Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally with 33% (Dattani et al., 2023). Unfortunately, cardiovascular research has been primarily performed on men over the centuries (Wittekoek, 2017). It was not until the 1960s that more research was conducted on the female heart (Hartstichting Nederland, 2024). This was urgently needed, as heart conditions are responsible for more fatalities in women than in men, and the specific symptoms express themselves differently across gender (Wittekoek, 2017). Something else that doesn’t help is that cardiac analysis and -monitoring systems are predominantly designed with male physiology in mind (Market Analysis, 2024). This gap in care calls for a solution that is inclusive, user-friendly, and effective for all users, regardless of gender.

Whenever someone – male or female – suspects something is wrong with their heart, a general practitioner (GP) is consulted. Yet here, another problem arises. GPs often encounter patients with symptoms like palpitations, dizziness, or fatigue. To disclose whether the patient could have a suspected intermittent arrhythmia – such as atrial fibrillation, bradycardia, supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, or second- or third-degree atrioventricular block – long-term ECG tracking is often needed. However, as traditional ECG Holters are typically worn for only 24 to 72 hours, most of the conditions mentioned may not be detectable with such short-term ECG monitoring.

The company Diplora B.V. aims to address this need by developing an intelligent AI-driven ECG system where a sensor continuously collects 3-lead ECG input and reconstructs a 12-lead ECG for deeper clinical insights. By streamlining arrhythmia detection and providing actionable, real-time insights, the system empowers GPs and intermediate care providers to make confident, informed decisions regarding treatment or specialist referral. This innovation improves diagnostic accuracy, enhances early intervention, and contributes to better patient outcomes.
To embody this AI system, and to redesign the traditional ECG Holter, the project focused on three goals:

Primary goal
“Redesigning a wearable ECG device, prioritising user confidence, optimised for a reusable, two-week wearing period”

Side objective 1
Optimise the overall interaction of the app & process of application of the device and patch. This, to also support and empower the users confidence during the interaction.

Side objective 2
Explore strategies for repair, reuse and recycling and incorporate these findings in the main objective.

The research was structured around four pillars: product requirements, optimal placement, user needs, and sustainability. These pillars formed the foundation for the iterative design process, which focused on six key themes: comfort, attachment, application, adjustability, feedback, and practicalities. Confidence emerged as the overarching topic, tying these themes together, ensuring the final design addressed both physical and psychological user needs. With the created personas Edith and Emily in mind, multiple iterations were tested with diverse user groups.

Key findings from the research and iterative phases revealed critical insights into user behaviour and design requirements. Participants highlighted the importance of clear feedback mechanisms, intuitive application methods, and designs that accommodated diverse body shapes. Comfort and attachment were important in ensuring long-term wearability, while the use of sustainable materials and modular components was evaluated for environmental impact reduction.
The final design integrates all these insights into a solution combined of three main components: the device, the patch, and the app / manual. The device features a durable and waterproof casing, designed for comfort and effective placement. The patch is made from a Mepitel One-inspired material, ensuring secure attachment and user comfort. The app provides intuitive guidance for the device setup and monitoring, emphasising on confidence and usability. Together, these elements form a system that addresses both functional and emotional needs.

Moving forward, several recommendations have been identified to ensure the project’s success. The device proves to be desirable, as shown by positive user feedback, but some additional refinements could benefit the feasibility and viability of the product. Manufacturing processes must be optimised for cost efficiency, the patch requires additional iterations to improve durability and adhesion, and clinical testing under MDR guidelines remains necessary. The FMEA analysis identified potential risks that need addressing, considering the device, patch and overall system. A roadmap has been developed to guide future steps, with short-, mid-, and long-term goals on the horizon.

Dementia is a part of our society. One in five people, and for women even one in three, will develop dementia. Dementia has a significant impact on the lives of those affected, as well as their loved ones. This design project focuses on the impact of dementia on the adult children of a parent with Alzheimer's disease.

Once a parent is diagnosed with dementia, a complex situation occurs that forces the adult child to adapt to - and cope with - this new situation. A situation in which three processes can be distinguished: dementia and its effects, the social connection(s) between them or others and the grieving processes. These three processes create a complex reality as each of them are unpredictable, unique to the individual, and influences and intertwines with the other processes. To understand and to design for this complex world; several research and design activities have been conducted to map this context that the child and parent with dementia are in. These activities aimed at involving the perspective and experience of both experience and dementia experts.

