made to improve the reliability and usability of this framework.

Designing a lampshade design for an Amsterdam based company with the basic requirements of low- cost, in house production, adjustable features and implementable within a year. Which resulted in a minimalist lampshade with a modular and variable design.

The aim of the project is to develop an installation, called Club Mojo, for the Mojo Backstage exhibition of Museum Prinsenhof Delft that would let visitors experience chills similar to one at a festival or concert. This aim is chosen to match the festival experience that is set with the exhibition, celebrating the 50th birthday of music promoter and festival produces Mojo Concert. A realistic and impressive design that matches the exhibition plan has the possibility to be included in the exhibition. The development of the installation Club Mojo is done based on knowledge gained on the subject of ‘the experience of chills’. Researching the phenomena called aesthetic chills, which is the core aim of this project, showed the lack of a suitable tool for the graduate student to be able to design for chills. To make it possible to design for aesthetic chills, a model is developed by the graduate student. This model is based on the reasoning of proven studies in different fields of knowledge. Additional, interviews and festival-context related literature are used to complete the model with realistic situations. The model is called the Aesthetic Chills Model and shows the relation between context and the intensity of the experience. The course of the model works towards a peak moment. The model is used to analyze inspiration and developing ideas for Club Mojo. The model focusses in this part of the process of creating a holistic design for an experience of a few minutes. Design challenges are included for the ideation to create a concept the matches the course of the experience intensity of the Aesthetic Chills Model. A concept for Club Mojo is tested with a qualitative test. This test has a main focus on testing the experience of Club Mojo, including a sub-focus on validation of the Aesthetic Chills Model. The qualitative test showed the potential of the concept and the model, where after the final design of Club Mojo is presented. Based on the most recent changes in the exhibition the realization of the concept is presented. The final concept for Club Mojo showed to be a realistic, impressive and overwhelming design that raised the interest of both Museum Prinsenhof and Mojo Concerts.

In the past few years, many companies have made the transition from an office with closed working spaces, towards open offices. The Dutch office of IKEA CBF made the transition to an open office in 2016, to support an activity-based way of working. This new way of working has to lead to an increase in complaints, about noise and distractions within the office. Co-workers commonly related this experience nuisance to auditory stimulation, however, visual or temporal stimuli could contribute to this as well. The experience of the office was researched from a co-worker centered perspective, through interviews and contextmapping session. This revealed that co-workers mainly experience nuisance, when they are being distracted during individual focused work activities. Co-workers identified that they experience nuisance caused by six main sources, both relating to the behavior of co-workers and office facilities. Where most co-workers experienced nuisance from co-workers conversation and movement/foot traffic. The amount of nuisance a co-workers experiences is mainly dependent on their role and the amount of individual work activities they perform. nuisance, than other co-workers. Next to this the individual experiences of co-workers are influenced by factors that influence the presence of specific sources and co-workers general ability to deal with nuisance. Co-workers here most frequently identified that individual needs and a low awareness about their own effect on their surroundings, to affect their general experience of nuisance. Finally co-workers all had an equal access to tools to protect themselves from nuisance. Consequently, co-workers’ general experience of nuisance could most effectively be decreased through a design intervention that improves co-workers’ ability to protect themselves from nuisance during individual work. Next to this Co-creation activities with the Com&In teamshowed that a physical design intervention, that could be applied as an individual solution to protect co-workers from nuisance, would most likely lead to valuable insights for the Com&In team. Following I developed Fridfold, a stimulation barrier aimed at decreasing the amount of nuisance that co-workers experience from auditory and visual stimulation, while working at their desks. This design aimed to make working at an individual deskspace feel ‘fridfull’ or serene, by having a calming effect on co-workers. To achieve this Fridfold was developed to both decrease the amount of stimulation and co-workers perception of stimulation. To achieve this, Fridfold aims to decrease co-workers perception of stimulation by increasing co-workers sense of control, through the interactivity of the design, and the perceived sound damping of materials, through the application of a three-dimensional textured screen. The evaluation of the design with students and co-workers showed that the Fridfold influenced the amount of visual stimulation and improved co-workers sense of control, through the interactivity of the design. Furthermore co-workers envisioned that Fridfold could decrease the nuisance experienced from interruptions. While three dimensional-texture of the screen could not influence the perceived sound damping due to other characteristics of the screen. Therefore, Fridfold should be evaluated within the context of the office to identify how the design can influence coworkers’ general experience of nuisance.

