This report is a graduation thesis for the master Integrated Product Design at the Delft University of Technology. Carried out in collaboration with Philips Design in the Netherlands. The project is about how to engage consumers in the transition from a linear towards a circular economy in which we make more efficient use of materials and resources. One of Philips’ objectives for 2020 (Philips.com, 2016) is that 15% of the turnover should come from solutions that meet Circular Economy principles. This was 8% in 2015 (Philips.be, 2016) which is a big change for a company. Senseo has a large installed base. This is due to the huge success of the product since its launch in 2001. In 2012 a Senseo could be found in 60% of Dutch, and 27% of French households (Expatica.com, 2012). Besides, Senseo is the best sold product in the coffee business of Philips, mainly because its ease of use (Senseo.nl, 2018). Because of the high volumes and high distribution in the Netherlands and surrounding countries, an opportunity is found for creating much circular impact with the Senseo. However, companies cannot shift to a circular economy alone: consumers are crucial in the success of the circular economy. Because even if a product is designed to circulate in a closed loop, its potential will only be realized if the consumer participates. Therefore, the goal of the project is to activate consumers to engage in the circular economy with a case study in Senseo coffee machines. Senseo users can show circular behavior by taking good care of the product and by repairing it when it is malfunctioning, for extending the product’s lifetime. At the end-of-life of the product, the user can contribute by disposing the product at proper recycling points in order for the materials to be reused. The outcome of the project is by integrating connectivity in the product (the internet of things, IoT), circular behavior among consumers can be stimulated and circular impact can be achieved. Two main findings of the analysis are: 1. Need for support at the point of malfunctioning 2. After-sales data gaps Connectivity (IoT) can contribute to these findings as follows. Connectivity can improve support because it facilitates easy access. The support stimulates circular behavior because users that receive support are encouraged and more likely to solve the problem instead of replacing it. By registering the product, users data can be gathered. This enables a virtuous circle because with the gathered data the support can be based on customer segmentation (e.g. demographics) and users can receive more customized support. This corresponds to the Utopian vision that by means of a connected service, the Senseo has an unlimited lifetime and any of its parts can be replaced. Of course this is an ideal situation from an environmental perspective which cannot be achieved in the short term. By creating a roadmap, steps are proposed that contribute to getting closer to achieving this vision.

An essential step on the way to a circular economy is utilizing recycled materials for new products. Even though the use of recycled plastic has been increasing for the past decades, electronic products have been largely overlooked in this context. Currently, there are no design strategies on how to use recycled plastic in electronic products. Therefore, this master thesis aims at investigating consumers’ perception of recycled plastic, and based on the findings, create recommendations for designers on how to implement the material in their products. According to the aim, the following research question was developed: How can a designer stimulate a consumer to opt for an electronic device made from recycled plastic? In a first step, the available literature on sustainable behaviour, the factors influencing the behaviour-intention gap as well as existing findings on the overall perception of recycled plastic were reviewed. Additionally, consumers of Generation Z, who have been deemed to have strong, pre-existing environmental values, were determined as the focus group of this study. An analysis of e-products on the market provided information on how the share of recycled plastic is currently communicated. These different communication strategies were subsequently investigated through qualitative interviews. Seven participants were interviewed as to how different product aesthetics and communication strategies influence their perception of the product in question. Insights from these interviews yielded four clusters: aesthetics, trust, sustainability, and quality. Together with the findings from literature, these research outcomes provided 20 insights into the consumer perception of recycled plastic in electronic products, thus concluding the research phase of this project. The ideation phase commenced with brainstorming sessions on the detected insights. Eight design students participated and generated over 300 as to how the underlying research insights could be applied in practice. The majority regarded the product directly, but other ideas were related to a product’s “surrounding”, such as promotion of the product, its price or place of purchase. In an iterative process, these ideas were transformed into 10 product-related design recommendations and 8 additional, price-, place-, promotion-related recommendations. The total framework of insights generated throughout the research process can support designers in creating well-perceived e-products from recycled plastic. The three distinct types of information are relevant in different phases of the design process: • The 20 key insights may be seen as an enriching source of background information for designers, who are getting started on a project and are yet to build their knowledge on the overall topic. • The 10 recommendations provided may be used in the case, where a designer needs concrete tips and action points for developing a product’s design. • The 8 additional recommendations can be valuable when the design of a device is already finalized, yet it should still be enhanced in terms of consumer perception. To transfer this study’s research findings and make them readily available for product designers, a website was deemed to be most suitable means of presentation. This format allows for a structured displaying of the previously mentioned findings and recommendation categories.

