This thesis investigates how established brands can remain authentic, credible, and future-oriented in the face of accelerating generational change. As Generation Z and Generation Alpha increasingly shape cultural norms, consumption patterns, and expectations of organisational responsibility, many legacy brands experience growing misalignment between their intended identity and their perceived image. These misalignments often manifest as tensions between vision, culture, and external communication, undermining trust and long-term relevance.

Positioned within Strategic Product Design, this research conceptualises Transformative Branding as a design-driven organisational capability rather than a static branding exercise. Drawing on literature from branding, generational studies, organisational change, and dynamic capabilities, the study develops a structured approach that supports organisations in sensing emerging generational tensions, translating them into shared opportunity spaces, and aligning strategic intent with lived organisational culture.

Through research-through-design, the thesis results in a structured workshop methodology and supporting toolkit that facilitate collective reflection, dialogue, and strategic alignment within organisations. The approach was iteratively developed and tested across multiple organisational contexts, enabling evaluation of its applicability, clarity, and strategic value.

The findings suggest (still a need for empirical validation) that Transformative Branding can function as a practical and teachable capability that helps organisations navigate generational transitions in a more responsible, transparent, and internally grounded manner. By reframing branding as an ongoing process of organisational learning and adaptation, this thesis contributes both theoretical insight and actionable guidance for designers, strategists, and organisations operating in increasingly volatile socio-cultural environments.
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This study examines the role of packaging design elements on shaping consumers' perceived taste, health and naturalness of kombucha. Currently, kombucha, a fermented drink, is quickly gaining popularity globally for its potential health benefits from its probiotic content and its unique taste. However, a packaging design challenge arises from the common consumer belief that “healthy = less tasty.” This study investigates how kombucha brands can communicate health and taste on their packaging through verbal claims, colour, imagery, and shape, with naturalness serving as a potential bridge. Through a literature review, a focus group and quantitative research, this study demonstrates that certain design elements, particularly light, muted, and less saturated colour and possibly scientific health claims can influence consumers' health perception of kombucha positively, without lowering perceived taste. The same colour choices and possibly photographic ingredient imagery were found to increase perceived naturalness, which partially mediates the relationship between packaging and perceived health. Packaging did not affect taste perception. These findings suggest that thoughtful packaging design can enhance consumers’ perceptions of kombucha’s health benefits while maintaining its taste perception. ... Read more

This thesis explores how hybrid meat products can be introduced to the Dutch market in a way that supports a gradual shift towards more sustainable meat consumption. Hybrid meat—products that combine animal protein with plant-based ingredients—offers a promising middle ground for consumers who are not ready to fully transition to plant-based diets. Through a research-through-design approach, this project investigates consumer preferences, expert insights and market trends to develop a compelling product and brand strategy.

The result is Season & Smoke, a do-it-yourself (DIY) hybrid meat barbecue kit designed to appeal to Dutch consumers through taste, convenience, and brand experience. Using the Vision in Product Design (ViP) method, an emotional and behavioural direction was established that guided the development of both product and brand. The final concept emphasises flavour and excitement while subtly promoting conscious eating.

Consumer interviews confirmed strong interest in the product. Key strengths included perceived naturality, ease of use, and visual appeal. However, concerns were also raised about meat quality and the risk of limited repeat purchases. These insights informed a phased launch strategy and led to recommendations for improved messaging, product differentiation and more strategic retail placement.

While the project demonstrates the potential of hybrid meat products to bridge the gap between sustainability goals and mainstream consumer behaviour, it also highlights challenges around financial feasibility, shelf life, and the complexity of the protein transition. Ultimately, Season & Smoke serves as a proof of concept that hybrid meat can be introduced in a desirable, viable, and feasible way—contributing to a more sustainable food system. ... Read more

The brand positioning strategy for the “X” espresso machine was developed by integrating multiple domains, including company ideology, core capabilities, environmental factors, and user perceptions. A mixed-method approach was employed, combining desk research with 16 fixed-structured interviews to construct a user perception model. Targetting identified Sophisticated Connoisseurs and Loyal Coffee Enthusiasts as primary target audiences. A subsequent quantitative study (n = 31) refined the positioning strategy, confirming Sophisticated Connoisseurs as the suitable segment for the video campaign. Additionally, the study investigated the potential impact of a redesigned logo, comparing its effectiveness against the existing design.

