Extended Reality (XR) technologies offer exciting opportunities for cultural heritage, allowing stories and artifacts to come to life in immersive, interactive ways. However, designing meaningful XR experiences—especially those that combine physical and digital interaction—is not straightforward, especially for designers with limited technical expertise. This thesis addresses that challenge by developing a toolkit that supports designers in creating tangible Mixed Reality experiences for cultural heritage contexts.
The goal of this project was to explore how tangible interaction and XR can be combined in a way that feels natural and intuitive, particularly in museum settings where visitors may not be familiar with XR technologies. Through research and design experimentation, the project led to the creation of the HIT-KIT: a design toolkit intended to lower the threshold for designing meaningful XR heritage experiences using tangible interaction. The toolkit includes beginner-friendly tutorials, a digital workbook to guide the user through the design process, a card deck to offer inspiration and support, and digital building blocks that allow for quick prototyping
The HIT-KIT was developed alongside a case study: the design of The Calculator’s Desk, an interactive museum experience that uses tangible Mixed Reality to explore the story behind analog calculators. The design process of this experience offered valuable insights into the challenges of designing for XR and heritage, and helped shape the toolkit’s structure and content.
While the current version of the toolkit is still conceptual, it lays the foundation for further development into a practical and accessible design method. This project shows that such a toolkit can make working with XR more approachable, especially for those who are new to this field.
Looking ahead, the toolkit could be further developed and tested with a wider range of users, including museum professionals and exhibition designers. This would help tailor the content to different contexts and skill levels, and expand its relevance beyond TU Delft. Additionally, the approach could be applied to other heritage narratives to test how well it works across different themes and artifacts.
In summary, this thesis contributes to the field of design for cultural heritage by offering a practical toolkit for combining tangible interaction with XR. This way, designers can be empowered to create more engaging and meaningful heritage experiences.

Prototyping is a fundamental aspect of the design process, enabling students to explore, experiment, and refine their ideas through hands-on learning. However, in secondary education, students struggle to integrate prototyping effectively into their projects. A lack of technical skills, confidence, and experience leads to a theoretical approach to design, where making is seen as an afterthought rather than an integral part of the process.
This research investigates how prototyping can be made more accessible and engaging within the context of secondary education, specifically within the Technasium curriculum. Through literature research, interviews, surveys, and classroom experiments, the study identifies key barriers to effective prototyping and proposes solutions to enhance technical skill development and hands-on engagement. This approach is presented in a 5-pager for Technasium teachers. The 5-pager aims to help them to understand and implement this project and how to put more emphasis on prototyping in the O&O lesson.
Four student-centred solutions were developed and tested: NeXus, a tool station that tries to make it easier to start the making process. A Skill Workshop gives a structured introduction to basic building techniques. Instructional Posters, provide visual, step-by-step guidance for inspiration and independent learning. A Lo-Fi prototyping materials box lowers the threshold to start experimenting with prototypes. Additionally, a teacher-focused intervention offers advise for writing project assignments that emphasise hands-on iteration.
The findings indicate that by making prototyping more approachable and explicitly embedding it into the learning process, students become more confident, engaged, and effective in their design work and hands-on skills. The proposed solutions can help to achieve this.
This approach can be used to investigate further on how students can be motivated to develop practical skills.

This thesis report describes the research and design process towards the museum product concept ‘Polaroid Quest’, a game for a discursive experience uncovering fundamental human needs within the Rijksmuseum’s collection and enhancing players’ sense of time.

The Rijksmuseum, the primary stakeholder in this project, is the largest and most visited museum in the Netherlands. With over 2.4 million annual visitors, it seeks to connect people with art and history, offering a rich collection of over one million objects. Its strategy emphasizes deepening public engagement by telling compelling stories that surprise and inspire visitors. The museum aims to maintain high visitor satisfaction while expanding its reach, particularly among young adults.

The design challenge addresses the Rijksmuseum’s need to innovate while preserving its traditional values. The problem lies in balancing technological advancements with the museum’s classical identity, ensuring that new products align with its mission. The Polaroid Quest is developed within the framework of the museum’s 2023-2028 strategic plan, focusing on engaging visitors through reflection on shared human experiences.