This Master’s thesis report contains research about applying textile to the outer housing surface of products. The research was conducted in collaboration with Signify, a company that creates smart home luminaires for the brand Philips Hue. The goal of the project was to create design guidelines which the designers of Signify can use to create textile building blocks for their luminaires. The project explores suitable textiles, shaping possibilities and fastening methods. The most relevant insights are summarized on “Design Guidelines” pages. A “Design Decision Tree” (DDT) was created to navigate through the Design Guidelines. The DDT can be used by designers who have a housing shape in mind to learn about the relevant insights for applying textile to their specific surface. Suitable textiles for surface application are researched. It was determined that knitted and woven fabrics are suitable for surface coverage. Non-woven fabrics are not because of their undesired appearance and minimal required thickness which impedes mechanical fastening. Shaping possibilities were explored for covering surfaces with flat sheets of fabric as well as covering continuous surfaces with tubular textiles. Depending on the properties of a surface, certain fabrics and fastening methods can or cannot be used. The design limitations per surface category are summarized in the Design Guidelines. Most current textile housings are fabricated by gluing or welding the textiles to the outer surface and inner edges of the part. This method obstructs easy disassembly. An alternative method was created. This “clamping” fastening method is considered more sustainable because it allows the housing to be disassembled with ease and therefor repaired or recycled more efficiently. A clear use cue was added to the inside of the clamping mechanism to inform the user about its disassembly potential. In addition to the gluing and clamping method, creating a separate sleeve was explored. To fabricate such a sleeve, 3D-knitting can be used. Literature research was conducted to explore the possibilities of knitting three-dimensional shapes on flatbed and circular knitting machines to cover product housings. A novel product concept for Philips Hue was created. A prototype of the concept was made to demonstrate textile building blocks in the context of a luminaire. This product concept is called the “Rotation Lamp” and it is used as a tool throughout the report for experimenting and validating. The Rotation Lamp is inviting to touch because of its textile parts. It is intended to be kept close to the user and to enhance their well-being by providing them with a lamp that suits their need for ambience and functional light. Three sets of textile housings were created for the prototype to observe the different product aesthetics that these could create.

This graduation project aims to explore the possibilities and the pitfalls when designing a pedestrian tunnel with mirrors. The research topic was derived from an assignment given by Studio Roosegaarde, a social design lab based in Rotterdam. The major problems this project aims to solve is that a designer has no systematic guidelines to follow when designing a pedestrian tunnel with mirrors. The context this work selects is Maastunnel in Rotterdam for the reason of simplicity, accessibility and its history between Studio Roosegaarde. The keystone to the problem raised is reckoned to be the understanding of the space perception in a pedestrian tunnel and how the mirrors can alter the perceived space. A dozen of visual elements in space perception are identified through the literature survey. With the understanding to mirror perception, a handful of visual cues are selected for further step evaluation. The evaluation includes a questionnaire showing 24 photos of pedestrian tunnels to be rated. Through the survey, the correlation between the perceived visual cues and the sense of spaciousness is analysed. The visual cues correlate with the sense of spaciousness from strong to weak are the width, the height, the cleanness, the brightness of the tunnel and the reflectivity of the wall. Thanks to the lighting simulation software Dialux, several attempts of using mirrors to alter the visual cues were made readily. The exploration reveals two most promising ways of using mirrors in a pedestrian tunnel: mirrors as the Space Doubler and mirrors as the Light Splasher. These two ways of mirror usage are put to test in scale models. Regarding the Space Doubler, it is firstly found that putting mirrors on the ceiling, referred as catoptric-heightening, may significantly enlarge the perceived space, resulting in a more open and spacious tunnel. A similar but less potent effect is also found when putting mirrors on the lower part of the walls (referred as catoptric-widening) to extend the perceived width. The observers reported feelings of disturbing and dirtiness when perceiving the catoptric-widening mirrors in a pedestrian tunnel. Regarding the Light Splasher, the experiment reveals that the mirror-induced brilliance, or reflected-brilliance, can effectively increase the brightness of the space. Contastly, the complex lighting pattern created by reflection ( reflected-deflection) is not beneficial. However, it is found that the associability plays a more significant role in the perception to a space with brilliance. The observers are likely to associate the reflected-brilliance with the starry sky henceforth they perceive a higher ceiling. According to the above findings, a list of design guidelines is formulated. The design guidelines lists almost 19 dos and don’ts, corresponds to a dozen different aspects such as openness, spaciousness, aesthetics, privacy, security, etc. This project has made a self-evaluation to the design guidelines by making a design according to which. The prototype of the design has shown the strength of the guidelines meanwhile revealing the inadequacy of the current version. The guidelines are considered useful in the early stages of design process while it lacks of guides related to the size and variation of mirrors. To further develop the guidelines into a more comprehensive version, a dynamic or fully-immersive environment is suggested as the necessary future works.

