This thesis explores the design of a tactile loudspeaker that combines modern functionality with nostalgic interaction. With the aim of creating a product that resonates emotionally with modern nostalgists, this project focusses on the user group that values the physical engagement of vintage audio devices alongside modern convenience. In collaboration with audio brand Devoonsounds, the project follows the Double Diamond methodology through discovery, definition, development and final product delivery.

Through market analysis, trend research and targeted user interviews, the need for a speaker that prioritises interaction, aesthetics and emotional resonance was identified. The project translates these insights into a product concept by exploring interaction mechanisms such as rotation and expansion that encourage ritualistic use. Prototypes were tested with users to validate the emotional and functional appeal of tactile engagement. User testing validated the design's ability to support intuitive interaction and emotional connection, while feedback informed final design refinements.

The final design integrates directional control, modular interaction, and visual integration into home environments. Allowing for user-driven positioning and acoustic personalisation. Material selection, manufacturability and cost estimation were considered to ensure feasibility and viability in small series production. This work contributes to the Devoonsounds portfolio by introducing a speaker concept that shifts the focus from purely technical performance to sensory and emotional experience.

This thesis investigates strategies to create more equal advertising opportunities for small sellers, referred to as Performance Players, on Selto, a major e-commerce marketplace. Currently, larger advertisers dominate the platform by leveraging their access to advanced advertising expertise and agency support, while smaller sellers face barriers such as limited financial resources, insufficient knowledge of advertising strategies, and an overwhelming campaign management process. These challenges significantly limit their ability to optimize Sponsored Products campaigns, reducing their visibility and sales potential.

Challenges and Objectives

Performance Players often rely solely on Selto’s automated advertising tools to manage their campaigns, which lack the customization and strategic depth used by larger sellers or agency-managed campaigns. These small sellers face a significant disadvantage as they lack the expertise to compete effectively in a marketplace where the ability to optimize Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is critical. The aim of this research is to design solutions that enable small sellers to enhance their advertising performance.

Methodology

The research follows a Design Thinking approach, encompassing five phases: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. This process involved qualitative interviews with small sellers and agencies, a competitor analysis, and iterative prototyping. Key findings revealed that small sellers trust Selto more than external agencies and value intuitive, easy-to-use tools over complex systems. Insights from the research shaped the development of solutions that prioritize simplicity, usability, and affordability while aligning with Selto’s business goals of increasing seller growth and platform diversity.

Impact and Implications

The research demonstrates that empowering small sellers with accessible tools and tailored support not only drives seller growth but also enhances Selto’s overall competitiveness. By leveling the playing field, Selto benefits from increased product diversity, improved seller satisfaction, and greater marketplace activity. These solutions ensure that advertising spend is more effective, fostering a more inclusive and balanced marketplace.

Proposed Solution: The Recommendations Concept

The centerpiece of this project is the Recommendations concept, a system designed to help small sellers optimize their Sponsored Products campaigns. This feature provides useful insights and suggestions directly in their dashboard, helping them adjust budgets, refine targeting, or update keywords. With clear, straightforward guidance, sellers feel empowered to take control of their advertising and achieve better results. Say goodbye to guesswork and hello to actionable, data-driven recommendations!

During concept detail interviews, sellers shared which information matters most and what grabs their attention. Below, the dashboard highlights the recommendation section. The following pages detail each component and provide an overview of the types of recommendations.

Conclusion

This thesis highlights the critical role of user-centered design in addressing the unique challenges faced by small sellers in e-commerce marketplaces. By equipping Performance Players with the tools and knowledge to optimize their Sponsored Products campaigns, Selto creates a scalable, accessible ecosystem that promotes seller growth and platform diversity. These findings provide a framework for fostering equity and inclusivity in digital advertising, balancing the needs of small sellers with the scalability of the platform.