The e-commerce market is growing rapidly in the last decade. The growth of this industry is causing several challenges. These include a larger number of parcels delivered at service points and the CO2 emitted in the parcel delivery. Especially the last mile delivery is a CO2 intensive process. The sector is innovating to reduce their emissions, but the choices made by the consumers also have an influence on the total emitted CO2 per parcel. DHL, a domestic and international shipper, decided to take their responsibility by lowering the CO2 emitted in the transportation. They stated that all transport-related emissions need to be brought to zero by 2050. In order to create a delivery system which is safe, free of emissions and resistant to future developments in a city the current last-mile delivery system needs a critical look. A sustainable last mile delivery system that fits customer needs will be designed for 2030 to inspire DHL with a strategy for reducing their CO2 emissions in the last mile. This thesis aims to create an overview of the context DHL is operating in. In the problem analysis, this context is researched and defined. A CO2 analysis showed that delivery to a pickup point is the most environmentally friendly delivery option and besides renewing the old fleet for electric vehicles, efficiency gain can play a part in reducing CO2 emissions. In the user analysis, consumers are investigated and a customer journey is created. A target group is chosen to focus the solution on and accordingly the design statement for this project is defined: Design a parcel collecting point for high rise apartments buildings in the city centre which meets customer needs. With a traditional design approach, this design statement was solved and 4 concepts are presented. However, the presented concepts are not bold enough for the context of 2030. Another iteration in this design process is done and a different design approach showed how more value can be created for cities and citizens through the design of a new parcel locker station. This locker station is fitting customer needs and convinces important stakeholders. A plan for implementation is worked out in a roadmap, which gives a step by step approach for DHL on how the concept can be realised. The design of this Powerhouse is validated through co-creation sessions with residents, which resulted in a modular design of the Powerhouse that fits a variety of urban locations in the context of 2030.

The Dutch government wants to be circular in 2050. The industry of kitchens and kitchen appliances needs new innovative models of practice to reduce its environmental footprint. As kitchen appliance manufacturer, ATAG Benelux is investing in innovation to create more sustainable and circular business propositions. In a circular economy products and materials have to ‘loop’ back into the system after they lost value, but ATAG’s current system is linear, bringing the appliances to the customer and not returning them. The aim of this thesis is to explore how ATAG can use design to contribute to a circular economy. It is a collaboration between ATAG Benelux and Delft University of Technology. This thesis focuses on the user, their behavior, and their attitudes towards Product Service Systems (PSS's) and Refurbishment as they play a big role in business models. As a case study, the combi-steam oven is used to explore PSS's. The user’s attitude towards refurbishment and circular PSS’s is explored through in-depth interviews. The results reveal several challenges in acceptance for different types of ownership of ovens and show that for the target group of ATAG a system of buy-back is most suitable. The context of retaining value for refurbishment was researched through literature, interviews, and creative sessions. This shows different directions for design to benefit the refurbishment process. The recommended circular business proposition is for ATAG to take back appliances after a use cycle. ATAG Benelux can refurbish its products to save materials and resources. For refurbishment it is important that products retain their value as long as possible. The final design consists of return incentives for users and the Care Assistant. This human centered design stimulates product care, which is a type of sustainable use and handling. The design will influence the user’s behavior in a sustainable way to retain more value, enable efficient refurbishment and a second life cycle. The product care is needed to have a longer product life, or to take back an appliance that is in a better state (than it would be if product care had not been stimulated). With a buy-back system, users are stimulated to return the appliances, rather than let the appliance end up in recycling or worse.

