In a world facing interconnected crises, there is a growing need for approaches that enable long term systemic transformation. Transition design is one such approach. As a specialised field at the intersection of design and sustainability transitions, it aims to guide societies toward desirable futures through systemic interventions. This dissertation advances transition design theory and practice by exploring how designers can stage their expertise to foster societal transitions. Through research in a transition in the Dutch food system, it examines visioning, framing, and evaluating as key areas of design expertise particularly relevant to transition processes.

With one-third of global food production wasted yearly, food systems face increasing strain. High levels of food waste deplete resources, harm the environment, worsen food insecurity, and incur significant economic costs. Reducing food waste is, therefore, critical for easing pressure on ecosystems and mitigating the effects of climate change. In the Netherlands, household waste is particularly prevalent, embedded in entrenched consumption patterns, making systemic change both urgent and complex.

Against this backdrop, the dissertation makes several contributions. It introduces adaptable consumption as an innovative practice to reduce food waste and enhance food system resilience, supported by an intervention portfolio. It provides methodological guidance for designers working across timeframes, actor networks, and scales, helping identify where and how to intervene in complex systems. Finally, it proposes evaluative qualities to assess whether interventions are desirable, plausible, and networked within transition pathways. These contributions enrich the emerging knowledge in transition design while equipping designers with practical tools for engaging with societal transitions. ... Read more

In a world increasingly faced with complexity, systemic design is growing in popularity as a knowledge field to target such complex contexts. However, it is yet to be applied in organizations and projects. This thesis aims to bridge the existing knowledge and practice gap between transitioning, or ‘reframing’, from traditional problem-solving methods used for complicated problems and the use of systemic design for complex contexts that characterize challenges that modern-day society faces. The research is an innovative exploration into the transition to-, and practical application of systemic design within organizational project settings, particularly focusing on the design consultancy Halogen, which is already bridging this gap. Employing a multi-faceted research methodology that includes case studies, interviews, and document analysis, the study analyzes Halogen’s existing operational practices on the organization’s expertise and challenges in transitioning towards applying systemic design in projects, delivering final designs that combine both into practical guides in reframing.

The key findings reveal a significant gap between traditional approaches and systemic design in literature, mainly when dealing with complex problems. Interestingly, the challenges in reframing for the organization Halogen are not so much in the actual reframing and project execution itself but more in the processes supporting the projects’ pre-execution phase. It was observed that reframing practices occur naturally among skilled designers and business developers, but processes and misalignment within the organization limit Halogen from executing more systemic projects. Therefore, additional suggestions were made in the designs proposed in this thesis to align transitioning practices with needed foundations within an organization. Doing so bridges the earlier mentioned gap by introducing such practices organization-wide for people newly introduced to these practices and making it more applicable for other consultancies.

The thesis introduces a reframing framework, canvas, and accompanying information booklet inspired by improvement points and best practices, where empirical insights and research through design generated this knowledge. The insights showed that experienced designers automatically followed through the practices of spotting opportunities, aligning critical factors in projects, and accommodating them so a reframe could happen. However, this practice came from years of experience and is less evident to the novice systemic designer, indicating a need for help. This canvas and framework facilitate the transition from traditional to systemic design approaches by giving an easy-to-understand structure of the reframing practice and providing apt questions on how to do so— making designers able to target pressing complex problems. It outlines reframing tactics, critical factors, and foundations that organizations should consider for successful systemic design implementation. Besides offering value to Halogen as an organization, this thesis aimed for the designs delivered to achieve more systemic projects and impact for other organizations, focusing on the adaptability of the canvas and framework beyond Halogen. The research concludes that adopting a systemic and impact-focused viewpoint is not merely an option but a necessity for organizations aiming for sustainable impact and continuous improvement in the field of systemic design.
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The issue of labour exploitation in the Netherlands has been gaining more attention lately. Regularly stories appear in the news in which employees are treated inhumanely by their employer, work in unsafe conditions, or live in unhealthy accommodations. The issue has also been gaining attention in politics. The advice of Aanjaagteam Bescherming Arbeidsmigranten, which was presented in 2020, marks an important milestone. Partially inspired by this advice, multiple major developments have been taking place recently. For example, the modification of the definition of labour exploitation in criminal law (Rijksoverheid, 2023), the compulsory certification of employment agencies as of 2025 (Rijksoverheid, 2022), and the separation of working- and housing contracts (ABU, 2023).

While these developments are a step forward, they will not completely tackle labour exploitation. Due to the complex nature of the phenomenon, multiple solutions are required to bring about systemic change. This project explores what systemic design could offer to the issue of labour exploitation in the Westland area.

Through different research methods, an understanding of the system surrounding labour migration and labour exploitation was created. Insights were yielded on the nature of the phenomenon, different response strategies and involved stakeholders, and the Westland context. Based on these insights, three search areas were identified and explored more in-depth. Next, the final focus for the design phase was determined and formulated into a design goal: empowering labour migrants through an intervention that gives them a sense of control over their own lives.