The target user group for this product is the Dutch Young adult Fun seeking Explorer (DYFE), a profile that is underrepresented in the museum but has significant potential for engagement. This audience is characterised by curiosity and independence, has a need for social interaction and exciting activities, and likes to engage with trendy services, possibly involving photography and multi-media. The profile combines a visit type from the Rijksmuseum’s own audience segmentation tool, a role from Falk’s identity-related motivations model and a particular demographic population.

To understand how to connect this audience with art and history, the project employs a human-centred design methodology. A contextmapping study is conducted with 7 DYFE target users to uncover their values and needs regarding a visit to the Rijksmuseum in specific, and the connection with art and history in general. The rich results are analysed and supplemented by findings from desk and field research, e.g. literature review, employee interviews, and observations of guided programs. A dozen insights on context, interaction and product level are found and translated to requirements and opportunities for the design of a new product. The interaction with the new product is envisioned to be explorative, playful and challenging.

In a creative process of multiple months, including a design sprint and three iterations, a product concept is developed. Low-fidelity prototypes are built and tested with DYFE users in the Rijksmuseum. The form of the final product is a photography game, the content revolves around the notion of fundamental human needs. The Polaroid Quest challenges visitors to view art through a human lens and connects the historical objects to the timeless and universal desires that all people can relate to. The juxtaposition of contrasting views on the same artwork and the social nature of the game lead to a discursive museum experience in which visitors discuss and curate a thematic narrative from various voices.

The Rijksmuseum is recommended to further evaluate this concept with visitors and continue the full development of game content and product form. An app embedded in the existing digital ecosystem may provide a more feasible solution than a completely integrated device with AI-powered image recognition and portable duplex printing technology, although it compromises some key properties of the desired interaction.

This study explores how consent, respect, and boundaries are navigated within the Latin partner dance community in the Netherlands, focusing on salsa, bachata, and kizomba. Given the intimate and often sensual nature of these dances, understanding the management of personal and interpersonal boundaries is crucial.

To address this complex issue, a dual approach combining ethnographic research with theoretical analysis was employed. The Double Diamond method structured the research through four phases: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. This involved gathering data through observations and literature, refining focus areas, generating ideas, and testing solutions.

The findings reveal that boundaries in Latin partner dancing are fluid and highly context-sensitive. They shift based on individual comfort levels, dance style, and experience, making it challenging to consistently set and respect boundaries, especially in a setting characterized by frequent partner changes and minimal verbal communication.

The physical nature of partner dancing, which is predominantly non-verbal, complicates the expression and respect of boundaries. This environment can inadvertently normalize inappropriate behaviour, as open discussions about these issues are often avoided within the community.

It was found that while dancers generally recognize inappropriate behaviour as crossing personal boundaries, the reluctance to openly address these issues allows such behaviour to persist. This normalization of inappropriate behaviour is reinforced by cultural tendencies to avoid confrontation and the lack of structured mechanisms for discussing consent and boundaries.

In response to these findings, a critical design intervention was implemented to provoke reflection and discussion about boundaries and consent. By presenting thought-provoking quotes on tangible items like coins, the intervention successfully engaged participants, prompting them to reflect on their own behaviour and the broader issues within the community.

Evaluation of the intervention demonstrated its effectiveness in initiating reflection and debate. Participants engaged in meaningful discussions about their experiences and consent. However, feedback highlighted the need for less explicit language and more diverse presentation methods to improve engagement.

To advance the conversation on consent and respect, the study recommends the following:
1. Clarify prompts: Ensure that the purpose and context of prompts are clear to prevent misinterpretation and guide effective discussions.
2. Soften language: Use neutral language to make the intervention more accessible and comfortable for all participants.
3. Enhance engagement: Continue using tangible items like coins but explore additional methods to capture attention and facilitate reflection.
4. Promote long-term change: Develop ongoing initiatives to reinforce the messages about consent and respect, supporting sustained behavioural change within the community.