The world of today is facing a large environmental challenge. We all need to reduce our impact to remain sustainable. Companies must look at a more circular approach of producing their goods. Without consumers engaging in circular behavior however, the circular economy will not reach its potential.To examine the circular economy approach in a medical domain, a case study is done at Philips Design. Specifically, we look at the Healthdot, a medical sensor for at home, currently not envisioned to become circular, being developed by a venture team within the company.The objective in the case is: How can we engage patients to send back the device after wearing it at home in order to enable a circular offer for the Healthdot? To find opportunities that make a circular offer for the Healthdot the product and its ecosystem is analyzed. When a device with the current product design can be recovered, the PCBA can be reused. To increase circularity, it needs a redesign. A feasible redesign allows every component except for the adhesive part to be reused. Since the latter opportunity requires are design, it is a long-term opportunity. Both scenarios require the Healthdot to be retrieved from the patients wearing it at home. The hospitals role is limited in this recovery. They are pressured to move the care they provide more outside of the hospital and extra handlings with a device means a less attractive value proposition towards them. By interviewing ex-patients it became clear that the experience they have after surgery, is not pleasant in any way. Specific pain points throughout this recovery show potential to improve patient experience and motivate them to send back the device. Patients receive scattered and non-personal information, are physically and mentally burdened, are uncertain about their progress. Next to that, family and friends are heavily involved during this period. Picking the device up at patients homes is an expensive undertaking and needs an additional pick-up service to be realized. The most promising opportunity is to have the device sent back by the patients. According to Fogg (2009), three preconditions need to be present simultaneously for an action to happen.These elements are addressed in a first concept, which aimed to provide motivation through pleasure in the means of a package with insight in patients data. The concept increases their ability to perform the behavior by providing all the materials needed for send-back, together with clear instructions. The concept aimed to trigger them through several text messages. After testing this with 6 other ex-patients and their partners at their dinner table, 4 main insights led toan improvement and final design.• The hospital contacting patients created the feeling of reciprocation, this was perceived as the most motivating factor to send back the device.• When patients are being monitored they have expectations for meaningful insight in the data. They except to hear something from the hospital related to their monitoring and recovery.• Perceived as easiest to send back was taking it to a regular mailbox, when the materials such as a return envelope were provided and sending was free of charge. This allowed patients to be in control of when and where exactly to return the healthdot. • Physically moving the device out of the house while sending back resembled closure of are covery phase for patients.These insights led to a final solution of an advent calendar, communication platform and a redesigned device. To reach this solution in 2022, the first step that can be made towards the end of 2020 is a concept that entails a messaging service and send-back materials for the patients. One component of the final solution is an advent calendar that patients receive when they are discharged. It is to be placed at their homes, and includes several boxes to be opened during the recovery phase at home. The final box includes all material needed for sending back the Healthdot. The calendar works together with a communication platform. Patients receive notification when they can open another box and QR-codes link to the platform. Healthdot functionalities are integrated in a larger communication platform in development by Philips. The platform enables communication between different care providers and the patient. It also can be accessed by a patients partner or other loved one, if permitted. The Healthdot needs a redesign to increase value retention and go from a parts recovery strategy on the short-term, to refurbishment for the final solution. This redesign would enable reuse of all components except the adhesive part of the device. The Healthdot becoming circular results in a triple win. Philips is able to save money, improve their value proposition towards hospitals and can add yet another proof point of sustainability to their repertoire. The patients will go through an improved recovery experience compared to the current experience. Thirdly, the environmental impact decreases through the reuse of components and less intensive use of the full manufacturing processes. This thesis led to the Healthdot venture team pursuing circularity already on the short-term, instead of a future possibility onthe longer-term.

Scientists have been warning for years about the consequences of the current take-make-waste system, and incremental change is needed to enable the environment to regenerate and move towards a sustainable society. Especially electronic waste (e-waste), which currently increases three times faster than regular waste and is hard to collect and recycle (The World Bank, 2021), is an increasing concern and an opportunity for improvement. In this project, the problem of premature obsolescence is addressed. The project investigates how to increase the lifetime of electronic consumer durables. By fully understanding how the consumers make replacement decisions, the decisions people make can be influenced. It turns out that as a product moves towards the expected lifetime, the perceived value of the product goes down, and the consumer is less likely to take care of the product or repair it when it breaks. Consequently, this project investigates how to increase the expected lifetime of products. This contributes to the Premature Obsolescence Multistakeholder Product Testing Program (PROMPT). PROMPT is working on a test program to assess the lifetime of products from a technical, user, and market perspective. The formulated assignment is to generate design guidelines that help to improve the expected product lifetime and illustrate this on a case example. The products that will be investigated are washing machines, televisions, vacuum cleaners, and smartphones. Two studies were performed. One qualitative study to get more insights in an explorative way, and a quantitative study to measure the most effective way to increase the expected lifetime. From the first study, it was concluded that people determine the expected lifetime at several moments throughout the lifetime of the product. Also, past experiences with the product, the average lifetime, the amount of warranty and expected change in demographics are factors that were considered by the participants while determining the expected lifetime of their products. Also, it was concluded that many people are not aware of their expectations of the (expected) lifetime of products, and therefore creating more awareness could lead to increased lifetime of products. In the quantitative study, only vacuum cleaners were studied. It turned out that warranty and the availability of spare parts are the most effective strategies to increase the expected lifetime of vacuum cleaners. However, the strategies build upon each other while increasing the expected lifetime. Therefore, to address all consumers, more strategies should be integrated in a product for the optimal result. The findings from this study can be used by PROMPT as a starting point for testing criteria. For example, criteria about the attempts of companies to increase the expected lifetime of products could be integrating in the testing program. However, before doing this, more research is needed about the influencing factors of the expected lifetime of products.