This master thesis takes two concepts - light content and biophilic design - together into a design approach for designing biophilic light texture. Light content entails the design of digital content for LED lighting products, taking human experience of light as the main design objective; light texture is one of the lighting effects within the framework of light content as defined by Signify (Philips lighting). Biophilic design is an architectural design framework that takes the concept of biophilia as its premise. Biophilia is the human inclination to affiliate with natural features, like water, forests, wildlife, etc. Biophilic design aims to re-integrate this inherent affiliation with nature into the built environment. The human experience of light, the visual qualities of light texture and the basic design principles of biophilic design are put together to arrive at a design approach for biophilic light texture. This approach entails a basic design principle, focusing on integration with both the architecture and its geographical, social and cultural context; and a set of practical guidelines on how to achieve this integration through the design of light textures. This design approach was applied in a design project for Beersnielsen lighting designers. This project involved the interior lighting design of a newly designed visitor center for a nature reserve park. The central element of this lighting design is a chandelier that projects a light texture (light shadow projections) onto the arched ceiling of the interior. The dynamic and style of the light texture create an integration with the natural environment, while at the same time the graphic style, the scale and the structure of the texture make it an integral part of the architecture as well. It continues the character and atmosphere of the nature reserve park, to the indoor environment of the visitor center. A prototype was created to show a proof of concept for creating the desired lighting effect, and to be able to experience the effect on a full architectural scale. The guidelines of the design approach as outlined in this thesis are specifically focused on light texture as a lighting effect, as showcased in the design project. However, the basic design principle of the approach can also be applied to lighting design in general. It is encouraged to explore this principle of integrated design for other lighting effects within the light content framework as well, potentially arriving at a comprehensive biophilic design framework for lighting design in general.

Lighting can have a significant influence on product appearance, and therefore on product perception. Multiple studies showed this influence of retail lighting (e.g. Baker et al., 1992; Quartier et al., 2014b). However, existing research into the influence of lighting on product perception is somewhat insufficient, therefore the goal was to gain more insights into this influence in the online retail context. Physical qualities of light can be measured (e.g. illuminance, colour temperature), however, the actual effect of lighting on the perceiver determines if a lighting concept is successful. Kelly (1952) first described a series of functions that lighting had to meet to serve the needs of the perceiver, and distinguished three functions: ambient, focus, and brilliance. This perception-based design approach still forms the principle of qualitative lighting design, and formed the basis for the conditions in this current study. Diffused lighting (ambient), directed lighting (focus), and a combination of both examined the influence of diffuseness. A fourth condition examined the influence of luminosity/brightness (the diffused and directed condition was brightened). Product perception was measured as perceived product value, which can be distinguished into expressive (aesthetic and symbolic value) and utilitarian values (functionalities, ease of use, and perceived quality). Oh et al. (2016) found a positive relation between processing modes (global vs local) and lighting (holistic vs focus). It was expected that the ratings of expressive values and perceived quality would increase in diffused lighting, as these values are generally processed more ‘holistically’ and consumers will focus on the products’ global impression (perceived quality is a more utilitarian value, yet it is generally processed more ‘holistically’). Besides, it was expected that utilitarian values would increase in directed lighting, since these are generally processed more analytical as consumers will focus on product details. Based on literature about product perception, kitchen scales were selected as stimuli, and four specific scales were chosen based on a form study, collages, and a morphological chart. They were divided into more hedonic/expressive and more utilitarian scales, and all varied, among others, in form, buttons, material(s), and glossiness. This study was a 4 (products) x 4 (lighting conditions) mixed experimental design, and 113 participants were assigned to one of the conditions. Via an online questionnaire, participants gave product evaluations based on statements corresponding with the value dimensions, which were derived from literature. Besides, the HED/UT scale of Voss et al. (2003) measured hedonic and utilitarian value dimensions towards this product category. Two significant main effects were found between conditions. Perceived quality was evaluated most positive in the diffused and directed condition, and ease of use in the ‘brighter’ condition. This indicates that a combination of diffused and directed lighting was preferred in the perception of these value dimensions. Nowadays, (online) retailers often use professional light boxes/lighting solutions for photography, which often only create diffused lighting. Directed lighting is needed to make glossy objects look shiny, creates highlights and shadows, and makes details more clearly visible. Generally, it is recommended to use diffused and directed lighting for product photography.