Due to Alzheimer's, the brain cells of the parent are damaged, affecting their behavior, thinking, and emotions. There are three stages, in which the parent first mentally and later physically deteriorates. The dementia in the parent's brain brings many changes and losses, especially of great impact on the adult child in the long term.

It is noteworthy that there are many formal caregivers involved in the care of the parent with dementia. The experience of support provided by these formal caregivers to the adult child depends on the individual characteristics and approach of the caregiver. There is a clear need from the perspective of formal care for tools and strategies to better understand and support the loved ones of the patient. Within the informal social circles of the adult child, differences in coping mechanisms can sometimes manifest themselves in not experiencing the desired support.

Because grief is often associated with loss through death, anticipatory grief that accompanies dementia does not always receive the attention it deserves. Anticipatory grief for the adult child is unique to the individual, unpredictable, and ambiguous. Providing space for this form of grief is crucial because it can lead to a healthier and less intense grieving process after the parent's death. Talking to others, sharing experiences, acquiring knowledge, and having social support are all important factors in creating this space.

The exploration of these three processes through various research activities has led to the discovery of a phenomenon: the "period of acknowledgement". This period is characterized by the realization of the adult child that dementia is a progressive disease that cannot be avoided. They also come to understand that it is the disease that is changing their parent, and not the parent themselves. Acquiring knowledge about dementia and grief, and reflecting on their personal experiences, is essential in developing this period of acknowledgement.

The design goal for this project is based on this period of acknowledgement: “to enable the adult child whose parent is dealing with dementia to discover the impact of the dementia on themselves with the help of knowledge about dementia and grief, thereby increasing the awareness and creating more room to grieve over time.”

Various ideas were generated in brainstorming sessions, translated into physical prototypes to be tested with adult children, and further developed in co-creation. These design activities resulted in the development of a tangible reflection tool called "grip", which aims to provide space for adult children to explore and share their personal experiences and emotions related to the impact of dementia on their lives.

The grip tool facilitates conversations between the adult child and a conversation companion with tangible words to visually represent experiences, emotions, and losses related to dementia. It allows for the exploration of coping strategies and the development of new ways of coping, and it aims to provide social support and space for the adult child to share their grief. Overall, the grip tool aims to enable the adult child to better understand the impact of dementia on their lives and increase their awareness, creating more room to grieve over time.

However, further research will be needed to test and improve the impact of grip. Design recommendations for improving the tool have been given, such as simplifying the design, improving usability, testing with people in the avoidance phase, testing the effect on the long term, and creating a more inclusive design. In addition, suggestions have been made for implementing grip in the future.

Executive Summery
Plastic waste pollution is a well known global problem, also in Watamu, a little village on the coast of Kenya. The living conditions in Watamu are harsh, with a lot of unemployment and poverty.
People depending on tourism which is negatively related to the plastic pollution on the beach and in the village. The housing situation for locals suffers from poverty as well, many locals lack proper shelter. The project described in this report helps to solve these issues in many ways: 1. Remanufacturing of plastic waste creates economic opportunities and reduces the waste in the environment 2. Making building blocks out of the plastic waste provides low cost building material 3. Low cost building material enables better housing opportunities for the locals The research was made possible by Steve Trott, owner of EcoWorld, a local plastic waste processing company. The company’s ambition is to grow and ignite the plastic waste circular economy in coast province Kenya. The next step in this ambition is remanufacturing plastic waste material into useful products. The deliverables of this project are: 1. A minimal viable production process of (re-)manufacturing building material from plastic waste 2. Identification of the impact on social-wellbeing, environment and economic opportunities (using the triple bottom line framework). 3. Implementation roadmap for EcoWorld Research process and outcome The following research activities are performed, described with the outcome: 1. An analysis to get a good and qualitative understanding of the local context and the (potential) impact of the design. 2. Data analysis to create a list of insights that are used as inspiration and requirements for the design process. 3. An inclusive decision making process concluded to focus on designing building bricks for school in Watamu. 4. Material selection based on availability of waste and producibility at EcoWorld, resulting in recycled PP waste as feedstock. 5. Literature study on plastic waste bricks to learn from existing research, resulting in melting and moulding the plastic waste into an interlocking brick shape. 6. Design cycles on production process and material composition of the bricks. The outcome was a series of 23 different bricks containing either HDPE, PET or PP in combination with sand or other additives. 7. Destructive testing on the 23 bricks to find the influence of the different plastic sorts, with a chosen best option as outcome; PP plastic. 8. Final test on compressive strength at the TUDelft to find the best recycled PP mixture composition considering strength and cost and to prove the feasibility of the selected brick (the minimal viable product). Description of the final design The minimal viable production process was co-designed locally, with local skill and materials. This process was used as an experimental set-up to test the shape, weight and size of the brick, the local opinions, the mixture composition and insights for the next phase of the brick production line development. The tests with different material compositions lead to the final choice of 50% recycled PP and 50% fine sand...

