For the fashion industry, 2020 was a year of change. As the covid-19 pandemic ravaged the world, the industry suffered its worst year on record (Business of Fashion, 2021). Consumer behaviour shifted, and supply chains were disrupted. The industry had to rethink their business and define the 'new normal', which meant adapting to trends and focusing on digital solutions.   One of the solutions could be digital fashion. Digital fashion is computer-generated fashion that can be worn with your digital bodies - avatars - and with physical bodies by using AR technology. PVH, a global apparel company that manages lifestyle brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, has identified digital fashion as an opportunity for new digital products/services or digital ventures and is looking to use it in innovations that 'Win over Gen-Z' and 'Commit to Sustainability'.   The aim of this research is to provide Area52 with a recommendation for how to pursue digital fashion innovation within the coming ten years in the form of a future vision and a strategic roadmap. Extensive literature review and multiple generative research methodologies like focus groups, semi-structured interviews and co-creation sessions were used to empathize with all stakeholders. Subsequently, various elements of Vision in Product design (Hekkert & Van Dijk, 2011) and Design Roadmapping (Simonse et al., 2015) were used to synthesize the insights into a set of recommendations that are structured in a why-how-what format.  Why? In our envisioned future, Gen Z are identity nomads that want to be unique and continuously develop and discover new sides of their identity through the fashion they wear. They would prefer to have an endless wardrobe with which they can try something new every day. However, the environmental impact and cost hold them back. In the on-demand and augmented society that the world is heading towards, this problem can be answered with the future vision: In 2030, augmented fashion will be the ethical means for Gen Z to express and stretch their identity through instant experimentation.  How? In the stated vision, digital fashion changes the interaction between consumers and brands from a one-way stream to an infinite interaction loop. Tommy Hilfiger facilitates the continuous discovery of the identities a person wants to identify with. Consumers can explore and experiment with digital styles in the physical domain using AR technology endlessly. In turn, Tommy Hilfiger perfects their consumer profile with the data they receive.   To arrive at the future vision, I propose a three-horizon approach for Tommy Hilfiger:  H1 Enhance physical fashion H2 Build blocks for phygital fashion H3 Instant experiments with augmented ethical fashion  What? Based on the roadmap, future vision and brand-user interaction, the desired product-user interaction is defined in the form of guiding principles. The principles state that Tommy Hilfiger's digital fashion solutions should foster experimentation in a way that: (1) Is Playful, (2) Is Dynamic and Iterative, (3) Offers Interesting Variety, (4) Is Accessible, and (5) Enables Feedback.  The way these principles can be put to practice in product or service designs is demonstrated in the final vision concept 'Anywear'. Anywear is a 2030 platform that connects style-influencers to people who want to experiment with new identities. Through a subscription model, users get access to an infinite digital wardrobe that they can use across the entire phygital environment. It gamifies fashion and guarantees newness by monetizing success for creators.    The concept provides Tommy Hilfiger with: Insight into how their products are styled, New inspiration for designs, Customer engagement, Data on consumer personality, preferences, community and possibly even activities, based on the fashion they choose to augment.       ... Read more

Trust is a human mechanism that opens doors to innovation and progress. Especially when risk is involved, trust will create a bridge between you and an opportunity and will enable that crossover. I believe design can form such a bridge, and in this project I explored how design can create trust.
This project was done in the context of a connected farmer platform for Rabobank. The bank wants to move from a service provider to a connector between clients. This will change the relationships they have and new relationships will be established. These new types of relationships are unknown and trust does not exist here. Rabobank, like many other cooperations, used to be able to produce and control trust themselves. Now, this way of creating trust no longer works, and people are looking for other ways to create trust relationships. Technology enables a new type of trust in which people place trust in one-another in stead of a service provider. This creates an interesting opportunity for Rabobank as a connector, because it enables the establishment of trust between clients with Rabobank as facilitator of that trust relationship.
Two main strategies for creating trust can be defined. Contextual trust relies on contextual properties to inform a person about their trustworthiness. Contextual trust is confirmed by control mechanisms such as formal agreements and structural controls. Very different from that we can define intrinsic trust. This type of trust is centred around one’s intrinsic motivations and is communicated through observable actions that eventually accumulate into a reputation.
The strategies enable different types of relationships and collaboration structures. Contextual trust works best in situations with hierarchy and authority. Intrinsic trust is very different and enables self-coordination though autonomy. These strategies are very different but also go well together. Most relationships leverage both strategies to create trust. But also it is important to be cautious with them because contextual trust mechanisms can potentially hurt the foster of intrinsic trust. A historical analysis shows how Rabobank has always been able to work from a trust relationship. The way the bank works has changed immensely and these types same relationships are no longer an option. The bank is still very allied to the agricultural sector and a new dynamic between bank and sector has to be found in order to work together. Rabobank is a cooperative bank, and even though not many people really understands what this really means it tuned out to be an interesting asset. Especially because farmers are so very used to work in these types of structures. A cooperative structure enables new ways of working, and enables a new structure in which Rabobank has to define its role. All findings and insights were synthesised into a design proposal (Figure 2) for a data sharing platform for Rabobank. The setup of the platform also highlights Rabobanks role (Figure 1), with its many trust consequences. The visualised platform highlights many trust mechanisms and shows what they would look like in this context. ... Read more