This master's thesis was completed at Tu Delft in collaboration with Signify, with the goal of providing guidance into the use of digital manufacturing in lighting design by creating a lighting system concept for the context of nursing homes. The following design goal elements emerged in this context to improve the well-being of elderly residents. The goal was to incorporate these elements into a lighting system concept that is manifested in a working prototype. • Bright – Many nursing homes are too dark for the elderly to perform tasks. Vertical illumination may improve the perception of brightness and spaciousness. • Natural – From the perspective of biophilic design and healing environments, nursing homes could benefit from natural light, shapes, and materials to improve the space’s restorative affordances. • Lively – From the standpoint of lighting design, nursing homes could benefit from lively elements such as patterns and brilliance to balance the visual aesthetics. • Pleasant – The aesthetics and light effect should not be annoying because several residents will glance at it daily. The project started with literature research on lighting and biophilic design, visiting fairs on lighting and 3D printing, and meeting stakeholders from Signify and nursing homes. Prototypes were created iteratively and with increasing fidelity with light sources, cardboard, and 3D printing throughout the project to explore and evaluate ideas. Image-generating AI tools served as inspiration, and parametric design was used to model complex designs. The product experience design was guided by Nine Moments of Product Aesthetics, and the theory of Unity and Variety guided the product experience design in the detailing of the concept. Livy, the final concept, consists of 3D wall panels and spotlights that together create a nature-inspired light effect. The lighting system increases the perceived brightness of the room by vertical illumination and reflecting diffuse light into the space from vertical wall panels. The light also improves the liveliness and brilliance of the lighting atmosphere by creating dynamic shadows and caustics. Natural materials are introduced through the wooden panels and filaments in a natural shape and pattern. The light is warm white and indirect for a pleasant feel. A formal validation was conducted with elderly residents (N = 13) in a nursing home. Ratings of brightness, naturalness, liveliness, and pleasantness were rated on a four-point scale. The judgments revealed that the majority of these goal elements were judged positively. The prototype appeared bright (Mean = 3), lively (Mean = 3.2), and pleasant (Mean = 3.5) with the luminaires switched on. Several participants perceived the concept as natural (Mean = 2.4) and referred to natural metaphors. As expected, the brightness was rated significantly higher compared to the luminaires switched off, which was not true for the other ratings. The project offers valuable insights and a practical example of how digital manufacturing can be used in lighting design within Signify. There is potential for designing illuminated surfaces that combine natural patterns and materials with lighting to create visually appealing spaces. This digital approach also demonstrates opportunities for Signify to develop products that cater to aesthetic preferences and, in particular, lighting needs in a context. Additionally, it identifies opportunities for further steps to make products better reusable or recyclable.

Awe, the feeling of encountering something greater or more powerful, has been explored in design and the arts. However, the potential of creating awe through the interplay of light and textiles remains underexplored. While the possibilities are vast, the precise tuning of their respective qualities to elicit a sense of awe over time have yet to be thoroughly investigated. This project aims at creating a light sculpture that elicits a visual awe experience by experimenting with interactions between the material organza and lighting. To start and give direction to the project, the Material Driven Design (MDD) method was used. Moreover, a literature review about awe, organza, light and light-material interactions was carried out. Besides, three separate experiments were conducted involving 22 participants in order to find which variables of organza and lighting would elicit what emotions, what rate of a visual awe experience and what meanings/associations by using an adapted version of the Experiential Characterization toolkit from the MDD method. The results of the three experiments showed that high-intensity red and blue lighting colours, a hole-patterned organza construction and the room's lighting turned off elicits the highest rating of the awe experience. The final light sculpture – made from organza with circular patterned holes, high-intensity red and blue lighting and projections of storytelling dynamic light textures – elicits a visual awe experience of different intensities during one loop of three light textures. The process of designing this installation serves as a case study demonstrating how the interplay of light and organza can evoke awe and enhance people's experiences, potentially leading to benefits such as increased state of focused attention and awareness on the present moment and improved psychological well-being.

