This thesis explored the company Trompenaars Hampden-Turner (THT), its offerings, activities and the context it works in. THT is a company originally founded in 1989 as the Centre for International Business Studies. Trompenaars Hampden-Turner is a relatively small niche consulting company which is renowned in the area of Culture for Business. It is specialised in cultural dilemmas in the business context. Its employees work to improve the integration between people (values, attitudes) and organisations (structures, systems and processes). THT is a founder-centric organisation, and this poses certain risks and limitations which influence the growth and resilience of an organisation. For THT this means that in order to continue spreading their theories and practise consulting, the founder-centric configuration of the company needs to change. Therefore, the main research question was established as: How can a small founder-centric consultancy become less founder-centric and sustain growth in the coming ten years? In the first part, information was gathered to create a deeper understanding of the client, domain and the market. First, the company history, business model, products and competitors were analysed. To gather the information needed, various interviews were held with people working at THT. Secondly, literature was reviewed, looking into managing growth in organisations, founder-led companies and how organisations and consultancies are structured. These research activities resulted in a collection of insights which were used for the strategy creation. The insights yielded from the research were used to create a story which was written to design a future vision and communicate the vision. Storytelling was chosen to explore the benefits of this method, instead of sketching which is more common in industrial design. The created future vision called for a strategy in which THT’s portfolio consists of digital products such as an e-learning course. Using this future vision, a roadmap was created to strategize this pivot in company activity from consulting to content development. The roadmap is divided into three horizons. The goal of the first horizon is to focus on scaling down the current portfolio and focus on creating a base of e-learning courses. The goal of the second horizon is to expand the portfolio whilst learning service partners are attracted to partially outsource marketing and personal parts of the hybrid learning solutions. The goal of the third horizon is to be the best expert in the field when it comes to developing content. The proposed strategy for THT was supplemented with a design of the new organisational blueprint and some advice on the corporate communication including the name of the company. For the organisational blueprint, a circular model was chosen to easily scale with the organisation’s size or the range of the product portfolio. It was advised for the company name to make it refer to culture rather than the name of specific individuals. The strategy based on this take on a future vision for THT, combined with trends which were relevant to THT’s industry and knowledge on organisational design, resulted in a plan to become less founder-centric and sustain growth in the coming ten years.

People with a life-limiting illness, and everyone closely involved, face many struggles throughout the illness. One of those struggles is related to the diminishing appetite for food and drinks. In Dutch hospice care institutions this struggle has also become apparent with their residents. When they see those near and dear urge their loved one to eat more, in the hope that maybe it will help extend the life of their loved one. Unfortunately, this approach of food care does more harm than it helps. This master thesis explores the food care in a Dutch hospice institution, it studies the areas of concern within that scope, and what may cause these concerning circumstances to come about. The analysis reveals how hospice residents may lack a sense of autonomy over their meals, and how the food care can be inconsistent between different care provider. It results into situations where residents receive unsuitable meals that are difficult to eat, or too large to finish, leading to concern and guilt about the unfinished, and sometimes conflicts with relatives, who urge their loved one to eat more. Furthermore, it becomes clear that the food care can lack in social and emotional values, over-prioritizing the nutritional intake. Finally, those near and dear may struggle to let go of food, however interventions from the hospice to stimulate them to let go usually are too abrupt and therefore unnatural. As a response to these concerns a hospice diary for eating and drinking is presented. It is a diary that centralizes everything that has to do with food care. It provokes a registration of the food and drink preferences of hospice residents, to ensure instantly well-adjusted food care that can be provided consistently between different care provider groups. Furthermore, through daily questions on topics related to the emotional and social values of food, those values are (re)introduced to the context, to distract from the prioritized nutritional values. Finally, fill-in pages stimulate the daily assessment for desired meals. Combined with “instructions” for the assessments, the care providers should become more aware of the necessity to make correct and complete assessments of what the resident truly desires for their meal.