Finally, an online buddy platform that facilitates the exchange of experiences among migrants was designed. The interaction aims to build awareness about healthy (in)direct working conditions in the Netherlands and potential helplines. With this knowledge, migrants can prevent risks proactively, identify problematic situations quicker, and have the tools to deal with them. Evaluation of the concept with the target group and relevant experts indicated that it provides a valuable intervention to empower labour migrants. However, further development and evaluation as discussed in the recommendations are necessary. In addition, this intervention should be seen as one of many necessary to systematically improve the situation of labour migrants. ... Read more

Arribadas, a phenomenon of mass nesting behavior of sea turtles, attract millions of olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) to Playa del Ostional, a nesting beach in Costa Rica. The timing and size of these arribadas are influenced by various environmental factors, including temperature, tides, and moon phase [1]. The sea turtles are threatened by a variety of factors, like amongst others climate change.
Rising temperatures and sea levels, changes in ocean currents, and more frequent and intense storms are all likely to have negative impacts on sea turtles [2]. Without intervention, climate change could lead to the disappearance or flooding of sea turtle nesting beaches, resulting in a loss of critical habitat for these creatures. To prevent such an outcome, it is imperative to gain a deeper understanding of the morphological and hydrodynamic characteristics of nesting beaches, as well as identify the factors that influence sea turtle nesting behavior.
This study aimed to identify and map the critical factors that must be considered to ensure persistence of the olive ridley sea turtle and arribadas at Playa del Ostional, Costa Rica. The objectives of this research were, therefore, (1) to map the seasonal morphological and hydrodynamical differences of the arribada nesting beach, (2) to identify the environmental parameters that have the greatest influence on the occurrence of an arribada, and (3) to map out the stakeholders involved. The study site is the beach that ranges from the northernmost part of Playa del Ostional down to the southernmost part of Playa Nosara, which is located on the northern peninsula at the west coast of Costa Rica. The part at Playa del Ostional where most turtles nest is called ‘Main Nesting Beach’ (MNB). A field investigation was carried out to determine the seasonal morphological and hydrodynamical differences of the nesting beach. This field study comprised of two distinct components: (1) a characterization of the morpho- and hydrodynamics of Playa del Ostional in the dry season, and (2) a comparative analysis of these conditions during the wet and dry season. The morpho- and hydrodynamic beach characteristics consisted of the beach profile, sediment composition, hydrodynamic properties and other general environmental characteristics, such as vegetation and nearby rivers. The beach profile was measured by walking transects perpendicular to the shoreline using RTK-GPS equipment. Moreover, a drone was flown that made an orthophoto and collected 30 million data points. The difference in sediment composition was analyzed by obtaining sediment samples in the dry season, sieving these and comparing the obtained particle size distributions and D50 values of the dry and wet season. The hydrodynamical properties and the other general environmental characteristics are analyzed by means of literature review, observations and photography. In order to identify the environmental parameters that have the greatest influence on the occurrence on an arribada, an autoregressive logistic regression model was used. The model that was made the previous research of 2022, was updated and automated. Also, design choices of the model were made and new data was added.
To map out the stakeholders, interviews have been conducted and a stakeholder map was created. Through the use of GPS transects the beach profiles taken in dry season (February 2023) were compared to wet season (October 2022). To tackle normal spacial variance the comparison is done through the calculation of averages on three beach stretches with equal characteristics. Main findings were that beach width is equal in both seasons, slopes are more gradual in dry season, beach plateaus are on average 3.0m wider in wet season. Crossing rivers do not influence the beach profile below waterline in the dry season. For more river characteristic more offshore research is needed. The sediment composition of the beach turned out to show significant differences between the dry and wet season. A significant difference is present in D50 values between the dry and wet season for almost all sediment samples. Moreover, during the wet season, the sediment tends to be coarser compared to the dry season. Additionally, during the dry season, coarser sediment tends to accumulate at the top of the slope, whereas during the wet season, coarser sediment accumulates near the waterline. These observations suggest that coarse sediment may move from areas close to the waterline to the submerged part of the slope over time. This behavior implies that sediment transportation is affected by the seasonal fluctuations in wave energy. The findings altogether indicate that the sediment composition at Playa del Ostional, particularly at Main Nesting Beach, is notably affected by seasonal changes. The impact is more pronounced from the low tide waterline to the high waterline’s end at the top of the slope, with a particular emphasis on the low tide waterline. The wave climate surrounding Playa del Ostional is expected to be less turbulent, with lower wave energy during the dry season. However, the exact distinctions in both wave climate and tidal surroundings between the two seasons cannot be ascertained due to inadequate data availability.
The different stretches of Playa del Ostional demonstrate notable differences in environmental characteristics during the wet and dry seasons. The majority of rivers that flow out during the wet season are absent during the dry season. In addition, a beach scarp appeared during the dry season and not during the wet season, and an estuary that was observed in the dry season was not reported during the wet season research. On the other hand, the beach is mostly surrounded by vegetation in both seasons, with comparable grass and trees. Moreover, no significant difference in wildlife presence was observed between the dry and wet seasons at Playa del Ostional.
The autoregressive logistic regression model was trained on five year of arribada data and 116 individual environmental parameters. The weights of the parameters were plotted and analysed in multiple groups. This resulted in six parameters with the biggest influence: pdTIDE_P1, pdTIDE_mf, pdVELOCITY_IHC_rho, pdVELOCITY_IHC_rho, Mooncycle_third and Moon_v. The maximum probability of an arribada occurring during a certain day was 80%.
By conducting interviews and conducting a stakeholder analysis, the degree of awareness about climate change is assessed and mapped out, which appears to be quite high. The residents of Ostional are aware of the changes and willing to work in new projects. Moreover, the analysis showed that it is important to engage with two key stakeholders: the Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Ostional and CITES. ... Read more

Domestic violence is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm” (2013). Blijf Groep is one of the organizations in the Netherlands that concerns itself with the subject of domestic violence.