This graduation project investigates the stimulation of sustainable behaviour among residents from a housing corporation in Eindhoven, Wooninc., and proposes a program for grassroots infrastructure as a way to support sustainable transitions in neighborhoods.As a partner of the “Duurzaamheidspact Eindhoven” housing corporation Wooninc. formulated the ambition to be more sustainable (Theeuwen, 2018). In order to do so, they not only want to improve their core business but also wants to engage their residents with a more sustainable lifestyle. They adopted the method of ‘De Verborgen Impact’ which includes a train-the-trainer process that trains leading residents, so-called peers, to motivate their fellow residents for a (more) sustainable lifestyle. This led to the key objective for this project: “Design a fitting intervention that peers can use to motivate residents of Wooninc., so that they feel activated to make their lifestyles (more) sustainable.”ApproachBy exploring the design brief and using the designers’ Personal Principles for Good Design the Transition Design method was chosen as the main driver for this design process to understand the project within a broader system context. In addition, the 1:10:100 scheduling technique was applied to allow rapid iterations and to create a concept that is successful and supported by each of the stakeholders. Research & findingsBy conducting four iterative cycles insight in behavioural change was gained from literature and interviews. This resulted in insight in how to reverse internal and external barriers into levers that can be used to support residents in the transition towards a more sustainable lifestyle. This led to the development of the ‘Sustainable Transition’- framework. Which incorporates relevant theories found in literature and maps seven leverage points to inspire for transition towards sustainable behaviour. Based on this framework concept development happened iterative from preliminary vision to the final concept of ‘Onze Verborgen Impact’ Transition Program and Transition Toolkit. The ‘Sustainable Transition’ - framework indicates that to engage residents, as well as peers on their intrinsic motivation all the dimensions of a personal transition should be supported including: motivation and ability, personal values and their position in the process of change. Based on this framework a vision for the final concept was developed: “Making sustainability transparent and accessible (lower the external barriers) by emphasizing the positive side and the advantages of sustainable behaviour (reversing internal barriers). To show that sustainability, in different ways, is accessible for everyone.” The ‘Onze Verborgen Impact’ Transition ProgramTesting prototypes with peers and residents, showed that this concept should not predefine how the peers encounter their fellow residents in their neighborhoods but should enable peers to create their personal approach. This led to the final concept, a transition program called ‘Onze Verborgen Impact’. This program exists out of different elements: - Train: training of the peers by experts- Create: supported by experts peers create their personal approach with which they want to involve residents- Join: residents can participate in the local initiatives set-up by the peers and explore sustainability in their own phase. - Impact: the structure of the program makes it possible to bring new ideas that are generated for improving sustainability at neighborhood level to a higher level - Transition Toolkit: a toolkit with instruments to support the above-mentioned elements such as: three training templates, different recruitment materials and a ‘Mijn Verborgen Impact’ - booklet to support peers and residents in their personal sustainability journey. The final concept taps into the intrinsic motivation of peers by recognizing their personal ideas and creates favourable neighborhood initiatives where residents can experience and discover the benefits of sustainability in their own pace.

Aortic stenosis is one of the most serious heart valve diseases and is the result of calcification of the aortic valve leaflets. This calcification is irreversible and affect the functionality of the heart valves. The only treatment is an aortic valve replacement. The trend in heart valve replacement is moving from open heart surgery towards minimally invasive techniques where a heart valve prosthesis is placed over the native aortic valve, called the TAVI procedure. A crimped stent that contains a heart valve prosthesis is pushed upwards through the femoral access route with a delivery catheter. This prosthesis is placed in the aortic annulus and wedged over the native valve. The positioning of the heart valve prosthesis is important for the success of the procedure and durability of the prosthesis. A coaxial placement to the aortic annulus in the center of the aorta lumen is the target during this positioning of the prosthesis. The Medtronics and Edwards delivery systems, that are currently used, only have the possibility to be steered with a maximum of 1 rotation, providing an alignment with the aortic annulus in the frontal plane of the body. The rotation to provide the alignment in the sagittal plane is lacking. This report will focus on the question if extra steerability of the delivery system will provide a better positioning of the tip of the delivery system, which in the end, will position the heart valve prosthesis. The Edwards delivery system will be reverse engineered to look at the current mechanisms that are used to provide the rotation in the frontal plane. Subsequently, two experiments are performed to select the best configuration for the modification on the tip of the delivery system. Ultimately, the designed prototype will be validated with two tests to answer the research question if the extra steerability will provide a better positioning. The prototype is validated by comparing the positioning of the Medtronics and Edwards delivery system with the prototype during an experiment where the three systems have to be maneuvered to a predefined position in an aorta model of glass. This predefined position represents the center of the aorta lumen in a coaxial orientation. Two rotations and the xyz-coordinations of the tip will be measured by an Aurora NDI system and the results will be compared. It showed that the prototype provided a bigger reach within the aorta lumen and a had a bigger domain of angles in which the tip could be orientated than the prototype. Moreover, the prototype provided a better alignment in the sagittal and frontal plane with regards to the reference point. The research only focused on the positioning of the tip and didn’t take the deployment of the heart valve prosthesis into account. Further development of the prototype is needed to make it useful for the TAVI procedure. In addition, more research is needed to validate the prototype in a dynamic environment that represents the reality with blood flow and more tortuosity in the access route. Nevertheless, the prototype look promising to be used for the perfect positioning of the heart valve prosthesis which will have a positive effect on the durability and functionality of the prosthesis.