To reinforce brand positioning, nine design rules were formulated to guide the development of a 1:20-minute video campaign, titled “The Espresso Ceremony,” with a new re-design logo striving for improved alignment with brand positionings. A final quantitative evaluation (n = 100) assessed the effectiveness of the video and its congruence with the brand identity. While the video successfully reflected the brand positioning, its ability to translate alignment into crowdfunding backing intention remained limited.

Findings suggest that refining messaging, storytelling techniques, and audience segmentation may enhance crowdfunding effectiveness. Moreover, the “Espresso Ceremony” brand message was validated, reinforcing the brand message. However, responses to the logo redesign were neutral, with a slight preference for the existing version, suggesting that a full redesign is unnecessary. Minor refinements, however, may improve visual branding consistency.

This study establishes a foundational brand positioning strategy, offering insights into targeting, branding, and crowdfunding approaches. Future research should explore enhanced segmentation strategies and storytelling refinements to optimize consumer engagement and improve crowdfunding backing intention for the “X” espresso machine.
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This study investigates the relationship between staff-customer interactions and customer satisfaction in specialised outdoor sports retail in the Netherlands. In the growing outdoor sports market, stores and the customer experience are critical, yet customers approach them with vastly different expertise levels. The central hypothesis was that higher customer expertise would negatively moderate the positive effect of the social (the act of conversation, such as receiving advice or asking, and sharing opinions) and cognitive (the substance of the conversation, such as learning and reflection) elements of the staff-customer interaction. Beyond testing this mechanism, this study was designed to investigate which outdoor sports-related topics are valuable to customers with different expertise levels. To achieve both objectives, a mixed-methods approach was employed, combining qualitative interviews with retail managers (N = 3) and a quantitative survey (N = 52). The results suggest that the cognitive dimension of the interaction primarily drives satisfaction. Contrary to the central hypothesis, customer expertise did not moderate the relationship. The type of cognitive stimuli that correlates with satisfaction differs significantly by expertise level: Novice customers are most satisfied when interactions facilitate personal reflection and provide foundational knowledge, while they also uniquely value information that connects them to the local outdoor community. Experts value peer-level discussions on technical and trend-focused topics. For service design, this study offers a new layer for customer journey maps, which can be helpful to analyse the cognitive content linked to different customer needs. Practically, for small specialised outdoor sports retailers, this study translates into a three-step roadmap focused on suggestions regarding staff training, customer satisfaction metrics, and building a community hub. More broadly, for all small specialised retailers, the findings could evolve into a model for understanding customer needs and designing interactions. ... Read more

This report, created in collaboration with Delft University of Technology and Accenture Song’s Design and Digital Products (DDP) team, addresses the need for a structured evaluation process at the end of client projects. Accenture Song integrates business consultancy, creative agency services, and technological expertise. The main research question is the following:

“How can I design an evaluation tool for Accenture Song employees and their clients to ensure value delivery and client satisfaction after project delivery?”

The literature review reveals that post-project evaluations are often neglected in consulting due to the lack of integration into standard workflows. Consultancy firms typically focus on the project’s scope, timelines, and budget, which are insufficient for comprehensive evaluation. Successful client-consultant relationships, characterised by trust, clear communication, and expectation management, are also essential for effective evaluation.

Semi-structured interviews with DDP team members and clients provided insights into existing and preferred evaluation practices. Thematic content analysis identified key barriers, preconditions, and drivers for effective post-project evaluation. Current barriers include the absence of a standardised evaluation tool, discomfort with giving critical feedback, undocumented lessons, difficulty in measuring data, and the diverse nature of projects. Preconditions for effective evaluation encompass a trusting and transparent atmosphere, a standardised evaluation approach on different themes, clarity on the agreements from the project’s start, and integration of evaluation into the workflow. Drivers for evaluation include learning for future project improvement, creating opportunities for follow-up projects, benchmarking projects within Accenture Song, and strengthening client relationships.

For the post-project evaluation, a workshop and an online feedback storage are designed. The workshop conducted a few months post-delivery, is a face-to-face meeting with the project team and client. The workshop’s participants use cards with questions as conversation starters and a survey to stimulate feedback sharing. The feedback storage includes a manual with workshop guidelines and templates in which lessons can be written down to stimulate feedback capturing. The workshop is the standardised evaluation tool, which facilitates feedback sharing on different themes, focusing on the course of the project and the impact of the deliverables. The combination of the qualitative conversation and quantitative survey together paints a complete picture of the project’s performance.