Whilst social, environmental, family, and individual influences play a role in the creation of unintentional partner violence. In particular, gender inequality, experiencing stress, or touching upon vulnerable feelings can trigger starting domestic violence. The dynamic that develops can lead to a vicious cycle that perpetuates violence. Because domestic violence is an interaction between two people and often there is no clear identification of a victim or a perpetrator, this thesis refers to those involved as ‘the person who experiences domestic violence’ and ‘the person who commits domestic violence’. When one of the people involved reaches out to Blijf Groep, the social workers mainly focus on them because they are seen as the one who has experienced the most severe violence. The needs of the person who committed domestic violence are not considered as much. The social workers have little understanding of them, and therefore, they are not included in the counseling process.

The central aim of this research has been to explore an understanding of the person who commits domestic violence since, for a lasting solution to domestic violence, they have to be included in the counseling process.

This research was divided into a theoretical study, qualitative context research, and an exploratory study with methods including interviews, quick prototyping, and user tests. In addition, the course of a violent relationship and the counseling process at Blijf Groep were mapped. This research led to the insight that the initial phone call between the residential social worker and the person who committed domestic violence can be an entrance. The phone call takes place at a vulnerable time in which both involved are most open to receiving help and can be the starting point for the rest of the counseling process.

Based on the insights of this research, a workshop for social workers was designed which consists of a workbook and twelve theme cards. The purpose of the workbook is to allow social workers to reflect on themselves and their work so they become aware of the origins of incomprehension for the person who committed domestic violence and how these affect their involvement in counseling. For support during the counseling process, the theme cards contribute to solution-focused work by providing knowledge about the background of the person who committed domestic violence, with accompanying questions that can create an entry point for conversations. Besides, it helps social workers to chart the origins and persistence of violence.

Finally, the workshop has been evaluated with social workers. The design succeeded in creating an understanding during the first phone call. Therefore, it is proposed that the workshop should be included in mandatory training at Blijf Groep so the social workers learn how to work systemically from the start. ... Read more

Mental health among young adults is in sharp decline, with over 68% of young adults in Europe reporting signs of burnout in the past year (Strava, 2021). This increasing prevalence of mental health problems among young adults, including burnout, anxiety, depression and feelings of hopelessness, has been exacerbated by factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and societal pressures. Despite increased awareness, reduced stigma and efforts to improve mental health, the number of diagnoses appears to be increasing. The demand for professional mental health care is outstripping the capacity of institutions to provide it, making it difficult to access professional care in a timely manner and leading to an increasing reliance on biochemical solutions for symptom relief rather than psychotherapy. This sudden increase in mental health diagnoses among young adults cannot be attributed to changes in genetics, as genes don't change in a population over such a short period of time. If we assume that neither reduced stigma nor a change in genetics is solely responsible for the increase in mental health diagnoses, then we seem to have created an environment that is conducive to mental health problems in young adults. In particular, the transition from a learning environment to a working environment seems to be a moment of vulnerability for young adults, and this research therefore focuses on a transitional group, mostly aged 20-28, who can identify with this life transition. The aim of this thesis is to address the social phenomenon of declining mental health among the transitional group and to look for novel ways forward.

In order to find ways forward, a probable vision for the future of 2032 is defined through the collection of 168 contextual factors; concise statements that serve as building blocks for the future context. These are collected through semi-structured interviews with the transition group, interviews with experts such as philosophers, psychologists and psychiatrists, books, journals and documentaries. This probable future context is made understandable through a framework that describes six states of mind into which the transition group can be trapped.

By articulating the normative values of the designer, a number of goals and ambitions emerge for each state of mind that help to move closer to a desired future. For each of these goals, ideas were generated and a strategic set of six promising interventions was developed. Due to time constraints, only the 'One on One' concept was selected for further development into a prototype...



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This graduation project is conducted in collaboration with the Dutch Council for Refugees. It is a foundation that stands up for the refugees’ interests and helps them to build a new life in the Netherlands. In this project, it is researched how private housing (with a matching agency) can be better facilitated in the future.

♦ Project objective ♦

Focus on private housing with a matching agency for Ukrainian guests and Dutch hosts
24 February 2022 is the day that Russia invaded Ukraine. The invasion caused a big crisis, with around 12 million Ukrainians fleeing the country and 7 million people being internally displaced.From the 86.850 Ukrainian displaced people in the Netherlands, 12.000Ukrainians joined private housing without a matching and only 3.000 Ukrainians joined private housing with RefugeeHomeNL (a matching agency). Although many Ukrainian people joined private housing without a matching agency, it is preferable to facilitate hosting arrangements that are visible as it offers the possibility to humanitarian organisations to provide help to the guests and hosts.