The textile industry is one of the largest industries in the world. It brings economic wealth to many countries but is also one of the largest contributors to environmental pollution. Textile companies nowadays often mention sustainability in their business models. However, it is noticed that consumers do not trust the word sustainability when textile companies use it. The uncertainty about the actual sustainability of clothing has led to a need for a high credibility label that indicates the environmental and social sustainability of the production process of an item. This research therefore focuses on the research question: How can a widely recognized sustainability label indicate both the environmental and social impact of the production process of a clothing item in a way that best informs consumers during their purchasing practices? This exploratory research is conducted commissioned by and in collaboration with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. The research presents the first base of information that will contribute to the discussion of implementing a (mandatory) sustainability label. In order to analyse the research question, three phases in this research are completed: the use of labels, the environmental impact of a clothing item, and the social impact of a clothing item. The research concludes in multiple recommendations for further research due to the exploratory character of this research, recommendations for implementing the new sustainability label, and recommendations for policy makers.

This master thesis shows the research and design to tackle overconsumption of products within the context of recreational shopping practices in city centres. Thereby show the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management how they could tackle the ‘Refuse’ strategy of their Circular R-ladder, which is currently unexplored. Why... ... this approach? Sufficiency asks to change the way society consume Merely relying on circular strategies is insufficient for reduce overconsumption. In order to accomplish deep emission reductions, people have to make do with less. Therefore, the focus of this thesis lies on absolute reductions of product purchases. Practices are embedded in our everyday lives The strategies from the Ministries National Program Circular Economy focus on product categories, but this implicitly assumes people have a need for those products, while excluding other types of products. The practice perspective shows that the ‘need’ is embedded in people’s ways of doing and if those ways change, the need can fade or shift to non-material alternatives and thereby reduce overconsumption. ... does overconsumption happen? People like products, even more in certain circumstances Literature research showed that people like products for multiple reasons and are influenced by the industry. A sustainability label for ‘Refuse’ won’t work and materialistic views should be tackled, especially the question: when are people materialistic? Shopping in city centres results in unplanned purchases Through street interviews and generative sessions with recreational shoppers, it was discovered that important elements of shopping are fueling novelty, feeling fulfilled, and bonding with a shopping companion. These are currently predominantly facilitated by the product (environments). How? A future perspective that involves long-term happiness Through explorative research with stakeholder interviews and the Vision in Product approach, different futures of practices in city centres were framed of which this one showed how long-term happiness can be facilitated in the city centre. Change orientation towards the city centre This strategy derived from the qualitative research aims to change the current situation by changing the focus from the product environment tot the city environment. What? The final design, Wend, proposes a new type of practice for returning visitors in the city centre that support long-term happiness, whilst keeping it a place to achieve fulfilment, enhance bonding and fuel novelty in a low key way. Wend offers story routes that allow people to engage in specific happiness topics and discover other perspectives together, creating a space for happiness in the current city center context, without feeling like it is a serious and effortful activity. This is achieved through: •The storyroutes substitute the engagement with stores and instead offer multiple real-life stories of average people, which can be listend to at different points in the city. •The activities during the route and in the app let people work on their personal happiness together, thereby improve their wellbeing and develop resilience towards materialistic tendencies. The concepts implementation fits a bottom-up approach best, together with a municipality, and alongside more testing and validation, it could help move towards practices that support a sustainable and happier society. A multitude of recommendations are proposed for the Ministry to tackle overconsumption that emphasize to look at practices of everyday lives, social embeddedness and long-term happiness.

The effects of the linear economy on our environment are becoming more visible every day. Governments act by introducing sustainability related laws and legislation, stimulating companies to make their products ready for a circular economy. This project aimed at using the benefits of the Internet of Things to design a circular supermarket lighting product-service system for Signify. The result of this design project is StoreSight, a result oriented product-service combination that provides store owners with value that goes beyond the illuminaition of the store only. Signify already offers circular lighting services (e.g. Light as a Service) in a few segments, but is aiming to also do so in the supermarket segment. However, the length of the refurbishment cycles of the supermarkets hinders Signify to offer Circular Lighting as it is offered in other segments. The length of the refurbishment cycles of supermarkets are often a lot shorter than the technical lifetime of a lighting system. As a result, luminaires are replaced and thrown away despite being in perfectly good condition. Different academics point out that the Internet of Things (IoT) creates opportunities for circular propositions. The connection of physical objects through the internet enables them to sense their own and their environments status, process this information and interact with their users. These capabilities help service providers to extend the useful life of products, maximise the utilisation of products, loop products through additional use cycles, regenerate natural capital from their products, and make sure these products are used efficiently. Since Signify wants to become a player in the field of IoT and is already equipping its products with sensors and connectivity, there is an opportunity to use this for circular purposes as well. The result of this design project is the StoreSight concept, a circular result oriented product-service combination that enables the reuse of retail luminaires. Over time, StoreSight will evolve from a service that enhances attractiveness of the store, into service that enhances the shopping comfort and finally into a service that gathers different types of data to enable store optimisation. The StoreSight system roughly consist of three components: hardware, a service squad, and a software platform. The first component, the hardware, consist of a modular lighting grid with movable CE ready luminaires and upgradable sensing devices. The second component, the service squad, consists of the stakeholders from Signify and its partners that will interact with the store owner during the contract period. They will make sure the luminaires will be reused when the store is refurbished. The final element is the platform, a digital software application that enables the different stakeholders to control the lighting and access data about the luminaires from so-called luminaire passports. The StoreSight concept shows how IoT could enable stakeholders to communicate with each other about the luminaires and their remaining value. These insights improve the collaboration of stakeholders in reusing the luminaires in a new lighting plan.