Overall, this study highlights the intricate dynamics of consent and boundaries within the Latin dance community. Addressing these issues through reflective and engaging interventions is crucial for fostering a more respectful and inclusive environment, ultimately enhancing the dance experience for everyone involved.

Environmentalists recently attracted a lot of international attention with controversial actions, including throwing food against famous paintings in art museums. Which is worth more, art or life? The fragility of art is similar to the fragility of the earth itself. But as quickly as the bunch of climate activists appeared in all the newspapers, they also disappeared from the public’s mind.

The general public has become accustomed to yet another climate stunt. Some form of awareness is there, but acting on it, many people omit. Before even a slight adjustment of behaviour, our fast-paced society is already distracted by the next new soap opera, a new car or pondering about the impact of our next plane trip.

Museums recognise their changing role in this society. Museums should no longer just entertain and amaze, they should from time to time be able to chafe, awaken us and urge us to change our behaviour. Topics such as sustainability, climate change and the energy transition lend themselves well to this. The urge to change a behaviour can be caused by a transformative learning experience. For example, experiencing the real-life effects of climate change in rural countries can completely change a person’s relationship with their self-world, thereby producing lasting changes in attitude and behaviour. Museon-Omniversum, a science museum, would like to research such a transformative learning experience for a new exhibit in a mobility zone of their current exhibition One Planet NOW!.

Several research activities have been done to understand transformative experiences and place them in a museum context. A literature review, expert interviews, museum visits, and observations resulted in a set of 12 guide cards that can support the design of a transformative museum exhibit.

Following from research, cycling as a sustainable mode of transport was chosen as an exhibit topic. Besides, the findings resulted in a transformative museum experience journey, which in turn inspired a specified design goal.

Subsequently, various ideas were generated in brainstorming and creative sessions and translated into physical prototypes. Evaluation tests with these prototypes gave insights into the experiences and effects of the developed ideas. These insights resulted in the development of the final exhibit: ‘Pedalling towards sustainable urban mobility’. An exhibit which aims to let visitors explore and reflect on the mode of transport they travel with throughout the city.

The interactive exhibit is a hands-on experience that introduces visitors to a city where bikes are the main mode of transport. Visitors can magically discover a hopeful future vision of a bicycle city, where an intersection has been transformed into a version without cars. They are encouraged to explore what is going on in this world. Would they want to live in a city like this? The exhibition’s connecting part deals with transport's influence on urban planning. Visitors will have the opportunity to reflect on how transport choices affect the construction of a city.

Overall the exhibit successfully aims to inspire a sustainable urban mobility transformation. However, further alterations are needed to improve the design and test the impact over a longer period. Short-term design recommendations for improving the exhibit to be fully stand-alone and operational have been given. In addition, suggestions for long-term research and design activities have been made.

Light can be a wonderful thing. It allows one to see in the dark. Since the development of lamps, the intention has been to eliminate darkness from the night, as darkness is associated with danger, demons, the unknown, and all sorts of ‘scary’ things that lurk in the dark. Although light is helpful, dark nights are also needed. Not only did humankind use the position of stars to navigate or measure time, but it also inspired the artistic and philosophical aspects of wonder and awe at night. This thesis project started with a personal fascination for the night sky. The research focuses on the consequences of using artificial light at night. Light not only prohibits sight of the stars but also negatively impacts both flora and fauna.
Moreover, that is not the only effect of artificial light at night. The natural human experience of the night also changes due to excessive light use. Darkness is being pushed out of the nocturnal experience under the belief that light leads to safety, while research shows no significant correlation between light and actual safety.
Light use at night is continuing. As recent studies show, artificial light at night is increasing by 6% a year on a global scale, causing an increase in light pollution issues. Therefore, this report argues that we are losing the night. It describes the harmful effects of light on nocturnal ecology, human health, and the nocturnal landscape experience. This subject is gaining more interest in recent years but is still underrated and not (yet) put on the agenda of governments and municipalities as much as this report argues that it should. This report aims to contribute to a raising awareness for the topic and as an example of possible explorations of how to treat the experience of the night and nocturnal ecology in design by creating dark connections, transitions in the landscape, and new spatial lighting guidelines for the urban context. The goal is not to switch off light but to examine different possibilities of using light in a night-friendly way. Ultimately, this report could be a sound principle for nocturnal urban design and how to deal with the far-stretching consequences lurking in the light.