Guests and hosts have difficulties expressing their expectations, needs and irritations
Based on research on the experiences of Ukrainian guests and Dutch hosts on private housing, it is found that they have difficulties expressing their expectations, needs and irritations when living together. This is understandable as they do not want to be a burden to each other. However, it is valuable to deal with conflicting interests instead of ignoring them. By acknowledging their needs and expectations, they have the possibility to discuss and align them to enjoy living together.

Value of acknowledging clashes due to different lifestyles
To protect the mental wellbeing of the guests and hosts, it is essential that they reflect on what they need and value when living together. Their needs and expectations could be different or similar. They should understand that their differences and similarities could cause conflicts when living together. It is okay to have a conflict. What matters, is the way to manage it. The first step in managing, is being aware of their different or similar practices. At the societal level, it could help us to feel confident to discuss serious topics instead of avoiding them. Only by acknowledging the differences and similarities, we can find a way to deal with it.

♦ Design concept Form: a welcome package ♦ 
Form is a welcome package and a conversation tool for guests and hosts that live together to support them in setting social living agreements together by sharing their expectations about different situations with the use of emotions. This way, they communicate how they prefer to interact with each other at the beginning of living together.

Introducing Form at the matching conversation
Before living together, guests and hosts go to a matching conversation to get to know each other before living together. During this conversation, the matchmaker will introduce the purpose of the welcome package: their different lifestyles could cause conflicts, but is okay to have a conflict. They should be prepared on how to manage the conflict. The welcome package will help them to do that.

Interacting with Form when living together
In the first week of living together, a welcome package will be sent to the guests and hosts. Guests and hosts are presented with situations that are known to be possible incentives for conflicts. They should choose one trigger card and describe the situation.Then, they are asked to choose two emotion tokens that they relate to their experience with the situation, explain why and discuss. For example, they like to cook together but get a bit annoyed when the kitchen counter is not cleaned after cooking. Choosing two emotion helps them to focus on both positive and negative aspects. Based on their conversation, they set social living agreements. By already expressing how they would prefer to deal with uncomfortable moments, they are prepared and feel more comfortable to communicate their concerns in the future.

♦ Future of Form ♦

Form for guests and hosts with various cultural backgrounds
It is proposed that Form will not only be used by Ukrainian guests and Dutch hosts, but also by people from various cultural backgrounds. The welcome package will be offered to them by a matching agency.The goal of Form is in line with their vision (providing a safe temporary home)as well: Form helps guests and hosts to give a voice and protect their mental wellbeing when living together. It helps guests and hosts to manage conflicts which means that the concerned matching agency could invest less time and energy to mediate with possible conflicts. Furthermore, Form offers something to hold onto for the matchmakers that evaluate the hosting arrangements.

Impact on the amount of hosting arrangements
Currently, there are almost double the amount of guests than hosts in the database of RefugeeHomeNL and Takecarebnb. It would be desirable to equalize this. Evaluating Form on the long-term would provide insights in whether more hosts would register for private housing if Form would be implemented on a larger scale. More positive housing arrangements could result in more registrations by hosts. And, more hosting arrangements help us to embrace cultural diversity.

Impact on the mindset of the Netherlands
Form helps to advertise the notion that we should discuss differences and similarities. Discussing uncomfortable moment might be unpleasant, but eventually it helps us to create positive impact for those serious topics.

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Society is increasingly faced with complex and wicked problems (Hervieux & Voltan, 2019). As a result, organisations face complex and open challenges and design has become more popular as an approach to address this (Dorst, 2011). Due to these global changes, the social design field is growing (Tromp & Vial, 2022). Participatory design is part of this field and has also gained more acceptance over the years (Smith & Iversen, 2018). The concept of citizen participation is experiencing growth due to rules and regulations that encourage this in government projects (e.g. the Omgevingswet (IPLO, n.d.)). Municipalities hire design studios like Zeewaardig to help guide these participatory processes, because of their expertise in the field of participatory design. Literature shows that there is often still a need to demonstrate the value of design to clients (Schmiedgen et al., 2016). This research is commissioned by Zeewaardig, a design studio working on participatory design, who also want to demonstrate the value of their approach. However, little is known about the impact of a participatory design approach on participating residents.

This research proposes the concept of empowered citizenship as a key form of impact that can be made on residents through a participatory design approach. It further details this concept in a framework that outlines the various components that make up empowered citizenship and the participatory design activities that are related to this impact. Empowered citizenship consists of two components: citizen empowerment (which consists of voice, agency and opportunity structure) and responsible citizenship (which consists of a sense of collectivity and citizenship abilities).

This framework was evaluated with designers. Furthermore, it was used to explore how the framework could be used to evaluate impact through a case study analysis. The findings from the case study further validated the framework, but also provided more learnings on participatory design and the measurement of impact.