One of the biggest downsides to the growing fashion industry is its unsustainable and wasteful character. Currently, the fashion industry produces, distributes and utilizes clothing in a linear way, making it among the main industries responsible for the negative environmental and social aspects of sustainability (Madsen, Hartlin, Perumalpillai, Selby, & Aumônier, 2007). In recent years several studies have addressed the potential of the Circular Economy by taking a more consumer led approach to reduce the environmental and societal impact of the fashion industry (Armstrong, Niinimäki, Kujala, Karell, & Lang, 2015; Laitala, Boks & Klepp, 2015; Mugge, 2017). However, the role of educating consumers by design, something that is seen by industry leaders and researchers as crucial if we want them to play more active roles in enabling a circular fashion economy, remains unanswered and is therefore explored in this thesis. Fashion prototypes that fill the gap between fast fashion and slow fashion are used as design case studies and offer a different perspective on designing for a more efficient and thoughtful use of resources. By qualitative interviews with four types of millennial consumers and the identification of six opportunity areas, the sock service SwapSocks was designed, that improves the environmental impact of socks by saving 38% of CO2 emissions and 50% of energy, compared to traditional socks. In addition to this, it educates consumers towards a better textile life by actively involving them in the swapping process and encourages them by means of packaging design, a website and online community to apply the principles of the service to other fashion items in their wardrobe as well. By providing a suitable solution for sustainable fashion consumption, this thesis addresses the potential of design to educate consumers towards a better textile life and therefore contributes to ongoing research efforts in the field of the circular economy and circular fashion design. As our changing mindsets are going to be key for our circular futures, the report illustrates, several future opportunities for the fashion industry specifically for millennial consumers, and identifies four types of millennial consumers. These, together with the final design solution, could help to inspire the fashion world and bring industry actors across the network together in finding solutions for a better textile world.

Valuable resources are discarded on a daily basis, in the form of home furniture. Tonnes of prematurely disposed, functional and repairable furniture is often destined for landfill or incineration, with small proportions recycled. The emergent sustainability needs of the planet, and changing policies for repair of consumer products, drives the home furnishing company IKEA to explore repair as a circular strategy to enable prolonging the life of IKEA furniture. This project explores the context of repair at IKEA and is focused on the use-life of furniture, in people’s home. Linear models aimed at profit making from the sale of new furniture, have so far prevented exploration of repair in IKEA stores. Subsequently leading to lacking visibility, knowledge, competencies, and resources for repair. While interventions are now being explored, in the form of tests and few examples at IKEA globally, channels for exchange of knowledge and service to customers are limited or yet to be developed. In terms of customer behaviour for repair various values associated to furniture, from functional, aesthetic, emotional, material, and social, motivate customers to repair their home furniture. Yet highly person and product dependent and oftentimes limited perceived ability, in terms of knowledge, skills and resources for repair of home furniture, prevents people of taking any actions for repair. Furthermore, missing triggers, especially in the face of easily available and affordable new furniture, and high effort, low impact perception of repair leads people to replace rather than repair their furniture. A participatory approach to include various perspectives relevant for repair, guided the research + design project. Desk research, interviews, front days, and co-creation with various stakeholders from IKEA helped identify the context of repair at IKEA NL. In terms of the infrastructural capacities, shortcomings, and subsequent opportunities for customer-end repair interventions by IKEA. Customer insights were gathered from desk research and further explored through interviews, survey, and co-creation sessions. Pain points, challenges and needs identified for distinct customer personas, enabled conceptualisation and prototyping of repair interventions to prolong the life of IKEA furniture. Within the scope of this project, customer challenges of missing awareness of resources and overwhelming options for repair were explored alongside their needs for a sense of preparedness, advice, and guidance for repair of home furniture. In-store repair and refurbish activities for customers were explored as prototypes in collaboration with external experts to mitigate the limited repair resources and competencies in the store. The activities explored repair as a creative and social process. These were proposed to inspire, motivate, and enable customers to add value to their IKEA furniture. Creatively repaired products, demonstrations, hands-on engagement, and advice from experts were evaluated to investigate customer experience and desirability of the workshops. While customer experience was positive and desirability for future workshops was high, yet there is low scope of feasibly and viably operating the workshops in their current format. Prominent challenges included limited dedicated space for and exploration of creative repairs and repaired products for inspiration, as well as many interdependent systems, especially in case of customer engagement and. The prototype workshops revealed a need to develop infrastructure, knowledge and products that are creatively repaired, prior to engaging with customers for knowledge exchange. An alternate model of in-store repair and refurbish of IKEA furniture is proposed as future recommendation in the form of a visible creative repair hub, hosted by external experts. To enable development of a range of creatively repaired furniture for sale and inspiration, thereby preventing the waste of abundant damaged furniture from showroom and customer returns. A local repair hub in-store and expert collaborations also offer the opportunity to cater to customer repair requests in-stores, or referral to at-home services.