Human-computer interactions should be as inclusive as possible, nowadays. Designers play a vital role in making products, services, and systems usable by a diverse range of users. Mobile applications use vibrations (tactons) to convey information about, for example, messages coming in. The quality of vibrotactile communication can be greatly enhanced by involving in the desing proces the experts when it comes to feeling: people with deafblindness. By involving the haptic experts, mobile applications using vibrotactile communication can become more inclusive for all users. This thesis addresses the challenge of usability versus flexibility when co-designing with haptic experts. The goal is to establish an equal level of control among all co-designers, including the haptic experts. To achieve this, Shape2Vibe has been developed by using a research-through-design approach. The design process drew inspiration from cross-modal perception. Moreover, clay modelling experiments were conducted for creating embodiments of four dinstinct basic vibration effects from Adafruit’s haptic motor library. Shape2Vibe has proved effective in facilitating communication during the co-design process, enabling participants to express their ideas through the positioning of blocks. Equal control is ensured for all co-designers because communication for all participants is brought to the same level. The four shapes representing basic vibration effects adequately support co-design sessions for everyday design cases, such as fire alarms. However, designing vibrations to convey emotions or association-based scenarios requires additional communication and a more layered approach due to the context dependent nature of emotions. Therefore, it is recommended to further research wether more association based shapes facilitate more abstract design cases. Overall, this thesis contributes to the advancement of inclusive designs by assisting other designers in co-designing vibrations with haptic experts. By having involved haptic experts, the research has succeeded in creating an inclusive and usable tool and method useful for applications in the field of vibrotactile communication.

This report describes the project of designing an interactive exhibit for children in the context of Science Centre Delft to actively explore, and thereby learn about, the interactions of light and sound beams with materials. It involves the application of a directional speaker in a totally new and dynamic way to trigger sound and light effects. The project is an example of a design project which is not about problem solving. It involves children as target group, which do not have urgent problems with current exhibits about light and sound interactions and do not have a specific need to learn about it. A solution space can thus not be defined by the needs of the target group. Therefore the context, the target group and the subjects of sound and light are thoroughly researched first. Then three iterations of experimentation, ideation, prototyping and evaluation are performed to gain a design vision. A final concept is developed which is evaluated with children in the context by means of a working prototype. The final concept, Sonolum, demonstrates a totally new dynamic application of a directional speaker to actively explore multi-sensory interactions with materials. With the Sonolum children can aim directional sound at modules to trigger sound and light effects. The children are invited to configure and explore patterns of modules with different materials on a magnetic wall. By doing so they can explore and learn more about different sound-light-material interactions. For example a module with a mirror reflects the sound and light in a specular and directed way, while a module with black foam will absorb the sound and light. The final prototype of Sonolum is evaluated upon enjoyment, stimulation of exploratory behaviour and bringing across the subjects of sound and light interactions with materials. The study was performed with 48 children over 2 days in the context of ‘Gamelab’ inside Science Centre Delft. The results show that children enjoy the exhibit, that the exhibit shows promise in supporting exploratory behaviour, but unfortunately does not yet bring across sound and light interactions with materials, although the children do indicate that the subject of the exhibit is light, sound and music. This may be due to some limitations of the prototype. Future development and investigation is needed to improve the perceivability of the sound-material effects in the exhibit.

While following courses at Industrial Design Engineering (IDE), students learn different steps of the design process. Little attention is paid to the last step of presenting the created product resulting in unprofessional photographs. The light studio is the developed concept and solution for this problem. A dome-shaped structure with integrated LEDs and camera and a studio background within makes it possible to easily take photos. An interface linked to the camera and lights makes it possible to control the light placement through sliders and change the camera settings within the program. Information about the light placement, camera settings and photo editing is given in the interface. A user test was conducted with IDE students. Results showed that the concept idea is in line with the design goal to motivate students in taking professional product photos. An element of the design goal which could be refined was the understanding and clarity of the information given in the interface. Therefore, a redesign has been made to target that part of the design goal. Recommendations are given for further development of the concept by conducting a second user test and creating the final design.