Based on the learnings from literature and the case study the ‘Are we making impact?’ tool is introduced. This impact demonstration tool consists of a poster and a booklet. Both are set up around the same three elements: 1) What is impact in the participatory design context, 2) How to think about impact in participatory design projects, and 3) Demonstrating impact, step by step. The first two elements use the framework and impact considerations to help designers become aware of impact in their projects, better understand it, and be able to make informed decisions about it with clients in a kick-off. The third element provides an overview of the steps designers need to take to demonstrate the impact of their participatory approach.

The tool was evaluated with Zeewaardig and other participatory design studios. This demonstrated its value as a tool that helps designers to make more effective agreements at the front end of a project. This in turn will give them more freedom to work towards empowered citizenship. In addition, the tool helps to demonstrate impact and thus improve their practice and have more credible arguments towards (future) clients.
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In the Netherlands, one of the government bodies solving complex problems is the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (‘Rijksdienst Voor Ondernemers’; RVO). Within RVO, X-lab is developing new ways of working to be better prepared to deal with these complex problems. In short, X-lab is RVO’s internal innovation lab that creates and collects different frameworks, methods and tools to support policy writers when they solve problems. They do this by co-creation, developing frameworks, experimenting and setting up processes. In practice it has been noted by X-lab that innovative ideas are being created with the help of X-lab, but not always successfully carried out in practice. Hence, X-lab is working on improving its methods and processes. A new method they are currently developing is flow design, which is seen as a good fit to solve the present complex problems. However, X-lab encounters problems scaling up the flow design method, therefore it is not practiced by many. I was approached to further investigate this problem. While investigating the problem, I noticed there are several underlying problems within flow design that do not allow flow design to live up to its full potential to deal with complex problems. This is mainly because after a flow design session no clear actions to solve the problem are designed after analysing the problem. Based on this insight, I decided to shift the focus of this research towards these underlying problems. Resulting in the following aim of this research: The aim of this research is to deliver a tangible product that enables X-lab to better deal with complex problems, supported by recommendations that are based on a thorough analysis of X-lab and flow design. Since I am a designer experienced in design thinking, the following research question was drafted: Where and how can design thinking support the trajectory of flow design within X-lab RVO? This thesis follows the structure of the double diamond as presented by the design council (2007). The starting point of this thesis was conducting research into X-lab and flow design. These results are evaluated and then compared to design thinking theories. Based on the outcome of this analysis several experiments were performed to develop the solution. As a final step this solution is validated and iterated. Resulting in two manuals and a decision-making canvas. The discovery phase The first phase of this thesis is the discovery phase. In this phase case studies and interviews are done to develop a theory explaining flow design. Based on this analysis several problems are identified which are arbitrary division, language, time limitation, lack of process and measuring impact. Of these problems lack of process is the most relevant problem and therefore it was selected to solve in this thesis. In this analysis it was concluded that flow design doesn’t live up to its full potential. According to the theories by Tuckmann (1972) and Snowden and Boone (2007), there need to be steps added after a flow design session, so that the group can live up to its full potential and so that complex/complicated problems are solved in the best possible way. Therefore, the question arises whether design thinking is a relevant theory to support in developing these steps and if so, how can it support flow design? The define phase: This question is answered in the second phase of this thesis, the define phase. With the help design thinking models, such as frame creation (Dorst, 2015) and the double diamond (Design council, 2004), the conclusion is made that design thinking is supporting when dealing with complex and complicated problems. Also, based on the design thinking models, two design thinking principles were drafted that can support flow design, which are:
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To be able to perform next steps while solving a problem, their needs to be clarity in which steps to take and why
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Secondly, these steps need to be taken using iteration and experimentation
The create phase:
The third phase of this process is the create phase. In this phase the solution is created and developed. To do so several experiments are performed to understand the moment of intervention, the use of frameworks, how to deliver clarity and their current way of experimentation. Based on these experiments a model is developed and tested. The result was a concept model, which had potential, but needed further iteration so that the user knows how to properly apply the model. This was done in the final phase.
The deliver phase:
The final phase of this thesis is the deliver phase. In this phase I have developed two manuals and a decision-making canvas which guides you through the necessary steps to take for solving a complicated or complex problem. These products were validated using a fictive case study. The evaluation pointed out that the product portfolio is succesfull, but where and how did design thinking support the trajectory of flow design? I will explain that based on the theories I have consulted in this thesis.
The support of design thinking:
Based on Tuckmann (1972) and Snowden (2007) and the interviews it can be said that the full potential of the current flow design process is not met. First of all, because in theory the potential is higher when all steps of the two theories are completed, and secondly, because flow design has no tangible outcome and therefore no clear actions to solve the problem are designed after analysing the problem. However, the final goal is to solve the problem, consequently the current flow design process could be improved.
So, flow design doesn’t perform all the steps of Tuckmann’s model of group development and also not of Snowden’s dealing with complex/complicated problems model. The missing steps in flow design are Tuckmann’s norming and performing steps and Snowden’s probe, sense and response steps for complex problems, and Snowden’s sense, analyse and response steps for complicated problems. The product portfolio was designed in such a way that it facilitates that all of Snowden’s and Tuckmann’s steps are performed. Furthermore, the validation showed that the product portfolio indeed delivered clear actions to solve the problem. Since, the product portfolio has been created with the use of design thinking, namely the methods of the double diamond and frame creation are being applied, I conclude design thinking supports the trajectory of flow design.
So, I have presented a product portfolio in this thesis which improves flow design. Furthermore, this product portfolio along with the thorough description I made on flow design itself has been written down in a tangible document that can be transferred to collegues within the organisation. Reflecting on the starting point of this project six months ago, I conclude that the side effect of this thesis is that the resulting product increases the potential scalability of flow design.
Lastly, the validation pointed out that improvements can be made on clarifying what type of problem you are dealing with and on how to use the action model more time efficient. ... Read more