The aviation industry is responsible for 2.5% of global CO2 emissions, emitting over one billion tonnes of CO2 in 2018 (Ritchie, 2020). The International Air Transport Association (IATA) committed to net-zero aviation by 2050 (International Air Transport Association, 2022). The first steps toward net-zero aviation can be taken in the ground operations. Air France KLM set the goal for net-zero ground operations by 2030 (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, n.d. -b). The aircraft hangars are responsible for 67% of all ground operations emissions at KLM (Veldhuizen, van, 2022) and a large portion of those emissions can be regarded to the heating of the hangars.

The process of heating the hangar is neither efficient, nor effective, despite the large amount of energy it consumes. The opening of the hangar doors to pull aircraft in and out of the hangar cause the temperature inside the hangar to approach the outside temperature. It takes 4 to 6 hours for the hangar to be up to the desired temperature again, but oftentimes the hangar doors will have been opened before the desired temperature is reached. It was found that heat in the hangar is firstly needed for the mechanics working there and secondly for the aircraft when specific repairs with a curing element have to be performed. The fluctuations in temperature lead to thermal discomfort for the mechanics (Lampret et al., 2018) and negatively affect the drying times of sealants.

This study discovered potential energy savings of 69% when the base temperature would be lowered to 10°C and heat would be provided locally where it is needed. The 69% in energy savings can be translated to money savings of €60.000,- per winter month (December 2021 taken as reference), or close to €400.000,- per year and 436 tons of CO2.

Alongside the research into potential energy savings in the hangar, ideas were collected within the company. The ideas were visualized and feedback was gathered at different divisions within KLM. The ideas were divided into two main categories, namely Heat Conservation and Local Heating. In the course of the project it was chosen to focus on local heating. The heating analysis showed that conserving the heat in the hangar was not a feasible solution since the hangar doors are opened for too long for heat conservation to be effective. Furthermore, when the base temperature is lowered, and additional heating is done locally where needed, there is not a lot of heat to be preserved in the first place.

The study proposes to lower the base temperature in the hangar to 10°C and provide local heating for the mechanics through heated apparel. The aircraft is heated locally during the curing phase of composite repairs but is often not heated with other curing processes such as after paintjobs. It should be considered to heat the aircraft locally more often to ensure optimal fleet availability.

As the oldest zoo of the Netherlands, Artis aims to provide her visitors with a carefree experience. Artis offers mobility support by means of freely available carts to ease the visit of young children and their caregivers. The identified shortage of children carts influences the visitor experience negatively. Increasing the number of carts is not considered an option because of the lack of space in the park and high costs per cart. Furthermore, the cart retains an iconic status within the park, which makes Artis hesitant to change. This research aimed to redefine the mobility support service for children and caregivers in Artis. The goal was to design a product-service combination that fulfils both the needs of the visitor, Artis staff and management. Wide-ranging research including interviews, observations and desk research brought together the views of the internal stakeholders and visitors. Synthesis of data points and insights showed that there is not only a shortage of carts and a lack of space, but that the current service does not meet the expectations of the visitor. The service was thought to be unpredictable, inaccessible and unavailable and the cart was considered unsafe, not suitable for all relevant ages, and had many physical shortcomings. Also, the service blueprint showed that the service challenges the organization by high demand for maintenance, unpredictable daily servicing and unwanted involvement of the front office. Concluding, both the service and cart needed to be redesigned to tackle the identified problems. Key challenges and design criteria were formulated to guide the design process; the service-product combination should provide suitable and safe mobility support for caregivers and children aged 1 up to and including 3 years of age which can be picked up, left and parked any time. A self-service is sought that is predictable and accessible. The service should provide sufficient capacity, require minimal (daily) maintenance, fit the park vision and should use minimal space in the park. An intensive design process followed and resulted in a product-service proposal. The proposed service provides readily available and predictable mobility support that fits children and their caregivers with different age-dependent needs. A large number of inviting and safe, one person pullcarts is offered which can be picked up and left at any of the ten compact stations throughout the park, thus stimulating intermittent use. It is a nonsupervised self-service using tokens. The cart is made of simply bent powder-coated steel tubes and weather-resistant wood, making the cart durable, relatively easy to produce and maintain. The carts nest in stations allowing for minimal use of space, they are unobtrusive and can be scaled up easily. The proposal was evaluated with visitors and main internal stakeholders. Visitors saw value in the possibility to take and leave a cart at the different stations and the availability of information made it accessible. Furthermore, the cart was considered safe. The Artis staff considered the concept valuable in the short term and long term and concluded that implementation of (parts of) the concept would improve the visitor experience. Review of the newly designed product-service concept leads to the conclusion that the proposal is an improvement on the current service. Time restrictions limited further development of the concept. Before the cart is production-ready, several parts need further development and testing with 1:1 scale prototypes. Meanwhile, elements of the proposed service can already be integrated to improve the current service. Interactions with new service touchpoints can then be validated in the park. When the new service is launched, practice must show if the stations are located in the right place and if the number of the proposed carts and stations suffices to stimulate the sharing of carts.