The monthly number of non-western immigrants that applied for a status in the Netherlands has been constantly rising from 955 in May 2021 to 3590 in November 2021 (CBS, 2021). During the first period in the AZC, “newcomers” are purposely distanced from Dutch society. This has as an effect that when they finally get an official refugee status, they have a hard time finding a fitting job. They lack the social network (social bonds, social links and social bridges) that are needed to obtain certain goals or wishes. As previous waves of refugees have struggled to find their role in society, many people consider that the core objectives of integration policies have failed, leaving in their place unfulfilled promises of equal treatment, and polarized or fragmented societies, which strengthens the biases towards newcomers even more (Orton 2012). As social capital is seen as one of the pillars for successful integration (Ager & Strang (2019), the goal of the graduation project at first was to train locals to be active connectors in linking newcomers to their network in order to help them achieve their goals and ambitions. Through conducting desk research, interviews, analyzing existing buddy networks and the mapping of newcomer needs, 10 design principles were distilled that helped to define the final design goal. The research and concept ‘Shadow of the Future’ by Besnick (2000) showed that when referring to or when referred to people need to understand past actions to portray this understanding of the future. This resulted in the finding, that there is not such a thing as training locals to be active connectors but locals should get acquainted with newcomers to a level that they feel comfortable to refer them to their network. Next to this insight, the clustered data gathered through interviews revealed that newcomers experience challenges in paving a new path and setting goals. As newcomers have been raised in a more collectivist culture, they have always acted upon the collective interest. However, with the disappearance of the value of previously obtained degrees and their collective society, awareness of the self and its corresponding goals is crucial, to be alte to function within the dutch individualistic society. The developed concept, namely a personal growth workshop has been designed in a way to facilitate both the creation of a network and the shaping of goals based on ‘the self’. The workshop creates a space in which newcomers and locals meet to partake in a personal growth workshop. Through a mutual goal, a social script and through offering a way to build ‘the shadow of the future’, the outline of a personal development workshop supports the acquaintance process between local and newcomer. This workshop has been prototyped, piloted and evaluated iteratively three times. These pilot’s had been used to evaluate the effects on acquainting and personal growth, but also provided insights to develop the concept further. The findings of these pilots showed that the workshop has had a positive effect on the attitude of locals towards newcomers and that the workshop created more awareness of the self. The pilot has great potential in opening up a network through acquainting, but more research has to be conducted to facilitate the right micro interactions.

This report describes the development of the tool PREQUEL, a tangible storytelling tool to build a family culture. The tool is intended to support meaningful conversations between two parents. Through conversation and storytelling, the tool encourages them to explore the world of parenting and everything that comes with that. Parenting always comes with challenges. However, intercultural parents experience added stressors. Being raised in different cultural groups, intercultural parents will probably hold diverse values, beliefs, and attitudes. The more opposing the values are, the greater the likelihood of the parents encountering problems. Values translate into practices which are particular ways of doing something. The challenge for these parents is to reconcile different childrearing practices that have these contradictory aims and goals. The goal that guided the project is “to support new intercultural parents, in the safe context of their home, in building a family culture that both can rely on and are comfortable with by teaching them to reflect and communicate so that they can create a stable and consistent environment for themselves and their child(ren)”. PREQUEL is based on a framework comprising of six steps: awareness, understanding, evaluation, appreciation, adjustment, and execution. The framework is a way for parents to work through their experiences and evaluate their behaviour. They are supported in going through the steps, which concludes with them planning how to approach future parenting situations. They do this by identifying shared values and use them as a strength in their daily lives. This will lead to both parents and child(ren) being able to cherish the richness that sharing multiple cultures can bring.

Past and current product design practices have not been and are not skin tone inclusive. People with darker skin tones are regularly excluded from the design process and the final product. Examples of this are the simple adhesive bandage and the more advanced facial recognition software. This project aimed to change this through an exploration of this type of exclusion, generally caused by designer bias.  Products that are not skin tone inclusive can be clustered into four different categories; Inadequate Color Selection, Failing Technology & Software, Undereducated Service Providers, and Unequal Communication & Representation. The products in these four categories have recurring issues, i.e., things that are consistently faulty. These issues led to thirteen Skin Tone Inclusive Design Guidelines to aid the designer in the design process.  The current Industrial Design Engineering curriculum does not pay any attention to the issue of skin tone inclusivity. The first-year bachelor course Understanding Humans is the ideal place to introduce this topic with the Skin Tone Inclusivity Lesson Plan, to be used during the Wonder Assignment. With four sub-goals; Raise Awareness, Trigger Self-Reflection, Trigger Self-Awareness, and finally, Trigger Inclusive Design Behavior, the students are led through a session that leads to an understanding of the skin tone inclusive design guidelines. This is done incrementally, with the guidelines being introduced during the last activity of the Assignment. Using the three designed components, the Beige by Default website, the Card Set, and the Skin Tone Inclusive Design Guidelines, the students complete different activities to ultimately reach a more inclusive design behavior.