The aim of this thesis is to discover the benefits and risks of lean branding for an early stage start-up. Lean branding proposes to apply the theories and methods of the lean startup methodology on branding. These aspects are analysed through a case study of PuurBezorgd. This start-up was in need of a brand identity, making it a viable for this thesis. In addition, the researcher has been actively participating in the case study as one of the active founders. Because of this, action research and autoethnography are used as methodologies.

This research project has the following outcomes:
Concerning the value of lean branding for an early stage start-up;
- The case study reveals many disadvantages to using lean branding for an early stage start-up. Conclusions are made on the (dis)advantages of lean branding and recommendations given concerning using the lean startup method, outside-in branding and branding a start-up that is still defining its value proposition.
- An alignment model is proposed to evaluate the fit between product, market, brand and strategic vision to discuss the potential of transforming the start-up into a sustainable business.
- An extra step to add to the build-measure-learn model is proposed: reflect. During this phase, it is proposed to use the alignment model and autoethnography to reflect both on the process as the content of the brand development.

Concerning the development of PuurBezorgd’s brand identity;
- During the three iterations of the brand identity a few invalidations were noticed, concerning the product-market fit. Two pivots are made, a new name is proposed, and brand manifestations are developed. This brand identity will continue to be developed and validated until a fit is found between the product, market, brand and strategic vision of the company. ... Read more

Companies are advised on investments through a parametric business case for different fashion rental models. ... Read more

Our society is facing a major challenge: to combat climate change. This requires transformation into a society that does not emit greenhouse gasses. This is known. However, it is not known, how to realise this transformation. This is experienced by Gemeente Rotterdam, as they are responsible for realising the sustainable transformation of the city, and leads to the question: what can Gemeente Rotterdam do, in addition to their current strategy, to realise the sustainable transformation in IJsselmonde? This project answers the question as following: Gemeente Rotterdam can further develop and organise the design intervention Schoonschip Week in IJsselmonde. The Schoonschip Week is an organised declutter event, with provided declutter facilities. Decluttering is personal relevant to IJsselmonders, as it increases mental health (tidy house, tidy mind). Decluttering is considered to be a reflective activity, in the climate adaptive behaviour category belongings. Reflection on behaviour in a climate adaptive category, is expected to lead to (receptiveness for)climate adaptive behaviour - which is needed to realise the sustainable transformation.
By organising the Schoonschip Week, it can be evaluated if this is indeed the case. If so, this design intervention can also be used (or adapted) for the sustainable transformation of other districts in Rotterdam.