This project is an exploration of light as a supportive medium for meditation. Light is a mysterious phenomenon and the possibilities are endless, which required a broad exploration of various elements and applications of light. With a design driven approach this exploration took many forms. Ranging from finding inspiration, sketching ideas and building prototypes. 
However, to be able to steer the creative process towards a valuable end result a deep understanding about the experience, needs and requirements of the user had to be formed. This understanding grew over the course of the project by holding interviews and organising a generative session. Results from these activities resulted in a structured overview of how the meditation ritual someone could be supported. 
Research revealed that the user needs help in three areas, the creation of a routine, a formal practice of meditation and the relationship the user has with the ritual. The user is helped by shaping the routine, visualising this routine and by receiving notifications to show it is time to meditate. In terms of practice, the user is supported by getting into the mood of the meditation, through focus support (to avoid being lost in thought too much) and by having a transition between the meditation session and everyday life. Lastly the relationship the user has with the ritual is strengthened by creating a moment of clear awareness during the day. During this intervention the user is able to take a moment out of everyday life and reflect on its state of mind.
Based on the created structure the creative process could be channeled towards a product. With a focus on the interaction and aesthetics it was possible to find a balance between the functionality and appeal of the product. This resulted in Prana, your luminous meditation assistant. A dynamic and interactive wall lamp with a focus on guiding a user in his or her meditation journey. 
An evaluation of the product showed its potential to support a user through the meditation journey while providing an aesthetically pleasing experience that immerses you into the mysterious phenomenon of light. The simplicity of the product provides an intuitive interaction, while the complexity of the light effects take you into the moment.

This thesis is about improving the television experience of visually impaired people (VIP). The company VFO, world leading in assistive technology for VIP, proposed the assignment after finding out that VIP still watch television but do not experience it like sighted users. First, background information was retrieved by literature research. Common causes of having a visual impairment and what kinds of impairments exist were derived. Existing knowledge of television watching by VIP was still undersized; no recent study has been done. The main insight obtained from the literature research was that VIP do watch television as much as sighted people. However, VIP experience several problems while watching television that they are not yet able to solve, such as difficulties with understanding a story or missing important details. Currently some products exist to enhance the television experience of VIP but none of them fit to all visual impairments or solves their actual problem. During this project a study was done to understand the context of VIP watching television and what problems come to light while using the television. In addition to struggles with positioning and using the television, VIP are having a hard time following the content of TV-programs. Details are missed, subtitles are too small to read or disappear too quickly and fast-changing images make it hard to focus on the subject. In this thesis, a solution will be presented for the inability to follow a conversation because of fast-changing images and the incapability of reading subtitles. Several ideas were generated. Four concepts were formulated after discussions and brainstorms with experts of different expertises such as visual aiding products, vision of VIP and about possibilities of tracking content in a video fragment. These four concepts were tested with VIP to validate the working principle. One concept was found to be applicable for all kinds of visual impairments and a genuine help for VIP: Voices. The concept changes the single voice of spoken subtitle equipment into four voices (two male and two female). This concept needed some improvement according to VIP: making the voices more natural. Furthermore, the Dutch voices that can be used by VFO are Xander and Claire, just one male and one female voice. This evoked one more improvement that should be made: developing dual voices out of one existing voice. Several possible voices were made with editing the existing ones. A survey was done that indicated the best voices and the needed pitch difference (two semitones) between two voices to perceive them as a different personality. Video fragments of Dutch television with subtitles were edited with these voices to test the final concept; SubSpeech, with VIP. This last research provided the insight that two semitones distance between two voices was not always perceived as two different personalities. However, the concept was perceived as intended and participants mentioned that several voices do help them understanding a conversation due to the indication of a changing speaker. With current knowledge SubSpeech will help VIP understand conversations of foreign languages better and will make them watch television more easily. A user scenario and a brief list of recommendations for developing the concept into a product is presented at the end of the thesis.