A crucial part of this evaluation approach is the creation of a new task within project teams: the evaluation safeguard. This employee is responsible for keeping track of evaluation throughout and after the project, and for facilitating the workshop. This new project role will ensure that post-project evaluation will take place.

Validation interviews and a trial workshop were conducted to gather feedback on the viability, feasibility, and desirability of the solution. Furthermore, an implementation plan is created to guide the DDP team in adopting and implementing the new solution. It is recommended to start with a six-month trial within the DDP team, during which evaluation safeguards are appointed to projects and evaluation workshops are performed.
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This project aims to enhance vertical farming through the development of innovative growing trays equipped with integrated ventilation channels that blow air vertically from beneath the plants. This vertical air supply ensures optimal air distribution, creating a microclimate at the plant level with ideal temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels, leading to healthier and more efficient crop growth. ... Read more

The accelerated digitalization of daily interactions, significantly influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic, has rendered the digital realm a fundamental aspect of life across generations. This shift has led to a transformation in digital asset management, ownership, and trade. The introduction of blockchain technology, especially non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has initiated a new era where digital items are capable of scarcity and uniqueness—attributes previously exclusive to physical luxury goods.
In this light, the project investigates the convergence of blokchain technology with the luxury automotive sector, seeking to unlock the business potential for luxury Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
Through creative trend research, emerging trends and developments have been identified, delineating the future landscape of luxury automotive. A strategic vision for luxury OEMs has been formulated, establishing a reference point for innovation and customer-centric product development.
The project has pinpointed four products, each embodying the promise to resonate with the evolving values of luxury consumers and to propel business growth. These products are central to a structured roadmap, which is segmented into three strategic horizons, guiding towards the envisioned future. Each horizon encompasses specific goals, in harmony with the progression and integration of these digital products.
The roadmap produced is a detailed blueprint for luxury automotive companies to contemplate the integration of blockchain technology with luxury experiences. The report concludes with an evaluation of the products and the roadmap by luxury automotive professionals, and suggestions for further research to
refine the strategic approach. This comprehensive evaluation encapsulates the project’s full scope and its approach to aid luxury automotive towards more meaningful and superior digital experiences. ... Read more

Customer experience (CX) is becoming increasingly important for companies in the financial sector. Digital engagement accelerated due to the pandemic, resulting in a higher demand for optimized digital customer experiences and user-friendly IT systems. Companies in the financial sector have to keep up with the digital transformation and bring their CX to the next level.

This project is done in collaboration with the Technology Transformation (TT) team of Ernst & Young (EY) which navigates its clients through transformations. The team implements the backend of new IT systems for their clients and therefore focuses on the business and technical side of these systems. TT works from a viability and a feasibility point-of-view, overlooking the desirability. The desirability of products and services is important because a negative customer experience leads to customers leaving their service-providing companies. Therefore, it’s becoming increasingly important for TT to pay more attention to the CX of the IT systems they implement. For TT to be able to provide its clients with viable, feasible, and desirable IT systems, this research investigates how TT’s service offering can be enhanced by developing new capabilities.

In this thesis, the first step towards a future where CX is incorporated into TT’s projects will be created. The ultimate reason for conducting this thesis is to add to the team's growing body of knowledge about CX and offer the team useful insights and suggestions on how to enhance CX in their future projects and provide more value to their clients.

The findings of this thesis might also be applicable to other groups and companies trying to improve their CX and gain a competitive edge in today's customer-driven market. The research phase finds accessibility, communicability, and traceability as key factors in contributing to the desirability of IT, and convenience, usability, security, trust, and personalization as key drivers in the financial sector for enhancing CX.

By involving a collaborative design approach with co-creation sessions with fellow SPD students and design consultants from VODW, ideas were generated, and concepts were created. The final concept for TT is The CX Innovator’s Guide. The CX Guide serves as a starting point for TT to develop and enhance its CX capabilities and work towards delivering more desirable solutions. The Guide is a tool for the team to get acquainted with the new topic, learn about current CX developments in the market, and how they can include CX in their projects.
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Whello is a full-service digital marketing agency based in Amsterdam and Indonesia, offering branding, web development and campaigning services. They have grown a lot the last few years since their establishment in 2018. However, this growth is not reflected through their current branding. This, combined with their desire to take the next step by entering the international market, led them to the idea of a rebrand.

Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to develop and implement a new and improved brand image for Whello that better reflects their growth and positions them as a professional and experienced player in the international digital marketing industry. The project was performed in 3 overlapping phases to ensure an iterative process based on design thinking; the research phase, the ideation phase, and the implementation phase, to conceptualize, perform, and substantialize the rebranding of Whello.

First, to start off the research phase, literature research was conducted into rebranding, international branding, and business-to-business branding. The main insights gained from this, were that the new branding should not leave too much of what worked and is appreciated behind and should be based on a universally accepted idea that is continuously adaptable to nuances. Lastly, the rebranding should be used to bridge the gap of uncertainty by showing Whello’s experience and expertise, and thereby increasing the purchase confidence.

Second, the 5C analysis concluded the research phase. Key findings were that Whello's main strengths lie in their 3-step full service approach, together with their distinctive empathic approach with an emphasis on co-creation, communication, and synergy between their specialists. Another clear distinction was the friendly approach of Whello. Lastly, it was found that Whello sees a lot of depth in growth in terms of balancing growth for themselves, their customers, their employees, and the planet.

Then, the key findings, together with findings from a workshop with employees, were turned into a new brand identity through the ideation phase. This consisted of three sections; the identity, the brand, and the evidence, together setting a foundation for the implementation phase (Figure 1). From this Whello’s new brand identity was made to be empathic, cheerful, structured, and inspirational to show their strengths, growth and future vision.

Next, to help Whello with the implementation of their new brand identity, a Brand Guide was created and evaluated. This showed how the brand is translated visually and tonally, through a new logo design, colour palette, typography, key visuals, visual elements, tone of voice, and three brand touchpoint examples (one example can be seen in Figure 2). These examples were then also evaluated on whether they reflected the intended brand identity. This showed that most of the intended elements served their purpose, but that they should be used together, and that sustainability was not well recognized in the design.

Finally, the results of this thesis were evaluated on feasibility, desirability, and viability, after which limitations, implications, and recommendations were discussed and the thesis is concluded. Key takeaways were that the new direction can be used by changing the communication, but the implementation should be evaluated further to get more insights into which elements and configurations work best.
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In this graduation thesis, a (sandwich) spread with spirulina, called Spirucijn, has been developed for Alga.farm. The main goal of the project was to create a strong market strategy for their food harvest of spirulina in line with their values.

The final results are the brand touchpoints, consisting of the final product design and communication designs. The final product is a spread for eco-conscious and -friendly people, and consist of nutritious and local ingredients. The report covers the design brief of the spread, the design of the packaging and flyer, the construction and a visual of the website, visuals of Instagram posts,  and a product launch campaign. ... Read more

The evolution of brand management leads to an understanding of brands as dynamic, co-created entities that express purpose and identity. With this emerging understanding, the role of employees in building and delivering a brand is increasingly recognised and exploited. Through internal branding efforts, companies can aim to improve the alignment of their employees with their brand, by making sure employees (1) understand the brand, (2) identify with the brand and (3) commit to the brand to eventually be able to (4) behave in line with the brand. This thesis aims to examine and improve the internal brand alignment at creative tech company WeTransfer, to eventually make for more fulfilled and connected employees, who can better deliver the brand promise to make for content and loyal customers.

To understand the context, a study consisting of corporate ethnography, qualitative interviews and existing data analysis was conducted. The findings from the research illustrate that the rapid growth of WeTransfer has a considerable impact on its internal brand and culture. On the one hand, there is a need for guidance of employees, to make sure their understanding of the brand does not fragment further. On the other hand, it is found that the freedom and autonomy of employees should be preserved. Thus, the challenge is to find a balance in guiding employees to contribute to the brand, while retaining their freedom.

To address this challenge, a strategy is developed based on concepts from literature, to (1) make the WeTransfer brand clear by concretising it internally and (2) make the brand live by facilitating an internal conversation. To illustrate how this strategy can be executed, a two-component design is proposed. Firstly, a WeTransfer manifesto is co-created with employees, aiming to translate the abstract brand values and purpose into concrete behaviour on the work floor. Secondly, the Living the brand program is developed to activate the manifesto and initiate discussion on the matter. The program is led by a team of brand ambassadors and engages all employees in several activities to learn about and reflect on the manifesto.