To realize the shift towards a Circular Economy, products should stay usable as long as possible. Maintaining products is the most efficient way of retaining their desired level of performance. This is called Product care. Product care can be understood as any action that helps to prolong the lifetime of a product. The aim of this thesis is to explore how designers can stimulate users to perform product care activities. This goal has been reached through a practice-based approach and connecting it with strategies from existing literature. This took place at the University of Technology Delft. The context of Product care and the product care behavior of end-users have been researched through a diary study, a micro-emotion scan, creative sessions with design students and literature regarding repair and maintenance. This revealed two things, there are 7 types of product care and each user has a different profile regarding their skills, motivations and barriers. This shows that analyzing which type of product care you are aiming for and defining your specific user are essential requirements. To develop design strategies for Design for Product care various methods were used. A brainstorm session with designers was held to develop product solutions that stimulate product care. An ideation session was held by myself and real product examples were collected that already stimulate Product care. The product solutions were used to cluster into design strategies. The clustering process led to 8 design strategies: experiences, enabling, informing, change, reflecting, social, control and appropriation. hese can be linked to existing strategies and theories regarding Circular, Emotion-centered and Behavioral design. to transfer the knowledge about the design strategies to designers a design tool was developed. The process was iterative and the 2 biggest iterations were tested with design students and designers. These tests showed that a few important criteria for the test were that it should teach the designer about the different types of product care, the design strategies and they should take the type of user and product into consideration. The tool needs to provide a sense of structure, and still be flexible to fit everyone’s process. It should provide examples of how a design strategy is implemented into a design. The final tool is the Product Care Kit, a set of magnetic cards used for brainstorming, ideating and discussing. It presents the most important factors which influence Product care. The set consists of the following cards: persona cards, product cards, product care type cards, design strategy cards and example cards with product solutions for each design strategy. This tool helps to analyze and understand the context which you are designing for. It helps to create conceptual design ideas for product care. In the future this tool should be further evaluated with designers in practice and taught to design students.The outcomes of the tool should be validated by end-users. The tool can potentially lead to sustainable care behavior and lead to physically and emotionally durable products.

With over 6 billion smartphones in use worldwide, high emissions and a considerable amount of e-waste, there is a need for a more sustainable approach. One such an approach is prolonging the use-times of smartphones, and for that repair should be popularised. This thesis examines how to prolong the use-time of smartphones through stimulating repair actions. The most occurring defect is to the display, while using the smartphone for one more year after a display repair saves about 20 percent in greenhouse gas emissions. For users to choose repair over replacement, repair needs to be affordable, accessible, and attractive, which current repair options do not adequately deliver. Smartphones can also be designed more reliable and repairable to support repairs and prolong use-times. These strategies need to be balanced with the smartphone’s competitiveness for a sizeable impact. Therefore, a repair platform is proposed for stimulating repair, alongside a repairable smartphone that aims at further triggering repair actions and competing with high-end smartphones for a sizeable impact. A collaboration between repair shops and manufacturers needs to deliver value to the user. The proposed system delivers accessibility by creating a repair network of independent shops, which gains user trust by offering original parts and warranty. It makes repair more attractive by reducing the time and effort it takes and giving users insight into their environmental contribution. This creates value for repair shops by delivering customers and enabling quicker turnaround times. The manufacturer benefits by receiving the old parts, being more in control of their supply chain and gaining a strengthened competitive positioning. By being more accessible and attractive, users are more motivated to repair. Affordability is the third factor necessary for favourable repair yet this is only achieved in part by quicker repair times. It needs to be further investigated how to reduce the costs of spare parts. This thesis contributes by combining the need for a repair network with repairable smartphones. A repair network needs more repairable smartphones, and a repairable smartphone needs a well-functioning repair network.