The amount of people working from home has been increasing. However, working from home has its issues and consequences. The degree to which one experiences recovery from stress and fatigue is limited when working from home, which has consequences on motivation, performance, health, and well-being. The aim of this project was therefore to develop a product that supports restoration during working from home. One way to achieve restoration is described by the Attention Restoration Theory, which poses that interaction with an environment can restore mental fatigue if it meets four properties: 1) a sense of being away, 2) fascination, or effort less attention, 3) extent, or a feeling of immersion, and 4) compatibility and congruence between the person and the environment. If an experience meets these properties, it can have similar restorative powers.  User research with homeworkers following the context mapping method revealed where the opportunities for an intervention lie. This user research showed that the four properties of attention restoration were not all met in the current home-work-environment, thereby limiting the possibility for the home-work-environment to be restorative. Especially the sense of being away is limited, due to inability to distance oneself physically as well as psychologically from the workplace. A design direction was defined: re-establishing the borders between work and non-work, and making the switching moments more conscious.   Nature is particularly good in meeting the four properties of attention restoration. Besides, nature can reduce stress, and improve mood and wellbeing. Biophilic design takes into account these advantages of nature and translates them into guidelines for design. A red thread throughout the concepting phase of this project is therefore biophilic design. The resulting design of this project is Ecflo, an inflatable lamp that functions as a break-reminder through dynamic light textures. Ecflo creates a liminal moment at the switching moments between work and non-work. Upon the start of a home-work-day the user inflates Ecflo, an interaction functioning as energizer. When it is time for a break, Ecflo moves and creates light effects, drawing the user’s attention away from the screen, towards a moment of fascination. Ecflo creates a conscious decision at this switching moment: continue work, or take a break. This way, it helps in structuring the home-work-day and helps separate work and non-work. Ecflo is restorative in the sense that it creates fascination through random and ephemeral patterns and movements. The design sustains interest, and thereby creates extent. The design is compatible in the sense that it is suitable for working from home and the home environment. However, evaluation study showed that the feeling of being away is limited, as Ecflo does not fully create an escape experience. Evaluation of the concept was done using the Perceived Restorativeness for Activities Scale. However, this scale is not fully suitable for product evaluation. Development of a research method suitable for evaluation of a product’s restorative potential is thus needed to evaluate Ecflo’s restorative potential. For further development of the concept, a functioning model should be made and tested with homeworkers.  

The aim of this project was to design a new lighting product for the company Fatboy. In Figure 1 an abstract overview is shown of the project process, consisting of three main phases. Fatboy is a Dutch design brand that provides accent furniture products which bring more (fun) to living. The company is especially known for its colourful and iconic bean bags. Besides these textile lounging products their relative younger lighting category especially distinguishes itself from other brands with portable and simplistic designed lamps. The products are playful and flexible in use, while iconic and simple in shape. When looking at the future of the lighting market an important aspect is the shift in the functioning of light. For years the functioning and experience of light was mainly evaluated on its visual performance. Only recently researchers realized that light can accomplish a certain atmosphere and therefore affect people in their mood and emotions. Furthermore the development of LED technology creates new possibilities for this, by making light for instance smart and adjustable in colour. Besides the development in the connected lighting market, LEDs are also boosting the innovation in embedded lighting. The miniaturization of electrical components, results in LEDs the size of 1 mm2. This makes it possible to integrate light sources in flexible structures and architectural materials. The future context of living was mainly defined by the population growth and urbanization trend. More people are moving towards big cities, which results in smaller living spaces. Furthermore the trend of small and compact living is also driven by the environmental awareness and mindful living. Experiences are becoming more important than the possession of physical objects. Furthermore the Danish hygge principle showed that there is a desire for experiencing more nostalgic and cosy moments of togetherness. Especially in a world where people are surrounded by technologies and distractions, there is the desire to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. For these reasons it was considered important for the new lighting product to be: flexible, sustainable, atmospheric and personal. According to the Vision in Product (ViP) design method, a vision was created to form an inspiring basis for the conceptualisation phase. The statement was defined as: “I want to enable people to enjoy the simple pleasures (together) by creating a cosy atmosphere in a flexible way”. From this a few main product qualities were defined as: playful, affectionate, care-free and supportive. With the vision as starting point ideas were generated, which resulted in various key ideas. From these ideas new insights were gained and a new focus was created. The flexibility in the use of the product is of great importance in this project. Therefore the concept should leave room for the personal interpretation of the user. The light experience is focussed on moments of cosiness and relaxation. Furthermore the interaction with the product especially should be playful and intuitive. Eventually it was decided to focus on ideas in which the combination of textile and light is the essence. The use of textile makes it possible to create flexibility in the lighting product, but the tactility of textile also refers to cosiness and comfort. Furthermore it creates a direct connection between the Fatboy product categories. Further literature research was done on the integration of LEDs in textile (products). Different technological principles with supporting product examples were explored, that resulted in concept directions which were tested with material experiments. To maintain a low tech, simplistic and friendly experience of the product, which is important for the connection to the Fatboy design language, it was decided to integrate the LEDs underneath the textile. In this way the light experience becomes a surprising element in the design. The LEDs are connected to another textile material with the use of conductive yarn, which maintains the flexibility of the product. Furthermore it was decided to make use of a light pattern, which creates a natural, playful and cosy experience of light. The essence of the idea is that the flexible lighting product shaped like a small slightly thicker blanket boosts the relaxing atmosphere at home. Due to its flexibility it is possible to bring the light close, even on soft unstable but comforting places like the couch or the bed. With the warm and soft light pattern an instant cosy atmosphere can be created. Furthermore with the looped rope makes it still possible to hang the product somewhere. The final form of the product was inspired by the shape of an animal skin rug, which is playful but also refers to the cosy elements of the hygge principle. The product exists of a sleeve, an electronic inner part and some accessories like the rope. The embodiment of these parts were defined by their materials, measurements and manufacturing principles. A working prototype was made and tested with participants on the qualities that were defined in the design vision. There was concluded that the product is validated on these different aspects. Some more qualitative insights were also gained from the making and testing of the product which resulted in recommendations for the further development of the product.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer and generally has a 5-year survival rate of 5%. Surgery (pancreatoduodenectomy) is the only form of curative treatment for patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. If the tumour is operable, the resectability of the tumour depends on the level of tumour-vessel contact. Based on CT scans, assessing the resectability of the tumour can be critical and demands expertise. Philips, collaborating with Catharina Hospital Eindhoven and Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), has an oncology team called Eindhoven MedTech Innovation Centre (e/MTIC), working on a health care innovation regarding Pancreatic cancer enabled by AI (artificial intelligence) and Medical Image Guiding. This graduation project focuses on this pancreas use case; an integrated imaging workstation is being developed using 3D visualisation and enabling AI to enhance the workflow. This graduation project focuses on improving healthcare professionals' user experience and interaction within an integrated imaging workstation. The project focuses on visually communicating tumour detection and vascular segmentation, resulting in better diagnosis and surgical planning. The aim is to eventually design a visual language (a design language system guideline) to improve the workflow and experience. A user review was conducted using videos of user tests performed previously in the pancreas use case. This review led to the usability problems and the user needs of the 3D model in the pancreatic use case. A professional critical study was also conducted, revealing the prototype's strengths and weaknesses. Eventually, a redesign for the 3D model was developed. This model is focused on showing resectability to improve the workflow. Moreover, uncertainty regarding the tumour size and shape is visualised as well. Additionally, a DLS guideline for similar applications within Philips focused on medical 3D visualisation was designed at the end of this thesis. Finally, 3D visualisation, enabled by AI, improves the workflow within a medical imaging workstation.