Loved ones play a crucial role in people’s happiness by regulating interpersonal affect to maintain and build relationships (Niven et al., 2012). Something existing services and mediated technologies do not cover as desired: leaving out the more subtle and often non-verbal communication qualities that bring warmth and positive mood-regulating effects.

In this thesis, I explore through a literature study and user research how loved ones can help regulate a gloomy mood when they are apart. This exploration resulted in a solution space with different possible directions. Through brainstorming, ideating, using the non-verbal cues of sympathy found during user research, and clustering these ideas, a final concept direction was chosen through a Harris profile. This evaluation resulted in the final concept direction, which was prototyped and tested further into the final design: Uppie. This final design is prototyped and evaluated through a final user test to validate the design and gather new insights.

Explorations of the topic showed that it is challenging for a gloomy person to talk about their mood, lacking communication channels for social support. This resulted in the final design goal and direction to let a gloomy person feel more comfortable sharing their gloomy mood with their loved ones over a distance by receiving non-verbal cues of sympathy from loved ones while sharing the need for social support in a gloomy mood.

Through Uppie a gloomy person can share their gloominess indirectly by asking for a hug through hugging Uppie. A loved one can respond by hugging back, which is felt through vibrations. These vibrations are dynamic and change depending on how the user holds Uppie, mimicking the loved one being close. The final evaluation showed how Uppie does comfort a person in a gloomy mood to share this mood in not having to talk to ask for support. And in hugging Uppie, the loved one shows they have their full attention available, making the gloomy person receive the sympathy and the initial social support of the loved one at a distance. The gloomy person can start relieving their gloominess through social support. Enable loved ones to communicate comfortably and stay connected in the physical world, even at a distance.

Technologies related to reproduction and fertility follow each other in a rapid tempo as we stand at the start of the biotechnological revolution. How could these technologies which are able to radically alter our evolution alter our families and lives? Big questions with no direct answer.

Within this project speculation and exploration about possible futures within reproduction are constructed using Vision in Product design. A wide variety of information, from literature research to interviews is gathered and formed into clusters that aim to provide a future world-view. This future world-view is the basis that helps the designer create a statement which is a pivotal moment as the statement defines the designers response to the future world-view.
Interaction characteristics help translate this response into actual experiences for the user and last but not least into the to be designed ‘product’,

In the case of this project the product is an speculative exhibit that aims to make the visitor aware of the impact of new reproductive technologies and add to the conversation about our reproductive futures. The focus within the exhibit lies on new types of families that reproductive technologies could create and asks the visitor to think about their personal limits around this new radical make-ability in reproduction.

In order to make the exhibit come to life, 3D drawings, prototypes and storyboards are created. A website allows all aspects of the exhibit to come together and is used as a tool to evaluate the design of the exhibit.

This project explored the domain of the home office worker to shape an AI driven concept guided by positive design principles to increase subjective wellbeing and resolving problems related to working from home. The 13 fundamental needs, which are an operationalisation of the positive design framework, are used as components for subjective wellbeing. Research and interviews with both managers and home office workers have shown that people working from home experience difficulties to detatch and take effective breaks, feel guilty for doing personal things during office hours, and lack routines to structure their day. Exploring possibilities to use AI as an integral part of a product design addressing these problems have shown that recent developments in natural language processing make it possible to process and work with abstract human concepts. Two interaction concepts were tested to gauge promising concept directions and explore possibilities of how to intervene in people‘s established routines. Co-creating use cases for AI to act in a product to increase work/life balanece, combined with previous ideas and insights have led to the final concept vision. The final concept vision is an AI driven to-do list concept which helps users to maintain work/life balance by giving personalised tips and suggestions for balancing activities and informing people about their fundamental need fulfilment. It is a concept vision leveraging the capabilities of natural language processing to classify human tasks, learn form behavior and personal data and give users individual suggestions tailored to their needs and interests. The concept vision was tested with home office workers in real-life conditions for one week using a „Wizard of Oz“ prototype. Evaluations of the prototype have shown interesting insights into the perception of receiving personal suggestions from a machine and a promising response to the concept. Especially regarding needs classification and tracking triggered curiosity and left users wanting to know more about their need fulfilment pattern. The concpet offers the starting point for the use of AI for the human good using fundamental needs and subjective wellbeing at the core.