This master thesis report is the result of a six-month-long graduation project for the Design for Interaction master at TU Delft. The report describes the development of the design guidelines to attune the TAS program to the Netherlands. The main goals that guided the project were three: identify which aspects of a healthy habit program (TAS program) can be adapted to the Netherlands; understand how to design for it by creating a set of design guidelines; and how to apply the guidelines to attune the program to the Netherlands.. Healthy habit programs targeted to teenagers are crucial since it is the period in which bodies develop and finish forming. The early understanding of healthy habits is key to helping teenagers to acquire lasting healthy behaviors and classrooms provide a great context that supports the knowledge building experience. The TAS program was evaluated in 103 Spanish classrooms, in different autonomous regions, and proved to increase healthy behaviors among teenagers, such as improving nutritional habits (increase of fruit and vegetable intake and decrease of fried food) or increasing physical activity. Therefore, the opportunity to adapt a successful healthy habit program to another European country was identified. The research phase of the project consisted mainly of sensitizing activities and literature research to get to know the context and domain of the project; and interviews with Dutch and Spanish parents and teenagers to understand the reality and daily life habits by comparison. The opportunity to design a set of guidelines based on the research outcomes was identified, a set of 10 guidelines grouped in four groups: medium, content, communication and engagement. The guidelines were applied to one of the workshops of the TAS program with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of the guidelines and the workshop itself. The concept was evaluated with Spanish and Dutch secondary teachers and Dutch experts in the field of health programs in order to assess the validity of the concept and identify to what extent the implemented changes were culture specific. The project was approached from a cultural framework, in which socio-cultural dimensions served as a way to find a direction for the project but also as a tool to compare and identify cultural variables between Spain and the Netherlands.

When a child with special needs is born, the lives of all family members radically change, and so does their family culture. For the well-being of their parents, it is crucial that they feel connected with the people in their surroundings, for fulfilling their fundamental human needs, for maintaining their connection with their surrounding culture, and to get support in the many challenges they encounter. Therefore, the first aim of this graduation project is to provide the designers of Ontzorghuis with an overview of information that contributes to their understanding of the bigger picture regarding the relationship between CSN parents and the people in their surroundings. Insights from literature research, interviews with experts, and contextmapping research with 6 highly educated CSN parents with Dutch heritage, have resulted in 3 overviews of information. The Opportunity Framework lays out the different levels in capacities that CSN parents desire from people in their social surroundings, going from a vague acquaintance to a close friend. The Framework of Values illustrates 3 influential values of CSN parents, to better understand what is important to them and how their coping strategies are affected. The Practical Learnings and Attitudes offers designers an understanding on a more practical level. It offers insight into the psychological challenges CSN parents can face, navigating their own and other people’s expectations and attitudes. Secondly, this project proposes a design intervention that supports CSN parents in awaking a feeling of ownership among a few people in their social surroundings. The final design is a DIY-booklet with the following key aspects: it invites CSN parents to be soft with themselves, it promotes the common recognition and acceptance of long-term social support, and it inspires CSN parents to make it a positive event to ask for long-term support. The main message incorporated in the booklet is: it is important to be kind to yourself and it is okay to need support. First, the booklet introduces them to the novel concept of ‘zachte wacht’ or soft guard, a long-term social support circle for CSN parents. Secondly, it encourages them to reflect on what they expect of themselves, what they need to stay on their feet in the long term, and what they can expect of people in their surroundings. Thirdly, it guides CSN parents through the steps of setting up their own support circle, the final step being a small ceremony to seal their supporters' commitment. Although there is still room for iteration, the evaluations of 6 CSN parents demonstrated that the design is desirable for the target group. Everyone that expressed their opinion of the zachte wacht, CSN parents as well as experts, considered it to be a beautiful concept. The design capabilities, understanding of the target group, and network needed to implement the booklet and other aspects of the concept are a perfect fit with the unique strengths of Ontzorghuis. The concept has the potential to appeal to a large and growing target group. Moreover, promising opportunities for collaborations, funding, and subsidies are awaiting.

The Protein Transition is a societal transition that resolves around shifting society towards consuming more plant-based proteins instead of animal proteins. There are numerous drivers for this transition, the most well-known and considerable ones being climate change, animal welfare, public health and unfair agricultural economics. To accelerate the Protein Transition, we need to understand the role and impact of food cultures in this transition. Culture is recognised as a promising strategic lever for accelerating societal transitions, but literature and methodology on the subject are limited. The intersection of transition design and culture has never been explicitly studied up until now. This thesis aims to fill the knowledge gap on how culture can impact societal transitions and what design methodology is needed to address this. The thesis focuses on Dutch food culture. Animal proteins play a significant role in Dutch food culture. They are part of many rituals, traditions and behaviours. This is the result of a collection of socio- behavioural and cultural factors, including, but not limited to, meat and dairy being part of the Dutch identity, the government undertaking conscious efforts to increase meat and dairy consumption, a feeling of entitlement to meat and dairy, and meat and dairy being regarded as symbols of wealth and prosperity. After gaining an understanding of Dutch food culture, it was decided to continue by studying a specific food culture. The borrel is a uniquely Dutch eating practice that can be considered its own food culture because of the many symbols and rituals linked to it. The methods used were a historical analysis, interviews, observations and culture sensitive design models. By studying Dutch food culture and borrel culture, knowledge has been accumulated on how to study a food culture effectively. This comes down to the seven principles for culture sensitive design for the Protein Transition: 1. History: How did we get here? 2. Consider the whole system (macro - meso – micro). 3. Scoping: Food cultures are huge; you cannot study them all. 4. Embrace diversity: Acknowledge different perspectives and conflicts. 5. Be aware of your own biases and experiences. 6. Keep your goal in mind. 7. Developing cultural sensitivity for transition design is a lifelong process. All the accumulated knowledge has been compiled into a field guide for designers: the Food Culture Field Guide, which consists of an A6-sized guidebook and a card deck with 35 cards. The field guide contains information on studying (Dutch) food cultures and guides designers in their design process. This will help them create more culturally sensitive design interventions to accelerate the Protein Transition.