The goal of almost all forms of crime is monetary gain. In serious forms of crime, like drug crime or human trafficking, enormous amounts of money are made. For criminals, this money is not directly usable. Spending it right away in the economy would be too obvious and attract attention from the authorities. Therefore, the dirty money gained by these criminal activities should be laundered first. The true origin of the money is disguised, and a legal source is linked to it. After money laundering the dirty money, the money appears clean and can be spent in the economy. Money laundering is not only a crime in itself but also a secondary offence. It can be seen as a symptom of other criminal activities because the need for laundering money is always a result of criminal activities where much money is made. For this reason, it is crucial to tackle it. The fight against money laundering is essential to fight all other kinds of serious crime effectively. The Public Prosecution Service plays a vital role in tackling money laundering. They are responsible for detecting criminal offences and prosecuting criminals. In this project, the initial goal was to: Map the current money laundering system in the region of Limburg and identify opportunities that support the Public Prosecution Service in the fight against money laundering in the current system. Money laundering is a complex problem. It involves many stakeholders and it is dynamic. In this project, the systematic design approach is used to tackle this complex problem situation. In the systemic design approach, the design thinking and system thinking methods are combined. The project can be separated into two parts. The first part is about researching and identifying the money laundering system. The second part is about developing interventions that fit in this system. To move from insights to interventions, an experiment with different methods is carried out. These methods were: GIGA-mapping, the VIP method, system mapping by using a causal loop diagram, and the reframing method. By reflecting on these methods and developed personal design criteria, an intervention framework was developed. This framework helped develop three new sub design goals, focused on providing understanding, guidance and inspiration for the Public Prosecution Service. These three goals resulted in three systemic interventions. The first intervention is the causal loop diagram, focused on understanding the money laundering system. Second, the action blueprint, consisting of six principles that guide the Public Prosecution Service in taking urgent action. And third, the tangible solution overview shows examples of how the six principles can be developed into tangible ideas. The interventions collaboratively help to increase the sense of urgency regarding money laundering among th Public Prosecution Service. Together they form the Money Laundering Design Manifesto. ... Read more

Anno 2021, designers engage with questions of increasing complexity and impact. Designers are involved in creating services and systems that reach beyond an individual user, ultimately reshaping society. This realisation motivates the question of how designers should deal with the accompanying responsibility. The domain of Design for Values (van den Hoven et al., 2015) encourages conscious innovation with the call for a deliberate design for values and advocates a thoughtful stance towards the creation of artefacts. As social design is concerned with societal well-being and commitment to design for the common good (Tromp, Hekkert, 2017), it is regarded as a specificity of Design for Values. This thesis opens up the conversation of impact in social design practices by researching how designing for values is validated within social design projects. Although the mission for conscious design is vital, frameworks to assess the adequate operationalisation of values are lacking, and impact methodology in the field of social design is fairly under developed. Hence, measures to guarantee value manifestation and safeguard engagement with claims made are missing. For this reason, both domains of Design for Values and social design will be enhanced by a framework that supports assessing the design for value, as a result enabling validation of value realisation within design projects. The Value Validation Framework introduced in this thesis presents the structure of reasoning towards a valid value claim. It is argued that to make a valid claim, designers must specify their value claim in terms of effects on behaviour, substantiate a claim with proper evidence and provide justification for these specifications. This ensures construct validity for the claim being made and above all, that designers discern what they are factually achieving. As a result, the framework administers a critical stance towards the impact that can be ascribed to projects. First, the Value Validation Framework was constructed out of theoretical models enriched with qualitative data from an explorative study among professionals. This framework enabled to assess social design projects and was used in the second part of this thesis, the case study research. In this study, five social design projects are assessed concerning the validity of their claim to realise a particular value with their design. The study provided an increased understanding of how designers structure their design projects and this information was used in the third part of this thesis. In which the analysis was used to reflect on ways to make valid value claims. Social designers involved in the case study research endorse the unique perspective that the Value Validation Framework provides and emphasise that the conducted analysis has provided a meaningful assessment of their social design projects. A commitment to value claim validation provides an opportunity for social designers to enhance their considerations of effect and focus on the substantial impact they accomplish. As a result, contributing to a renewed perspective on how they can enhance their design project and fundamentally commit to a better world. ... Read more