Over recent decades, the quality of death and dying has received much attention in society. Many patients with terminal cancers or admitted to intensive care/acute units are in need of care for the end of their life (Susan, 2015). With this need rising up, palliative care service is gradually developed mainly as the setting of hospice or home care. However, some patients who are terminally ill are in a situation in need of hospital medical settings to manage their symptoms (Cotogni, 2018). Therefore, in-hospital palliative terminal care becomes important for those patients/families in terms of guaranteeing the quality of life in their last days or hours. Currently, most western hospitals, including Maasstad Hospital, implement palliative terminal care with the integrative model (Metaxa, 2019) which needs general medical professionals, especially nurses, to provide palliative care as a part of routine practice combined with a consultative palliative care team, which is a reported as a challenging work for nurses (Bratianu, 2015) (Johansson, 2011). The project aims to investigate how to support nurses in the Oncology Department of Maasstad Hospital to be able to provide palliative care to patients. Through a series of literature research and interviews from historical (trend), cultural, user and context, and technology aspects to understand and explore the context, the design opportunity, supporting junior nurses with palliative care on-site learning, is unearthed. Insights gained from supplementary research helps the project further define the design goal: to create virtual training of palliative care for inexperienced nurses on emotional and spiritual capabilities, where nurses gradually become mentally prepared to provide palliative terminal care for dying patients and families, to ensure nurses’ mental well-being while being able to provide emotional and spiritual care to patients and families with quality. A VR demo is built for nurses to evaluate the concept. Due to the Covid-19 situation with limited access to nurses, the evaluation result is not quantitative which means further user tests and evaluation need to be considered. The final design is perceived by the nurse as to be promising to provide the inexperienced nurses or even other medical professionals with a safe environment to learn to cope with their own feelings, explore and make mistakes, and be eventually more comfortable and confident to look after dying patients and their family members. However, since the design mainly focuses on the training program structure and the experience journey, more opportunities and details of the interaction design still need to be developed and tested if the application is expected to be launched. The recommendations regarding these details and opportunities are provided as the end of this project.

This IPD (Integrated Product Design) master thesis describes the development of the LooWee. The LooWee was developed in collaboration an electric wheelchair user in search for a new toileting solution for female wheelchair users. The goal of this thesis was the further research the idea and design a new toileting solution that could replace the available tools. Currently, adult diapers or a catheter are the only options, but these are medically unnecessary. The two main issues with these tools are discomfort and capacity. They are either painful or won’t last the whole day. Limiting the user’s mobility and having a negative effect on their quality of life. Based on previous prototypes and the client experience, this thesis focussed on finding the most suitable design direction. Incorporating a tool into the wheelchair seat would fit most in the given context. However, it came with multiple challenges. The client sits on an orthosis and making alterations can influence the performance of the seat. Which was a problem that occurred in the previous prototype. Therefore the chosen concept focused on incorporating a urination tool without making large changes to the orthosis. Figure 1 shows only one small change is made to the bottom layer of the seat. Which is the ergonomic shape of the seat, which determines its performance. The embodiment of the chosen concept focussed on comfort and functionality. The different aspects of the concept were further researched. Prototyping and material testing were used to detail the design. In the end, all the results were gathered into the final design, as it is shown in Figure 1. The LooWee can be added to a Lewis orthosis. This seat has a tilted orientation, which is used by the LooWee to drain the urine to the back of the seat. A silicone product is sunken into the seat, to keep it leveled with the top of the seat. A curved shape sticks out from the seat surface with the opening. This curve will form to the user’s body and capture the urine directly at the source. Urination through the opening will help control the unpredictable female urine stream and prevent spilling. A toplayer will cover the silicone part, for comfort (mask the feeling of sitting on an opening) and to prevent sweat. The drained urine is stored at the back of the wheel, provides enough room to store the urine of a whole day. The embodied design was validated with a comfort and functionality test.