The question of Gemeente Rotterdam, is a question in a sustainable transition context. Creating an answer for this question through a design project, is designing for transitions. This project is carried out with the help of a map and design approach, which are created based on the indicated limitations and recommendations for research for the transition design practice. Both are experienced as valuable within this project. The creation, use and evaluation of the map and design approach, inform the transition design practice how to design for transitions - and contribute to the development of this emerging discipline, that aims to realise sustainable transitions with a design-led approach.
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Increasing computing power, networking capabilities, rapid developments in information and communication technologies have made digital technologies part of our lives and changed the dynamics in the society and in the business world. (Demirkan, Spohrer, & Welser, 2016; Svahn, Henfridsson, & Yoo, 2009). While presenting numerous opportunities for organizations, digital technologies lowered the threshold in the market for new entrants. Therefore, change has become imperative for large organizations in order to survive. This profound and accelerating transformation of business activities, processes, competencies and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities brought by digital technologies is called digital transformation (Demirkan, Spohrer, & Welser, 2016). Digital transformation presents a novel and complex challenge for organizations regardless which industry they belong to. It is imperative for all the organizations to embrace the deep-rooted, never ending digital journey for their survival. However, going through this journey is not easy for organizations in highly competitive and rapidly changing business environments. Clearly, it is impossible for companies to respond to all the technological developments happening in the world. But how should the companies choose the right technology and how should they apply it? How can they reap the benefits of these technologies in favor of their organization and customers? On the other hand, brand, is an established concept in the literature. It is acknowledged by the literature that it could be a powerful tool for organizations in selecting, guiding and maintaining strategic directions for organizations (Mosmans & van der Vorst, 1998). However, the role of an organization’s brand in digital transformation is not addressed in the literature. This literature gap formed the foundation of this graduation project and was executed in collaboration with Deloitte Digital, a creative digital consultancy which helps large organizations in their digital transformation journeys and striving for acquiring new capabilities and ways of thinking. Exploration of the brand identity of the large organizations in digital transformation and bridging the insights to Deloitte Digital context provided them a new perspective over the digital transformation projects. In order to be able to enable Deloitte Digital consultants in gaining and applying brand-aware perspective on digital transformation projects, “Digital Ambitions” workshops has designed. This workshop, aims to facilitate the creation of future vision and exploration of the possibilities in different domains of digital transformation. Finally, this study has contributed to the research domains of brand and digital transformation in bridging the gap between those by proposing links between them. Additionally, a new perspective for Deloitte Digital is provided that illustrates a competitive advantage in differentiating their approach towards the clients. ... Read more

Fastest growing wine market “Chinese wine market has been growing steadily between 2008-2012, by a constant growth rate of 137%” (Wang, 2018). The importation of wine is expected to grow from 2 million cases in 2007 to 50 million cases in 2017. The potential market is estimated at between 50 million and 250 million Chinese drinkers (Hays, 2015). This headline figure points out that there is a shift in wine consumption from the traditional producer countries, namely western countries to new wine lovers in the US and China. This makes the east Asian wine market particularly interesting for wine retailers across the globe to explore. However, the assumption that a majority of wine consumers in developing wine drinking countries are novice wine drinkers. This suggests there is a lot of room for cross-cultural design (van Boeijen, 2015) and design for food adaption, with novice wine drinkers. Cultural relevance Food and beverages carry history when they are consumed. The act of drinking wine has much resemblance to the culture that one belongs to. “To a Frenchmen, knowing how to drink is a national technique which serves to qualify him, to demonstrate at once his performance, his control and his sociability” (Barthes, Lavers & Cape, 1993). There is convincing historical and contemporary evidence to show that the adoption of ‘foreign’ drinks often involves the adoption of the culturally established drinking patterns (SIRC, 1998). However, there is a debate about: should wine drinking developing countries adopt the same drinking practice from the developed countries, or is it more interesting to encourage them to develop their own drinking rituals relevant to specific drinking context? Who is the target? Culturally Based Wine Illiterates, (abbreviated as CBWI), are defined as the wine drinkers who lack the knowledge, skills and behaviour related to wine. This theory was deducted from the food literacy theory by Vidgen, & Gallegos (2014). Due to the absence of drinking context, and the high barrier to entry in getting to know wine, their confidence in various wine-related practices is affected negatively, hence it becomes more difficult when choosing a wine to consume. This preliminary research question helped to kick start the project: “How to help designers to design a shopping experience for Culturally-Based Wine Illiterates?” However, in the journey of investigating how to design a wine shopping experience. This topic can be broken down into two sub-steps to investigate. First is the human interaction with wine, and the second level is about the customer’s shopping experience with a given wine retail environment. Thereafter, the following sub-questions emerged: Human-wine interaction: Is knowledge of wine required for the consumer to enjoy the wine? What role does culture play in adopting foreign wine consumption practices? What we usually learn from the culture is a develop taste pallet for a particular type of food and habit of eating, how could a wine illiterate find their way in wine drinking? Shopping experience: How does culture shape one’s expectation from a shopping experience? Given the condition that for CBWI, the reference system in the realm of wine is missing, what kind of difficulties do they experience in the shopping experience? ... Read more