In this time of rapid growth, the design proposal has the potential to make explicit what aspects define WeTransfer and should be held on to. It helps the company strengthen those aspects and get all employees pulling in the same direction. Executing the advised strategy - making the brand clear and making it live - has the potential to contribute to the authenticity of WeTransfer’s brand. Employees will be more strongly connected to the brand and be able to deliver the brand promise. That not only makes employees remain at their jobs but also improves customer satisfaction and loyalty.

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Consumers no longer buy products. They buy brands. The power of a brand lies in what consumers have “learned, felt, seen, and heard about the brand as a result of their experiences through interaction with brand’s touchpoints “(Keller, 2013, p. 69)). The designing of these experiences is called Brand Experience Design.
Brands have become one of the organizations’ most valuable assets. This entails that storytelling has become more important. It helps ensuring a brand has a single and consistent proposition. However, when a brand does not live up to its story, the story is nothing more than empty words to persuade a consumer. Therefore, it will not only be essential to tell a consistent story but also to prove it.
To achieve this, brands have to think from a central idea and translating it into the brand’s different touchpoints. Think about central ideas like Nike’s Just do it or Coolblue’s Alles voor een glimlach. While these are successful examples that organizations look up to, they don’t organize themselves to do the same. So the question is how to help these organizations think more from such central idea?
This project is executed in collaboration with creative agency Selmore. Selmore believes they have the answer to this question: Guiding Ideas. Guiding Ideas are meant to spark inspiration and give guidance to the brand builders during brand experience design. It is a guiding principle and forms the basis of the design process of brand touchpoints (Calabretta et al., 2019). Selmore uses creativity to help brands grow with Guiding Ideas.
Guiding Ideas can potentially function as brand ideas for organizations that help translate the brand’s story into the different touchpoints. Selmore believes in this potential, but the reality is still different. Selmore experiences that Guiding Ideas are not used correctly and therefore do not reach their full potential. In line with this observation, the purpose of this thesis was to research:
How to exploit the unexploited potential of a Guiding Idea?
In other words, the aim was to investigate how to create a warm bath for Guiding Ideas that, at the same time, can contribute to better usage of Guiding Ideas. ... Read more

Building a relationship between brands and people is a concept that has been around for a while. It is a way for marketers to raise brand equity and favourably increase customer engagement, brand differentiation and customer loyalty. However, the way customers interact with brands and how brands themselves Crete value is changing. Digital platforms have established themselves as digital mediator between customers and brands. Within a platform economy, value is not merely created by the product or services made by the brand, but the network of participants creates it on the platform. Incorporating this changing economy into brand strategy is vital as 75% of the time, only one platform prevails. The exploration within the field of brand relationships and platform business strategy holds great value to maintain a competitive brand positioning. The thesis aims to answer the following question; How can the use of new insights and knowledge contribute to creating meaningful customer brand relationships within a future platform economy in the Dutch market? The project is done in collaboration with PwC’s Experience Center. At their Experience Center, they help their clients create innovative product and service offerings with the focus on creating a great customer experience. The exploration of this topic will allow them to be better equipped for upcoming client needs regarding the development of new experiences that help their clients form meaningful relationships with their customer. Through a literature review, a basic understanding is created of the topics of brand-consumer relationships and platform business model, which aims to establish the domain for future exploration. Through desk research and expert interviews, 176 insights were gathered. Through clustering and a generative session with design students, 12 clusters were identified. These ultimately led to 4 future scenario’s. Through further analysis, one future scenario was chosen for further exploration with the following vision. The interaction between the platform, consumer, and brand should work like a robust ecosystem where all stakeholders live in a symbiotic relationship, each serving their purpose and bringing value to the ecosystem. This led to the creation of the following 6 design principles aimed to enhance the brand experience for brands operating in a platform economy. (1) Relationships are not built overnight. (2) Collaborate or die (3) No such thing as a virtual hug (4) Branding is 99% emotion. (5) Doing good for society is doing good for branding. (6) Actually, start to listen. These design principles serve to guide the Experience Consulting team and other strategic designers in the creation of new products and services while deepening the relationship with the customer. ... Read more