This thesis walks the reader through the research and design process of ‘HelloPreggo!’, a tool developed for pregnant teenagers to guide them towards a healthier nutritional lifestyle during pregnancy. To start off, both literature and empirical research have been conducted on teenagers who are pregnant in the Netherlands in order to understand (1) who we are talking about, (2) what their current situation is and (3) what needs and values can be identified within this target group. Literature was found on the professional perspective of teenage pregnancies. Subsequently, three professionals in the field have been interviewed among which an author of a paper. This research identified many contextual factors that the target group has to deal with. These context factors leave them clueless & indecisive and affect their self-esteem & self-efficacy. Their resilience, however, is strong and they are willing to do what is best for their unborn child. A context mapping research was done to gain deeply rooted information from the target group itself. Sensitising booklets gave clear insights into their daily life and their behaviour towards food. Subsequently, generative sessions were held that provided insights in their underlying values and needs; e.g. the status of being a mother, not to be perceived as less, a need for peers and daily activities. In addition, literature research was conducted on food behaviour and behavioural change. Based on the findings in the conducted researches, a list with twenty design guidelines was established together with the following design goal: ‘To create a set of experiences that engages young mothers-to-be to mature towards a healthy nutritional lifestyle during pregnancy’. This design goal was enhanced with a clear interaction vision and personas that visually characterise the target group. The design process started off with a brainstorm session after which a design direction was chosen. This evolved into the initial concept of a gamified idea of a ‘cookbook learning calendar’ consisting out of challenges. The goal of the game is simple: to complete all challenges and to get a hold of all items. Simultaneously, the user gains knowledge and skills about making healthy food choices. During each challenge, players gain knowledge about a nutritionally related subject and are provided with physical items to apply the newly gained knowledge to. The catch in this game is that the user needs the other players to continue to the next challenge. Aspects of this concept were further elaborated through several interventions; looking at the overall concept, its interactions and the design & content of all components. Hence, “HelloPreggo!” has been created.An interactive prototype was used to evaluate the concept. For this evaluation, a usage scenario movie has been created. This showcased the intended interactions to which the target group has responded. Subsequently, the different components of the concept have been evaluated. Attention has been given towards the implementation of the concept. The business model canvas was used to display the complete network behind “HelloPreggo!”, looking at two different cases; as a stand-alone organisation and complementary to an existing organisation. The closing chapter of this thesis finalises this report with a conclusion, limitations and recommendations of the concept for future research and development.

This master's thesis investigates the demand for human empathy and understanding across cultures in Coeo, a technology-driven collection company. Debtors express a desire for a more personalized and respectful debt collection process in the Netherlands. Focusing on the challenges faced by disconnected short-term planners, particularly from the African-Islamic group, the research emphasizes the importance of recognizing national, cultural and sub-cultural barriers and implementing human-focused strategies over money-focused. The proposed solution includes a strategy roadmap for 2040 explaining the three concepts: Culture guidebook for Coeo employees, culture education grounds for informal debt relief volunteers, and community culture days to foster neighbor connections. The goal is to transform Coeo into a socially responsible neighbor by encouraging mutual understanding, respecting cultural differences, and continuously improving practices in the dynamic landscape of debt collection.