Our society is facing a number of great challenges which will require all of us to significantly change our lifestyle in the coming years. To support people in those transitions, next to systemic changes, new design interventions have to be crafted that intentionally aim to redirect behaviour for the common good. As changing behaviour intentionally comes with great responsibility, social and behavioural design calls for sound and deliberate design and evaluation. However, changing behaviour is something that takes a long time to materialise durably and thus conventional qualitative user-centered approaches to evaluation may not be the most suitable. On the other hand, quantitative approaches measuring only the outcomes of the behaviour do not provide detailed insight into the performance of the intervention. This thesis investigated how integrating various sources of qualitative and quantitative data on a behavioural situation during evaluation contributes to critically assessing and anticipating the effectiveness and appropriateness of an intervention aimed at changing behaviour. Studies that investigate the effectiveness of interventions often find that the effects induced in the short-term were not sustained (Abrahamse et al., 2005). A theoretical model was developed that conceptualises the underlying mechanism of this observation as the transition of the design being efficacious (works when people receive an intervention) to being effective (works when people are offered an intervention), which is influenced by the appropriateness of the intervention to its context. This appropriateness can be further operationalised into three types: aesthetic, moral and systemic appropriateness. The relations between the effectiveness and appropriateness were experimentally explored through deploying research artefacts in the context of the end-user. In this experiment an interactive bedlight and a chatbot were evaluated on their effectiveness and appropriateness in achieving the intended effect, ‘adopting regular sleep and wake times’, while at the same time understanding their performance in relation to ‘sleeping better’ and ‘balancing sleep and other practices’. In the study several perspectives on the situation were collected and integrated: sensor data from an ecology of instrumented things, data from interviews with the participant before and after using the intervention, and data generated through the interaction with the interventions. Integrating these perspectives resulted in concurrent insight into the performance of the intervention as it is now and potential elements for improvement. Although some perspectives are more attuned to the efficacy, and others more to the appropriateness—in general the integration of perspectives contribute to a holistic understanding of the situation as the individual perspectives filled in each other’s blind spots. Through assessing the efficacy and appropriateness of the intervention the long-term effectiveness can be anticipated. This could nurture new methods for evaluation where data is informing the design process in order to assess how the mechanism in the intervention performs to decide what the right level of persuasive influence of the intervention is and assess whether the intervention is proportionate. ... Read more

Adolescence is a crucial development stage where both biological and psychological changes take place. Among the various transformations and developments, the discovery of sexuality and intimacy has an important role, especially from sixteen to nineteen years old. The construction of sexual identity is a significant bio-psycho-social development(Kar, 2015), however in Italy almost half of the teenagers have experienced a form of violence from their partners during High School raging from insults to physical aggression (Romito, 2013). The literature agrees that experiencing rejection is a common trigger of aggression with significant repercussions of mental and physical health. Therefore to understand better the phenomenon, its causes and consequences, a combination of desk research and field research was carried out. The results indicated that rejection is lived on an ego level touching the pride of people and therefore it is considered a taboo with strong effects on different levels of society. Based on this analysis, to improve the current situation, it was chosen to focus on the community level by triggering open conversation about rejection. All these insights gained from the analysis were presented to a team of experts and teenagers. Their feedback was helpful to understand the fundamental characteristics that the final design should have to trigger meaningful conversation around the experience of rejection. To discuss how media portraits rejection #FEIC is introduced. #FEIC is a service that provides teenagers with a showcase of media narratives of rejection and interactive activities. The showcase aims to get the teenagers familiar with the idea of media narratives, while the goal of the activities is to make them experiment with them. In the current development, one activity is designed and deepened to use media narratives as a trigger to talk about how society deals with rejection and how that affects teenagers and their thinking. Different variations of the activity were tested to understand what type of interactions were triggering more discussions. Moreover, to evaluate the overall experience and design features, the full service was presented to the experts through in-depth interviews. The feedback gained demonstrated that the use of media is a successful way to trigger meaningful discussion around rejection. The dialogue generated from the #FEIC activity was defined as “different” from what teenagers were used to discussing, “stimulating”, and “useful” to understand better the conditioning behind their judgment. ... Read more

This graduation project was initated in collaboration with Nibud to explore and imagine possibilities to facilitate a value-driven approach to financial decision-making. Several factors stress the relevance of this challenge, in particular regarding millennials as a target group. From an economic point of view, millennials are facing an affordability crisis (aging population, student debt, expensive housing, flexibile contracting and a looming recession). From a psychological perspective, a disparity seems to exist between what people expect will increase their wellbeing versus what types of consumption actually succeeds in doing so. Therefore, prioritizing saving over spending can be seen as an alternative way of sustainably increasing wellbeing. Millennials their early stage of life, digital nativity and strong sense of autonomy allows for opportunities to unburden them from financial hardship, yet the field of personal finance has seen surprisingly limited technological development aimed at this potential. With cash slowly being replaced by thoughtless payment, digitalization has left people with obscured and chronologically fragmented financial transactions that provide little feedback on their consumption pattern. This limited facilitation to prioritize saving over spending raises the threshold for attaining a financial overview up to a level that is only accessible to a happy few that is both highly motivated as well as tech-savvy. Furthermore, current solutions offer limited connection between short-term decisions and prospective long-term wellbeing (saving goals) and instead remain oriented towards retrospective micro-management. Lastly, commercial parties extracting sensitive personal data can count on public distrust, which is less of an issue for an independent foundation like Nibud. Using a ViP inspired approach, many factors were turned into six clusters that provided interesting directions in which to generate ideas on how Nibud can grab the opportunity of increasing millennials their agency to proactively prioritize saving over spending and thus unburden their lives from financial stress. The final design proposal is a participatory savings program called ‘meesparen’. Besides setting, tracking and comparing efforts at reaching saving goals, the application also supports a clear overview on recurring expenses, free spending and saving goals, which can be compared to peers that are motivated to start saving as well. The design was evaluated and redesigned to clearly demonstrate its potential to help millennials put money back into their hands. ... Read more