This thesis proposes a strategy in the form of a design roadmap in order to enhance the E-loyalty (brand loyalty) of the E-commerce company Home Design Shops.The past 10 years internet retail sales have been rapidly growing. The gradual shift from offline to online shopping comes with its own set of unique challenges for brands and business operations. Consumers are almost effortlessly able to compare different competitors that offer the same product or service. “The result is fierce price competition and vanishing brand loyalty.” Kuttner (1998). This is also a problem that Home Design Shops encounters as an e-commerce company in the living/home-goods sector. The company wants to distinguish itself from colossal competitors like FonQ, Bol.com and Amazon by offering the best service and service support during the complete customer journey when renovating a house. The past years Home Design Shops has showed remarkably growth with revenue growth numbers up to 50% per year. To maintain this sustainable growth while at the same time distinguishing themselves from their competitors, there was the need for a new long-lasting strategy. Therefore, the goal of this graduation project was to develop a strategy that would result in an increase in brand loyalty combined with growth on the long run. The foundation of the strategy has been developed by performing an extensive internal analysis of the company and an external analysis consisting of a consumer, competitor market and trend analysis. The result was summarized into a future vision which describes the desired effect that needs to be achieved with the future strategy:

Empowering customers to become proud and delighted home-owners. By supporting them along every stage of their journey and exceeding all their needs. Giving them confidence and confirmation by offering personalized help, advice, products and services. In order to realize this strategy three overlapping continuous cycles (Horizons) of strategic business innovation has been constructed: Delighting the customer. By providing them with all the support, content and product knowledge needed to confidentially make their own product choice and get the job done. Recommending customers. By becoming personal: getting to know their preferences and recommending a fitting interior or product combinations to them. Empowering customers. By helping them to achieve their project goals, providing an ecosystem with all the services, tools, content and products to confidentially plan and shape their own project. The strategy is presented in the form of a roadmap providing a chronological step-by-step approach in order to reach the future vision. Providing an overview of the: value propositions, features of the products/services, needed technology & data stream and the corresponding revenue models. Three design solutions have been conceptualized in order to make them tangible and validate hypotheses with in the form of a user test. ... Read more

The Blue Tulip Awards is a year-round innovation awards aiming to find the most innovative innovations in Benelux area. It was previously named as Accenture Innovation Awards for 12 years, which was very famous and well-known among innovation communities. Even if the brand is very famous and successful among innovators, the branding style of Blue Tulip Awards is very chaotic and confusing. To establish a new brand look, a new brand book is designed with a three phase process: Explore-Orientate; Research-Define; Design-Validate. In the explore-orientate phase, the context of the project was explored and analyzed from different angles. We conducted company and brand analysis, stakeholder analysis, competitor analysis, and an literature review. As the conclusion, we identified that in order to maintain a brand with both high dynamics and consistency, the brand book should be redesigned into one that reflect the leading principle. Three research questions were raised based on the conclusion: Why do Blue Tulip Awards need a new brand book? What should be in the new brand book? What leading principle should we reflect by the brand book? In the research-define phase, a qualitative interview and a quantitative survey with internal stakeholders was performed to answer the three research question. The data were analyzed using Grounded Theory Method. The final results are shown in several infographics. Three brand personality traits and ten design requirements were identified from the research. The personality traits is the starting point of the leading principle. An collaborative and agile approach was chosen to define the leading principle. As the results, the leading principle consists of four components: brand personalities, slogan, mood board, and design examples. They were tested with the audience and designer. The leading principle and ten design requirements are used to guide the design of the new brand book. As the results, a brand book with four chapters were designed. The final design was validated with three designers in an validation session. It was proved that the new brand book is helpful in a brand experience design process, and it performs better than the previous brand book in two dimensions: creativity and brand fit. As the conclusion, an systematic reflection and future recommendations are provided in the last chapter. ... Read more