The ECO coin is a new currency that values sustainable behaviour. This projects aim was to integrate the ECO coin into the festival environment, emphasizing on the users needs. Finally a system was created which allows users to trace their impact, teaches them about sustainability and fits their festival needs.

This graduation project focuses on the problem of solid waste, specifically passenger waste at Schiphol Airport. The project aimed to enhance passenger separation behaviour to reduce the amount of residual waste that would be incinerated. The project began by exploring the FF3 bin's context, including its attributes, pilot tests, waste mapping, and user ecosystem. Design conclusions were drawn to align bin elements with Dutch recycling standards, enhance signage visibility, accommodate waste types, prioritize separation, and consider user perspectives. Insights were gained through stakeholder interviews, observations, and engagements with relevant organizations like airports and bin manufacturers. Design adjustments included organic waste separation, cultural diversity accommodation, and communication enhancement. Behavioural analysis using the FOGG model led to strategies for improved separation ability and motivation, accounting for cultural differences. These conclusions formed the problem statement, which could be translated into a roadmap. The roadmap guides actions to enhance waste separation ability and motivation. The iterative design process utilized this foundation, leading to the 'Time To Waste' proposal integrating an FF3 bin skin, campaign, and projectors. This project offered Schiphol insights into how to tackle its zero waste and circular goals, along with a strategic plan for others to achieve similar objectives.

Our contemporary society faces serious social and environmental challenges due to the increasing usage of automobiles. However, researchers have suggested that stimulating the acceptance of car sharing is a promising solution for dealing with these issues. Therefore, the goal of this graduation project was to support the car sharing company Greenwheels in growing its corporate car sharing business. In order to accomplish this goal, an innovation strategy for Greenwheels was created.  The innovation strategy was constructed by executing a considerable amount of internal and external analyses. The resulting insights established the foundation of a future vision for corporate car sharing in 2025. This future vision describes what needs to be achieved by the innovation strategy, in order for Greenwheels to develop a future proof corporate car sharing service. The future vision is defined as: "Realising a personalised, zero emission, corporate car sharing service, with a motivated and knowledgeable community of users."  In order for Greenwheels to achieve this future vision, three design solutions were developed. These design solutions will be implemented at different points in time, building onto each other and thereby creating valuable synergies. The proposed solutions are: Experience Workshop: An interactive workshop day for new users, offered as an additional service to corporate clients. Unity platform: An online car sharing platform based on gamification and online learning in order to train and motivate the end-users over a longer period of time. Smart Shared Fleet: Optimising the shared car fleet by utilising bi-directional charging technology, connected car technology and personalisation of the car sharing service. The implementation of these solutions is presented in the form of a tactical roadmap. This roadmap provides an actionable step-by-step approach for moving towards the desired future vision of 2025. It does so by presenting a comprehensive overview of the main value propositions, the value created for different stakeholders, the features of the design solutions, the required technology and data streams, the corresponding revenue streams and the internal and external resources that are needed. Additionally, one of the design solutions was further conceptualised in order to showcase a tangible example. The next steps for Greenwheels include: estimating the total market demand more accurately, creating validated revenue models, establishing new partnerships and further refining the design solutions through extensive user-testing.

In this project, a service design approach is used to explore new value opportunities for consumers in a circular product subscription; based on the data that machines and consumers can give as input to a digital system. The analysis and design is focused on the wash machine PSS by Bundles, a Dutch company that commissioned this assignment. A clear desire emerged from the quantitative analysis of the review-site klantenvertellen.nl and qualitative sessions with consumers and investors. Consumers want to get more insight in the impact of their use, and more support by data-driven services. Investors, and Bundles, want the company to become more innovative and transform the system-data into sustainable and recurring value. The literature assessment provided a structure to analyse Bundles. The product-service system (PSS) de nitions show that Bundles can bene t from self-learning (feedback) elements, and that more involvement by all stakeholders will bene t the o er. Seven PSS-characteristics by Valencia et al. (2015) along with the theory by Rexfelt af Ornäs (2009) showed that Bundles can or should invest in making the PSS t with their customer needs and that they need to show how the PSS will in uence the everyday life. Qualitative research was performed with consumers to explore opportunities to make a positive impact on daily life. After a brainstorm with Bundles, Miele and Crownstone, three ideas were developed in the following concepts: A digital laundry planner to integrate the laundry more uently in personal planning and increase the insights and control over laundry activities. This concept was positively evaluated in three focus groups. A gami ed laundry experience posing challenges and o ering activities to increase sustainable impact on consumer behaviour. The underlying activities were positive rated, but all three focus groups did not have the desire to be asked for a competition. The personal clothing manager this is a long term concept, based on a 5 to 10 year prediction from blockchain and digitalized laundry labels in clothing. During the focus groups, the desirability of the servitization was explored. The majority of the participants perceived the concept as desirable. The strategy and concepts in this report contribute to the transition towards a circular economy by Bundles and its partners.