Weight stigma is defined as the negative attitudes and beliefs that are manifested by stereotypes, rejection and prejudice towards individuals because they are overweight. Weight stigmas have a negative impact on the mental health of people with excess weight. They internalize the weight stigmas and therefore blame themselves and feel less worthy. This can cause their physical health to deteriorate and can lead to weight gain. One of the most harmful types of weight-related stigmatization is the interpersonal stigmatization within the direct social environment. The central aim of this research has been to explore solutions to reduce weight-related stigmatization within the direct social environment of people with obesity. To narrow down the scope, the project was focused on stigmatized women who show interest in body positivity and fat acceptance. This thesis refers to these women as ‘fat’ instead of ‘obese’ in order to respect their cultural values. The research was divided into a theoretical background study, a qualitative user research and an explorative study with methods including interviews, quick prototyping and user tests. The insights gained throughout the project come together into an overview of the most stigmatizing beliefs: (1) Fat people eat too much and exercise too little; (2) Becoming fat due to an unhealthy lifestyle is your own fault; (3) Losing weight is a matter of self-discipline; and (4) Slim people are healthier, happier and more successful. According to this research, the stereotypes and prejudices manifested in these stigmatizing beliefs are the result of misunderstandings and lack of knowledge. Therefore, the overview is complemented with facts and myths about weight that unravel the beliefs. Based on this overview, an interactive platform for fat women was designed: Big Fat Nonsense (in Dutch: Dikke Onzin). This platform consists out of a website (www.dikkeonzin.org), a podcast, a discussion template and social media channels. The design is based on the finding that stigmatized women often cope with internalized stigma. They first need to be empowered in order to stand up for themselves. By reading facts and myths about weight, answering the reflective questions on the website and listening to stories via the podcast, they gain the confidence to start a discussion with a stigmatizer in their direct social environment. A discussion template can be downloaded on the website to structure their conversation about stigmatizing beliefs. By answering the questions on the discussion template, the users are forced to set agreements on the desired weight-related communication within their relationship. In order to reach the target group, the design is promoted via social media channels and ambassadors. Finally, the design of Big Fat Nonsense has been evaluated with the target group and their close relationships. The design succeeded to provoke nuanced and in-depth conversations. However, to fully validate the effect of the design, it should be evaluated by measuring the amount of stigmatization before and after usage.

The Netherlands has been facing a crisis in its asylum trajectory, with the overloaded application center in Ter Apel drawing attention to the country’s migration system. While a limited capacity in Ter Apel is one of the first hurdles asylum seekers face, it is only the start of a long trajectory that can take years to navigate. Although recent changes in the Civic Integration Act are seen as a step in the right direction - with a greater focus on personalized integration and municipal responsibility for guidance - critics argue that the process still lacks support for newcomers to build a social network and participate in society, leaving them struggling to fully participate in Dutch society (Frissen, 2021).It has been stated that the existing Dutch asylum procedure can frequently obstruct the formation of a sense of belonging in the new environment, thus impeding the process of integration. (Afdeling Buitengewone Zaken & OpenEmbassy, n.d.) This project systemically researches the current Dutch asylum procedure of newcomers in the Netherlands through a social lens with the aim to explore and improve their integration process in the neighborhood by focussing on the sense of feeling at home (NL: thuisgevoel). The research is conducted into two parts: the journey towards a new home and its conflicts and the neighborhood as a new home and its opportunities. As the asylum chain is a trajectory with many steps, layers and stakeholders; it is a complex system and will be approached as such. A method designed to take on complex problems is the Transition Design Method (van Ael et al., n.d.) which will be used as a framework for the first part of the project. Part one includes numerous interviews with stakeholders and literature research. As an outcome, it defines ten important factors of feeling at home (referred to as building blocks) and reveals the things that happen in the asylum procedure that hinder this feeling. Seven conflicting areas (referred to as tension fields) are defined that occur during this process.The second part explores the neighborhood as a new home and investigates opportunities to enhance newcomers’ sense of feeling at home. The neighborhood Bospolder-Tussendijken (BoTu in short) is chosen as case-study due to the clients presence in this area. The client of this project is the Field Academy (NL: Veldacademie); a Rotterdam-based research platform for socio-spatial urban development. It has gathered a broad amount of knowledge on this specific neighborhood as an outcome of monitoring its activities as part of Resilient BoTu 2028, a programme that aims to drive significant improvements in the area and transform it into Rotterdam’s first resilient community within ten years. Context-specific information was gathered through a field study in the neighborhood and a participatory session with newcomers themselves. By addressing the conflicts that were found in the housing process and translating those to opportunities for newcomers in BoTu, these findings have been used as starting points to propose three design directions. The outcome of this project is the development of Een kijk in de wijk (ENG: the Neighborhood Navigator): an interactive maquette of the neighborhood that gives newcomers insight into the offer of community centers, activities, key figures and developments of Bospolder- Tussendijken through audio stories. Leveraging existing networks of locals and initiatives, the intervention aims to promote inclusion and encourage participation among newcomers. By involving newcomers in local initiatives, it seeks to facilitate connections, collaborations, and a greater sense of community. This research project is intended to contribute to a deeper understanding of the integration trajectory of newcomers in the Netherlands and offer practical insights and interventions to enhance their sense of feeling at home in their new neighborhoods.