In the development of the lighting practice, progress has been made to eliminate bad lighting and to contribute to a visual comfortable scene. Metrics, and subsequent recommendations, have been established to provide uniform horizontal illuminance. In addition, performance-based metrics are developed. For example, various lighting levels for different tasks. However, the conventional metrics and current lighting standards fail to describe the spatial quality of light that provides a human observer with information about its surroundings contributing to one’s well-being. And so, increased emphasis is on three-dimensional light distribution in a space creating good lighting. Currently, renewed attention goes to the application of a theory to examine the visual appearance of light in a space: the light field. The light field can be subdivided in the light intensity, the light direction and diffuseness simultaneously. Hence, it is wondered to what extent the analysis of the light field is an effective alternative to predict visual comfort in a daylit office meeting space? The research answers this main question in three parts, using literature review, in-field measurements and simulated data. The first part of the research concentrates on literature about the conventional visual comfort metrics (luminance Contrast Ratio and Daylight Glare Property), and the (mathematical) description of the light field. The second part of research deals solely with the light field. It examines how its properties can be measured and visualised, in researching the application of tool use. In part three knowledge about the conventional performance-based measuring techniques and the analysis of the properties of the light field (light intensity, light direction and diffuseness) are brought together and compared in a case study of a visual uncomfortable experienced office space. Based upon the results obtained during the research, it is proven that the analysis of the light field is a promising candidate describing an uncomfortable setting in terms of light direction and diffuseness rather than luminance and illuminance. It is a view independent metric that can predict visual uncomfortable situations generated by a strong directional lighting combined with a low diffuseness, resulting in disturbing shades. Simultaneously, it is found that the current metrics for luminance Contrast Ratio and the simplified Daylight Glare probability, that try to predict the likelihood of visual comfort, lack a full description of the perceived level of visual comfort. Finally, the level of visual comfort for the human observer in the office space of the case study has been improved. Keywords: daylight, light metrics, visual comfort, luminance contrast ratio, daylight glare probability, light field, light direction, light intensity, diffuseness, light field,