CareTunes for Families is a product-service system that connects Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients and their families through music. Families of ICU patients often experience distress and anxiety. They have the need for information, closeness, assurance, hope, control, and the need to support the patient. These emotional and social needs point to a need for stronger connection/connectedness, especially when the family is outside the hospital. In addition, the families experience many negative emotions such as uncertainty, worry, guilt, fear of loss, etc. Meanwhile, music is a powerful way to communicate emotions and meanings; it has the quality to fulfill the family’s social needs, emotional needs, and need for information at the same time. Therefore, the project aims to increase the connectedness for the families through music, and to bring them more positivity. A series of literature research and qualitative user research was carried out. The design also went through several iterations, inspired by insights gathered from user tests and interviews with experts. The final design of CareTunes for Families includes service design, user experience design, and music design. The design facilitates a meaningful connection between patients and families by transferring the patient’s mental activities and emotions through music streaming or music messages to the family. The music streaming enhances the sense of close presence of the patient, and the music messages enhance the feeling of intimacy and assurance, and reduces the sense of guilt. The product also enables the family to support the patient by sending back voice messages. The music in the design is automatically generated by the system. It comprises a theme melody of the patient, increasing intimacy and connectedness, and multiple other tracks which are connected to different data sources such as heart rate, brain waves and movements, creating variations in the music and a sense of realism. Moreover, the product gives the family the control in ending the music as an act of closure at the end of the service. The user evaluation of the design validates that the experience and the music together can indeed create connectedness and enhance positive emotions such as calmness, hope, and acceptance. The project leads to the following conclusions: (1) Music presents an advantage in building connectedness through an emotional experience and is unfitted to present technical information. (2) The experience is very personal. (3) Streaming and messaging can both cater to the families’ needs respectively. (4) A two-way connection that also supports the patient may be needed. (5) Positivity in music is important. (6) Multi-dimensional composition can bring more life to the music. (7) The music should be predictable. (8) The selected data source for the music should have (humanized) meanings.

Companies and content creators have mostly focused on the visual side of virtual reality. However, sound has the ability to improve the immersivity and perceived quality of a visual display and virtual simulation in general. In Social VR, it is especially important to be immersed. Social VR is a way of communicating with other people through VR by integrating participants in the same environment and enabling them to interact with each other. This graduation project focused on the design of an immersive sound experience during a Social VR session between two friends watching TV together. The purpose of this project was to evaluate current implementations of the sound experience in Social VR and to improve that experience through user testing. A literature research was done, Social VR demos were tested, questionnaires were made, and two prototypes were developed and tested. The first prototype was made for a basic and passive Social VR experience. The second one was a more advanced prototype in which two users could speak with each other, watch TV, interact with buttons and see each other’s avatar.  Main findings: - Users expect the experience to feel like real life, with realistic visuals and sounds. The experience should be relaxing, immersing, and give the sense of being together. - Hearing yourself speak in VR through your headphones (sidetone) improves the experienc eand presence. - Users expect a home cinema experience for the TV, which can be done with a virtual 5.1 speaker setup without reverb. - Adding reverberation and spatialization to the voices improves co-presence and realism. - The reverberation of the room should be accurate as users could sense when it did not match their expectations.  - The environment should be a reasonably large size for a living room, it should be open and detailed. It should also have a suitable background noise such as rain.