This graduation thesis report describes the research activities investigating the education on filter bubbles in Dutch secondary schools towards teenagers between 14-16 years old, and the design to improve this through including critical thinking techniques. During this research the context and two main target groups were explored through literature research, observations, generative sessions and interviews. Insights from this research led to the design brief containing the design goal, interaction vision, design criteria, and learning objectives. The design brief was formulated after exploring the context, media literacy, and stakeholders and target group. From this research, it was found that Dutch secondary schools are still at the beginning stages of implementing media literacy in itself in their curriculums, which means that filter bubbles are even less discussed in schools. Teenagers are confident about their media literacy and often confuse this with tech-savviness. This results in that they often think they learn more through Social Media. But even though teenagers nowadays in 2021 are raised alongside Social Media, teenagers are not necessarily media literate. Especially when it comes to critical thinking about the media consumed. To stimulate critical thinking in education, pupils have to be encouraged to come up with their own ideas and opinions and be able to discuss the different ideas with other people. Pupils also have to be able to connect subjects to their daily lives. For this to happen, a safe space needs to be created for pupils to be able to share perspectives with each other. Following these insights, the design goal was to design an intervention that can be used as an addition to the “social studies” course in secondary schools in The Netherlands. This intervention should teach teenagers to critically think about the content they consume within their filter bubbles, through meaningful conversations with other teenagers about the content. Ideation involved creative sessions and individual brainstorming and soon went into testing and iterating concepts. The final concept was evaluated with Social Studies teachers and teenagers. In conclusion, the Pop your Bubble: Lesson plan has created an opportunity in class for pupils to explore their own filter bubbles and discuss them with each other. Though further testing in context and research on the long-term effects of this lesson plan is required, teachers and participants agreed that this is a useful way to teach pupils that filter bubbles can have an influence on opinions and that it helps teenagers discuss them.

Anima is a new product service that aims to help people suffering from B.N during the maintenance stage. This means that once the patient is out from therapy, there are still some chances of having a relapse episode, that is why a solution to keep a balanced and healthy lifestyle is needed. It is an in-home product that the user should use on a daily basis, in order to stay balanced. This product will help the user be more emotionally aware and help her/him regulating and embracing her/his emotions during her/his daily life. Embracing their emotions and their feelings is the main purpose of this product/service.

Sherpa Space Inc., a South Korean startup located in Daejeon, aimed to develop an innovative home appliance capable of growing high-quality medicinal and edible plants by combining aeroponic agriculture with their own patented lighting technology. To do so, they envisioned a whole service behind the device, which included supplying consumers with newly germinated seedlings and specific nutrient combinations to ensure the best taste and quality of the vegetables. Under this context, Sherpa Space offered me to collaborate with them by developing a complete concept proposal targeting the European market, including also the analysis and selection of its intended market and final target group. Consequently, the aim of this graduation project is two-sided: first of all, comprehend European markets to define a target group that values a device like this, and secondly, to develop a solid concept proposal including both aeroponic agriculture as well as the lighting technology developed by the company.

Sustainable Rural Initiatives (SRI) is a non-profit organisation in Okana, a rural community in West Kenya. SRI provides the community members of Okana with opportunities to develop practical skills such as carpentry and tailoring. SRI also works with international partners with specific expertise to give local community members opportunities to develop skills they would otherwise not have had. In all these efforts, there is a strong focus on reflecting the culture, surroundings, and values of the community. Play is an important aspect of how children develop and make sense of their surroundings. Toys are tools through which play is facilitated, but making toys itself is a common form of play too. The literature on play suggests that by providing kids with joyful, engaging, iterative and socially interactive play experiences, adults can guide children’s play to help children develop skills directly involved with that play experience, but also more general learning-to-learn skills. My project had two goals; the first was to give children the opportunity to develop design skills in a fun and playful way. Design is an exciting medium for kids to develop several valuable design skills, that are broadly applicable. The second was to give SRI the tools and practical knowledge to provide children with design activities through which they can develop those skills, both now and in the future. To reach these goals I designed a toolkit, consisting of a manual and several videos, that allows SRI to organise playful design workshops for kids to help the children develop these design skills. In the workshops, the children design toys from materials such as clay and wood, that are available around SRI’s community centre. In the workshops the design process is structured in three phases. In the first phase, a topic is introduced through a video, that then poses several questions to help the kids discuss that topic. These discussions help them to make their goal concrete, as they practise working together. In the second phase they build and test their idea. The kids first gather materials, and then use those materials to prototype their toy. They practise making their ideas tangible and learn from making mistakes. Finally they present their designs to each other, allowing the others to ask questions and give feedback. In doing so, they practise their communication skills and their capacity to reflect. From the third workshop onward, the facilitator has to introduce the topic and questions to the children himself, replacing the video. The facilitator can find suggestions for topics and stories in the manual to help him come up with other challenges for the kids. This toolkit gives children in Okana a fun pastime through which they are introduced to the design process, and can develop valuable design skills. This toolkit has given SRI the knowledge and tools to host those workshops. It has also given SRI a model they can use to effectively transfer knowledge from external partners to the local community.