Ice skating is (still) very popular in the Netherlands, and it is gaining popularity across the globe. Temporary ice rinks on squares and in parks is an increasing solution in order to attract visitors in the winter and holiday season. Ice-World International, the world leader in temporary ice rinks since 1992, has experienced a significant increase in demand for temporary ice rink rental in the Netherlands. As a premium supplier, Ice-World wants to keep offering its customers high quality and innovative solutions. Therefore, Ice-World asked to explore opportunities for updating the boarding systems with a new modular boarding system that fits every rink dimension and could replace current systems. This graduation project has resulted in a redesign of the wooden boarding system. A boarding system is used as a barrier around an ice rink to prevent ice skaters from sliding or falling off the ice. It is a modular system, as every ice rink has different dimensions. Currently, Ice- World carries two different types of boarding systems: a transparent boarding and a wooden boarding. The wooden boarding is preferred by European customers, while international customers prefer transparent boarding. Existing problems with the boarding especially relate to the wooden system. The focus of this project was set to the wooden boarding because of increasing market demand (within the Benelux), and it is the core business of Ice-World.

The business wide objective of Philips regarding the transition to the circular economy is among others, that 15% of the total revenue should be from circular revenue from products and services by 2020.Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome use a CPAP machine at home to keep their airways open during sleep. The Sleep & Respiratory Care business of Philips creates these products and needs to reach the same general sustainability targets related to circular revenue. The masks and headgear are medical consumables and are replaced on a regularly basis according to the insurance’s reimbursement cycle. The products are not always broken when they are replaced and the current headgear design can not be recycled. Next to this, the products are provided to the patient through multiple stakeholders whereby Philips has low control over the material flow. Therefore, in this project the products are redesigned to become ‘circular ready’ and a roadmap for the implementation of new circular propositions have been created. A Life Cycle Assessment tool is created to assess the life cycle of the current product system and compare this to new designs and scenarios in an iterative way. The propositions are based on the three different circular strategies: Slowing resource loops, Closing resource loops and material efficiency. The new design has been optimized for a longer lifetime and easier cleaning ritual, as a first short term circular strategy. The new headgear will be made with a knitting production technique and two arms that slide in this piece. This design is based on the just released headgear with arms design of Philips. This ensures comfort and more stability for the user. It is recyclable and is material efficiently produced. The business model is redesigned in combination with a new procurement scenario that can be included in the already existing DreamMapper app. This is done to link the replacement to the performance of the products and stimulate a longer product life. Furthermore, a recycling and future reverse logistic scenario has been created. The silicone of the mask can be taken back and sold for recycling. The user can sent the products through the normal mail with the help of information from the app. The headgear can be recycled through the municipal textile recycling stream that should be widely implemented in Europe by 2025. All the proposition parts are designed with the eye on the future and technology trends. The future in CPAP supplies are custom made products, supported by digital production techniques and the 3d face scan software. This can enable super local production. From the final life cycle assessment of the different proposition parts can be concluded that these lower the kg CO2 emissions. The project results are expected to be highly feasible as already existing resources and infrastructures are used for the new proposition. The holistic design approach and solution, including the clear steps and advantages for the 4 key ingredients have inspired the business. The next steps are already taken.

During design projects, designers create and gain a lot of important knowledge that explains how and why certain steps are taken in the process of designing something new. Methods, best practices, pitfalls, and other important insights that might be useful for future projects are often lost in transition due to a lack of structural knowledge sharing. This report describes a research into this problem, and results in a design that improves the process of knowledge sharing.