Healthcare innovation company FocusCura is one of the largest providers of eHealth in The Netherlands. Even though they are already active in other countries, they do not yet have a structured decision-making process for an international go-to-market decision. A decision aid for the business development department of the company solves this problem. To develop a decision aid academic and empirical research took place in three steps. First, to understand the internationalization strategy, process, and actions that provide the content for the decision aid. Second, to know more about decision aids and structured decision-making processes, that determined the decision aid structure. Third, generative research that provided company criteria for the design of the form. After configuration, this resulted in an improved internationalization process and a decision model that follows that. Building on that, a design process delivered a decision aid concept that meets the form criteria. It is tested with the end-user and optimized. The final foreign market-entry decision aid design followed from that. This design guides the user through the process of completing the decision model with a canvas and cards. A case study of the market-entry decision for the German personal alarms market then provided validation of the final design. This also indicated that FocusCura should enter that market. The result proved that the decision aid design structures the decision-making process and provides support to the decision maker. ... Read more

This project is initiated by Achtung! x Kraftwerk, having the goal to uncover the importance of branding in the upscaling process of start-ups. From the findings of this research, a new service proposition is designed that will help start-ups overcome their brand challenges by using the benefits of brand management.
In the phase of understanding, the research is mainly around three topics; start-ups’ challenges and needs, the benefits and peculiarities of branding, and ultimately an approach to start-up branding. Besides that, a case study towards a relevant project is conducted to get insight on the capabilities of the team, and the way they work.
These insights are formed into the design of the Launch Lab; a service that aims to help start-ups in developing their brand from the start-up using a brand-led management approach. In this service, the complementary qualities of branding and design are used optimally, to bring optimal value to the start-up’s upscaling process. Along the three identified stages of this process (start, launch and scale), three corresponding service propositions are formed that each focus on the specific needs of start-ups and their brand at this stage; the Pitch Maschine, the Achtung, Fertig, Los! and die Skalierung. By collaborating in a co-creative approach, the Launch Lab team and the start-up aim to create, test and improve their brand and product propositions iteratively, using of customer feedback.
The three services give the start-ups the opportunity to develop their brand right from the start, and to learn them how to embed a brand-leading management approach in their organisation, to make their brand truly unique and inspiring. Because in the end, actions speak louder than words. ... Read more

Companies often encounter the challenge of trying to define exactly what it is that they do, what service they offer and how. Studio Dumbar, a design agency specialising in visual identity design, offline and online, faces such a challenge with its “strategy” service, additionally wishing to make it more transferable and less exclusively linked to one individual. The assignment was to design a solution (framework(s) and corresponding narrative(s)) illustrating the strategic opportunity for the future process, role and value of “strategy” at Studio Dumbar and, in this way, clarifying “strategy” as a service, making it clear, explainable and sellable. After extensive research into the external context (academic literature and professional expert opinion) and internal research into Studio Dumbar itself and how “strategy” is interpreted there (through observation, interviews and case study research), “strategy” at Studio Dumbar can be better described as brand strategy, and more specifically: the derivation of a brand’s positioning as strategic driver for a brand and its visual identity. At present, Studio Dumbar’s brand strategy finds itself at the start of visual identity design trajectories. The current brand strategy process consists of five main steps: new business, desk research, interviews, workshop, deliverables. It serves two roles: 1. It is a phase that gives direction for the design process of a visual identity, and 2. It is a service offered by Studio Dumbar and provides overarching advice for the brand. It currently has the following value for these stakeholders: for designers at Studio Dumbar it gives direction and a feeling of the company, for project managers at Studio Dumbar it keeps the project and team on track and creates synergy, for (prospective) clients of Studio Dumbar it gives them perspective, overarching advice and direction.

ADVICE: After analysing the options for the future of brands strategy at Studio Dumbar, they are advised to strengthen the current process, role and value of Studio Dumbar, through adopting the 5 Suit Method, which was designed to illustrate this possible future. The 5 Suit Method is a growing and adapting set of cards that define the steps, techniques and tools that can be used in the brand strategy process at Studio Dumbar. The cards include tips, possible tools to use and mind-sets to apply to individual steps. It illuminates the process, making it transferrable and strengthens it through the addition of a more structured desk research phase, other additions or variations. It therefore shows a dynamic way of working that is structured, whilst leaving room for a personal approach. In addition, making the service team-based is advised. Employing a (junior) brand strategist will vastly increase the speed at which transferability, and the mentality that goes with it, is achieved. Exploring the opportunities across Dept, a digital agency of which Studio Dumbar is part, should be embraced from the start of brand strategy projects, to broaden the possible outcomes for clients. More project management of brand strategy projects will make this possible and help maintain a transferable process. The main next steps for Studio Dumbar are to employ a (junior) brand strategist, finalise the contents of the method, redesign it visually and digitally and then launch it.
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