This thesis describes the process of the development of the toolkit: Durf te delen (Dare to share). A toolkit to support both a victim of sexual abuse and her confidant (person of trust) during the process of disclosing the experience with sexual abuse. This thesis focuses on female victims, due to the fact only women participated in the research, not saying that the toolkit could not be useful for men as well. A victim of sexual violence can come across insufficient support from a friend or family member when disclosing her experience with sexual violence.

Experiential travel is a form of tourism in which people focus on experiencing a country, city or particular place by connecting to its history, people and culture. The Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) is the official government entity that promotes foreign visits, tourism, for the island of Curaçao and is responsible for “the brand” Curaçao. This graduation project aims to contribute to CTB’s goal of focusing more on Experiential Travel awareness. As a designer of experiences, I will first research how the Cultural Historical museums currently hold up to that goal of creating authentic experiences. My goal, then, is to design meaningful interactions between the visitors and the island’s culture that will lead to the intended authentic experience. AnalysisMuseumsAfter visiting 15 museums, a selection was made of the 5 museums to focus on for this project. This selection was based on their potential for experiential travel, and their availability for this project. By conducting interviews with the museums staff, experts and visitors, and by observations of the staff and visitors the research goals were reached. The result is an overview of all museums, their challenges and their potential. The main challenges of these museums is a lack of resources, both financial and human. VisitorsMany useful visitor insights were collected, and these were used as a base for creating 5 personas. These personas represent different types of tourists; repeat visitors, first time day tourists, both young and old, cultural tourists and the locals, as these are also a significant group of museum visitors.  Cultural ElementsThe relevant Cultural Elements have been identified, and can be divided into 6 main categories and 8 subcategories. For this project mainly the social and cultural elements will be considered to share with the tourists, which include: Language, Religion (Spirituality), Traditions (Cultural Ecology, Food, Music & Dance), Community Life (Pop Culture, Social Behaviour, Ethnicity) Local art (Architecture) and finally History to bring it all together. As all museums have their specialization, and these elements are be a fair way to categorize the museums. Sharing the cultural elements will be the focus of the design.These insights will together facilitate idea generation. An interaction vision and a design vision were the main inspiration during the ideation phase. Brainstorming and brain writing were used as the main methods. The result is an overview of ideas that were based on the analysis, and a few scenarios.DesignTo develop a concept some basic requirements were decided on, and a main scenario was developed based on the scenarios in the ideation phase. The Curaçao Museum ExperienceThe Curaçao Museum Experience is a multi layered concept that includes both a service, and a product which together will enhance the visitors’ experience. This service has been designed as a base for every museum, with the requirement of some minor customizations per museum. The product is a part of this service to enhance the visitors’ experience. The design will extend the museum experience beyond the actual visit, to start before and go on after the visit. Visitors will get to know Curaçao through the cultural elements, and can identify these inside a museum, and between museums. The main goal is to connect museums and their collection to the cultural elements of Curaçao so the visitors know what these cultural elements are, and what the museum has to offer in each category. The product will add to the current experience, by allowing the visitor to choose their museum experience more consciously. It is also a way to bring the museums of Curaçao together.The product is the physical manifestation of the idea, and serves as a medium for richer experiences. It will improve the visitor experience, and elevate all museums to the same basic level. Involving visitors in the creation of their journey, relating the themes to their own interests and connecting cultural elements. How it worksWhen preparing for a visit, the visitor can find information about the museums in the brochure, which can be found at several locations, such as the information booth in the city, hotel lobbies and the museums. On the way to the museum the visitor will find visual cues that announce the arrival to the museum. When they arrive at the museum and when paying for a ticket the visitor could take a look at the wooden panel, as the staff member will point it out to them while sharing the usual information and code of conduct. The visitor can take the cultural element cards with them inside the museum. While walking around in the museum they will encounter items with cultural element marker stickers that have the same themes as on their cards. This way some parts of the collection can be highlighted. The information on the cards should be relevant to the collection. After the visit, there is the possibility to reflect/give feedback on the reflection sheet, which replaces the customary guest book. EvaluationThe design was tested in a simulated context as the museum are not in the same country as the test was being conducted in. The parts that were the easiest to simulate have been tested.The final design triggers excitement, especially the brochure and the cultural element panel. Instructions are a good trigger for the shyer visitors, but absolutely not necessary. The visitors are able to figure it out, but not because of the instructions.There isn’t enough time to see every aspect of every part, but because of repetition of the colors, logos and information, the message is still conveyed in other phases of the visit. The categories and colors are easily recognized through all phases if they have been seen before. The information in the form of a trivia, as it is now, is seen as being sufficient; visitors don’t mind looking up the information themselves.