Crisp is an online supermarket for fresh and high-quality food. By using an app, customers can order groceries which are delivered to your house throughout the Netherlands. One of the goals for Crisp as a start-up is to grow. Crisp desires controlled growth, where their operations scale simultaneously with their customer base. The framework for start-up growth from McClure (2007) is used for this research. The challenge Crisp faces is to optimize consumer retention, which can be explained by comparing the acquisition rate and the churn rate (McClure, 2007). To grow the customer base, resulting in company growth, retention needs to be increased. To stay competitive, Crisp needs to continuously innovate. According to Schumpeter (1949), who published the first academic ideas about innovation, companies have to continuously introduce ‘new combinations’ in their product design to remain profitable. Hence, the following main research question is addressed. How to increase the retention of digital grocer Crisp through innovation-based concept design? By internal and external analysis, search areas, or innovation themes, were concluded. From analyzing the company, consumer and collaborators internally and the competitors and context externally, four search areas were defined: transparency, ‘doing good’, engagement and personalization. These trends could be interesting for Crisp for the development of a new innovation for their application. The search areas were used as a basis for the qualitative consumer research. Interviews were held with the goal to validate which search area would be most interesting for product development. Thirteen consumer interviews were conducted, testing four hypotheses matching the search areas. By coding the interviews, categorizing and defining the relationships between the code groups, a grounded theory was developed. The qualitative research resulted in the development of a general model for online shopping, describing the process a Crisp consumer goes through while buying groceries. From this model, the design brief was formulated describing five focus points: creative, personal, transparent, convenient and informative. Afterwards, through a brainstorming session, many selection rounds, critical discussions and design iterations, a concept design was developed for the application. The ‘weekly planning’ is an integration of customers weekly planning of recipes in the Crisp app. It offers more personal convenience, it unburdens customers in a smart way and it is an easier guidance trough shopping. As this concept is designed from direct consumer needs following from extensive consumer research, it could contribute to an increase of retention. Also, a first concept validation round is held amongst online shoppers where retention is positively validated. Lastly, conducting an A/B experiment is recommended for Crisp to measure retention after the ‘weekly planning’ is launched. Acquisition and churn rates should be measured and compared, so the retention rate can be calculated. Also, consumer satisfaction, habit and experience and service quality can be measured to quantify the increase of retention in the real app context. ... Read more

There is an increasing number of products in the market. Many of them get copied the second they launch. In the end, everything looks identical. Digitalization is the main reason behind, causing the commoditization of the products (van Erp, 2011). Eventually, a brand becomes the only thing creating difference among competitors. However, instead of blaming the digital revolution, it is possible to take a step back and find a way out by designing from the brand perspective. So, what is the brand experience? Brand experiences can be defined as the overall experiences that cover customers’ sensations, feelings, thoughts, and actions lived within a certain brand. These experiences cause customer responses through brand-related stimuli (Brakus et al., 2009). Designers play an important role in the creation of brand experiences by translating the brand into the design. A touchpoint is considered as the final version of a design that is made for a certain brand. It can be a website, mobile application, packaging or a tangible product. Therefore, the design of the manifestation is a quite similar process with the standard user-centric design processes. The only difference is that while the user-centric design processes have the focus of the user, in this design process the focus is the brand. During the brand experience design process, there are many difficulties that designers face. The main reason behind is that in the literature, there are no inductive or deductive methods for designing for brand experiences nor is there a process for making a product or a service ‘on brand’. Think the brand out loud is a tool designed for validating the concepts if they are ‘on brand’ or not. The tool consists of a manual, card set and two boards. The card set is a selection of brand values, personalities, and emotions, and boards (explained in the manual) help both to define the brand’s core elements and to select concepts according to those core elements. While the tool guides the design team to discuss and reach a consensus, at the same time, it reveals the strengths and weaknesses of each design concept and helps to define directions for the final design. ... Read more

This report is the result of a self-initiated design graduation project that regarded positive design in a strategic design context. The goal of the project was to design and develop a tool or method that integrates positive design knowledge into strategic design processes. To get to the bottom of this, desk research and user research into the domains of strategic and positive design were conducted. Research presented opportunities to apply happiness interventions on multiple strategic levels of a product-service system. These opportunities were developed into an overview, the positive strategic design (PSD) framework. Research also presented several strategically viable implications to communicate the happiness interventions. The chosen strategy was one that was directed at design students. The students are the bridge between theory and practice and can potentially improve engagement with positive design in both areas. The strategy was to create a solution that included principles from both strategic design and positive design and incorporated the PSD framework. The final design included a tool in the form of website and a printable card set and were developed to give users the same value independent of the format that they use. Moreover, people can download the card set through the website, making it easier to use and discuss the happiness interventions in a group. The website can be accessed via https://positivestrategicdesign.com ... Read more