A smart home can be defined as a system of connected devices that are controlled remotely from one central place. Smart home solutions used to be for early adopters who like the novel and fun part of this new technology. Currently the smart Home market is moving to mainstream users. Hombli is a smart home brand established in 2019 in the Netherlands. The initial goal of Hombli is to address this mainstream market. They want to make smart home accessible to everyone, by offering a simple and affordable smart home solution. An analysis of the smart home market show that most smart home brands claim to offer a simple solution. Most brands also have another special focus in which they set their brand apart from the rest. The strong competition in the smart home market requires a stronger brand position for Hombli to stand out from the other brands. The new focus on the wellbeing of the user by providing “a carefree live with Hombli” is a promising new direction for Hombli. It is a unique direction in the smart home market and fits the current product portfolio. Users can create this carefree life by automating their Hombli devices using smart scenarios. However, a survey filled in by 149 current Hombli users show that only 23% say that creating scenarios is easy. Of these people 39% do not use scenarios at all. Besides these current Hombli users, also people without experience with smart home devices were analyzed using sensitizing booklets with daily assignments. The participants described their routines and used smart Hombli devices. This experiment showed that it is hard to come up with ideas for smart scenarios and that the process of adding new scenarios is difficult for some people. To make the new mission of Hombli possible, all users should be able to create scenarios that can improve their wellbeing. Therefore, the design goal for this project is to help Hombli users with little technical experience, to feel guided and in control when they add smart scenarios, so they can automate their routines. Three concepts are developed to explore different ways to create scenarios. These concepts are turned into prototypes and evaluated. The results of these user-tests can be summarized in three aspects: - Control: The user should have a clear overview of the scenarios, be able to control important settings in an easy way and scenarios should be visible at the device page. - Comfort: The design of the app should be calm, the user should feel guided through the different steps and should be able to get help when it does not understand something. - Convenience: The app should provide example scenarios which offer clear benefits to the wellbeing can be added conveniently to the app of the user. The final design combines these three requirements in one single experience. User tests of this final design show that people get inspired by the example scenario in the app and start thinking of different ways to automate their smart home devices. With this new app, Hombli can set itself apart as a brand that not just sells connected devices but cares about the wellbeing of their customers. Besides validation with users, the new app is also validated on feasibility for the company. Because developing a brand-new app from scratch requires a big investment, a better strategy is needed. The current app is based on the Tuya platform. Talks with Tuya developers explain the possibilities in changing the current app to create quick first steps in improving the experience in the current app by adding an extra section in the app with example scenarios. In a later stage, device panels can be improved to match the panels of the final design concept. After these short-term steps, Hombli should invest in developing their own services to create added functionalities to adapt to the evolving smart home market. New communication standards are in development that will make it possible to control smart devices from different brands using the same standard. The long-term strategy ensures Hombli will deliver a unique experience to users that value wellbeing by offering a carefree life with smart automations for every connected device at home.

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

This master thesis describes the process of introducing a healthy vending concept in the Dutch market. This concept enables PepsiCo Benelux to increase the sales and visibility of their healthier product portfolio. This is done by introducing a new sales strategy: healthy vending machines which serve as a solution for daily snacking. It offers a trustworthy and healthier product portfolio than traditional vending machines to busy millennials. This thesis includes the selection of the target market, target group, selected assortment and route to market. In addition, a marketing and business plan is provided to introduce this concept to the Netherlands.

The assignment that is of issue in this graduation project elaborates on Shipright. Shipright is a digital tool meant to be used to capture insights for customer research purposes. It offers a workflow to collaboratively process and analyze feedback, in order to find insights about customers’ experiences with software products and possible directions to improve product design. Shipright is meant to be used by scale-up SaaS companies to conduct user research on their products’ users. SaaS (software as a service) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. The targeted SaaS companies are the small and medium businesses (SMBs = up to 100FTE / up until 10M revenue) and Mid-Market Businesses (100 – 500 FTE / 10M – 100M revenue). For outreach, though, the minimum of company size is set on 10 FTE. This allows start-ups to be included as a secondary target group. Among this target group, user research is defined as the collection of user feedback and the analysis of it to get to actionable tasks. All the actions that goes around product decisions, revolves around product teams with typical key members of Product Managers / Owners, UX-researchers, designers and developers. The problem encountered is that, though rich insights from user research is desired, the fast-paced environment of scale-up companies prevents them from being able to spend enough time and attention on user research. Shipright’s original design is able to help scale-up SaaS companies to collect and organize feedback data from their products’ users, and to turn these data into insights. But, users do not seem to fully understand the different steps to follow throughout this analytical process. Besides that, team collaboration is not supported yet.