This thesis presents a VR Transgender Inclusion Experience that informs, immerses, and improves the cisgender user to become more inclusive towards transgender peers. By showing them uncomfortable scenarios from the perspective of transgender and non-binary people they become more aware of how their behaviour, and that of their peers, may come across. With hands-on tips, the cisgender user is motivated to go beyond their phase of acceptance into the role of being an active ally. In doing so, these allies not only improve their own behaviour but become spokespersons for the trans community within Delft University of Technology, affecting others in the process. The report highlights the polarizing effect that linking gender identity to gender expression can have on cisgender and heterosexual individuals due to fear of the unfamiliar. This phenomenon is also observed at Delft University of Technology, where trans and non-binary employees feel less comfortable and less connected to the university community compared to their colleagues. A recent survey by the D&I office identified these issues, but the root causes and solutions remain unclear, with investigations into student experiences ongoing. The project's objective is to create a more inclusive and supportive environment for transgender people at Delft University of Technology. The emphasis is on fostering comfortable conversations between cis and transgender people and providing appropriate language for discussing this sensitive topic. By achieving a more informed perspective, healthier interactions between cisgender-heterosexual and trans/non-binary individuals can be promoted, creating a secure environment where everyone can express themselves without causing offence. This research signifies a deliberate choice to concentrate on the cultural aspects of queer inclusion rather than the systemic aspects. This is because the TU is actively working on enhancing policies but is lacking initiatives to change the institute's culture. People at the TU often express a desire for inclusivity due to their cognitive empathy, understanding the challenges faced by minorities. However, this sentiment doesn't always translate into action. To bridge this gap, it's important to trigger emotional empathy by enabling individuals to feel from the perspective of a minority. The heart of the VR experience is being immersed in scenario’s that transgender people run into. Even though the user experiences the scenarios through the point of view of a transgender person, it does not try to replicate how it is to be trans. Such an experiences cannot be replicated in a matter of minutes. The goal is to activate allies to stand up for transgender people when they cannot do that themselves.

The focus of this project is a two-fold: First and foremost to design a product that stimulates interaction between humans and machines. This interaction should be motivating and encouraging. Therefore, contributing to the values and needs of users. This project demonstrates the value of gamification and intuitive design. These have a positive effect on the behavioural actions and mental state of users. Secondly, this project functions as a demonstration tool to show the possibilities of user experience. Withstanding the strategy and business aspects that are key to involved stakeholders. This project is showing the advantages of incorporating user-centred design at the beginning a project, going to iterative steps rapidly and involving stakeholders. The research is focused on warehouse employees at e-commerce companies. Operators in warehouses feel underappreciated by their superiors. They have to work in unattractive environments with often heavy physical labour. The work is repetitive and not stimulating, next to this they have to work with complex software and in chaotic environments which limit the situational awareness. People value change and being in control of their own actions. However, the opposite is true for warehouses operators. It is not surprising that the percentage of people who change jobs is high. Due to these resignation rates, e-commerce companies invest in automation. That unlike humans can run 24/7. However, it can be stated that people will never be fully replaceable by robotics/automation. Especially in the e-commerce sector it will take some years before robotics can even be incorporated. Nevertheless, robotic arms are currently a hype and start-up companies are investing in the development of these robots. Consequently, the first generation of robots will have to collaborate with humans, as the robots are not able to function on their own. Currently, this interaction is not designed, engineers focus on the capabilities and functionalities of robots but forget the human factor. In this project the focus is on humanizing the machines and creating a human touch that feel sincere. An interaction that motivates the users and stimulates self-actualisation. The final design consists of the layout of the new system, an automated guided vehicle and an user interface, creating a complete ecosystem. This is designed for a specific system, already featured at Vanderlande: Airpick. Opportunities arose in this project, due to the inefficiency of the current system regarding picking. Picking is performed by operators who walk in aisles and grasp item from shelves. Important to realize is that picking is often the beginning of pre-set system, making it a vital aspect of a layout. When people cannot work efficiently the whole system behind it can never reach its full potential. The design featured in this thesis is based on the desirability of the users. Effectively stimulating a workflow that is intuitive, simple and contributes to the situational awareness. Also, it can be concluded that anthropomorphism embodiment in machines stimulates desired behaviour of humans. With attention to current developments in the robotics sector, but still enabling direct implementation. In combination with a suitable business strategy that changes incentives for Vanderlande and their clients. It will stimulate innovation and iterative decision making. Although the final designs still requires validation in a real life environment, it shows its potential as the first steps for Vanderlande to incorporate user experience in early stages of a project.