Due to emerging climate concerns, a growing pressure is put on the fashion industry to adopt circular business models which encourage sustainable usage of clothing. The clothing supply chain is currently both complicated and polluting. Paired with rising quantities of clothing sales, technological solutions will only temporarily tackle the symptoms of a deeply rooted issue, namely mass-consumerism and underutilisation. How can fashion companies encourage consumers to use their current clothes more often whilst consuming less, in a way that’s also attractive from a business perspective? This project investigates the behavioural implications of creating such a sustainable clothing service. Research is conducted in the context of King Louie: a Dutch, vintage-inspired womenswear brand.

In-depth interviews and surveys focussing on women around their 30s have revealed the following:
- Clothes can be appreciated due to functional needs (practical value or monetary/material value) or psychological needs (the value of self-expression, social levelling, having a hobby or aesthetics).
- Most women reorganise their wardrobe bi-anually; this makes them reflect on clothes.
- Friends and relatives can highly influence how clothes are valued and when new clothes are sought.

For most of these women, having and using clothes is part of a hobby and their identity, which increases the desire to own more clothes. These ‘Experiential clothing users’ would benefit from a clothing service that renews their clothes’ self-expression value through a social, qualitative experience... starting with a wardrobe re-organisation.


Based on this, Re:Create was developed: a digital wardrobe and peer-to-peer styling app. This service was designed by using an interdisciplinary method, combining service design with behavioural science (using the Behaviour Change Wheel approach).

The behavioural science behind Re:Create focusses on the use of ‘Persuasion’, Modelling’ and ‘Training’. Furthermore, it taps into women’s sense of identity and takes them on an emotional self-discovery journey that emphasises on the value of self-expression.

The sustainability vision behind Re:Create is that women can ‘shop in their own wardrobe’ before purchasing something new; this stimulates product-life extension and the reduction of consumption. If ‘new’ garments are needed, Re:Create’s second-hand webshop encourages re-using someone else’s clothes as a means of collective product-life extension.

The business value of Re:Create is that it helps a cluster of high-quality, sustainable brands gain brand exposure and possibly meet new consumer segments through its ‘network effect’. In the future, revenue from a self-controlled second-hand market can elevate circular business model implications.

Testing the behavioural principles of Re:Create reveals that the app can indeed be an enjoyable and valuable service. Participants learned to re-value clothes they hadn’t worn in a while, by matching
them in a different way. Although digitalising one’s wardrobe requires effort, women were willing to do this again in retrospect because the experience with Peer Stylists has given them a new perspective on their own wardrobe.

From a business and sustainability point of view, more research must be done in terms of viable partnerships that could help raise Re:Create to a fully sustainable yet financially-attractive level.
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This graduation project explores how the concept of problem sustaining interaction (PSI) patterns in mental development in adolescence can be used for design. In contrast to the currently used Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which describes psychiatric disorders from only a psychological perspective, the concept of PSI-patterns describes mental health problems as interaction problems. This new holistic approach incorporates interactions within the individual, but also those between people and their environment. To concretise the concept of PSI-patterns, I used the knowledge of system theory. From the research is concluded that factors on multiple levels influence each other; from biological to cultural. The factors in a system form loops that together reach an equilibrium. PSI-patterns consist of smaller, reinforcing feedback loops of which multiple together cause a system to move towards a problematic state. Changing a system requires effort and outside support. By making the patterns insightful, it becomes clear what strategies can be used to create positive change. The physical, social and psychological changes during adolescence make them particularly vulnerable to develop mental problems. There is a taboo around talking about mental health and society turns a blind eye. This causes adolescents when they struggle mentally to feel abnormal and alone, to lack knowledge and understanding to talk about their struggles and to feel not taken seriously when told that troubles are ‘just part of life’. To support adolescents in their mental development I introduce the design concept “The Bumpy Road”. The Bumpy Road supports adolescents to learn to understand their feelings by recognizing them in others. It is a platform with a variety of podcasts in which adolescents share personal and authentic stories about times in adolescence where they struggled. The problematic patterns of the storyteller are unravelled and explained to listeners in conversation with a pattern expert. The patterns that are discussed in the podcast are linked to other stories on the platform that include their version of the pattern. By making patterns insightful, listeners understand why problems keep occurring and get direction on how to navigate towards a more sustainable situation. The Bumpy Road teaches listeners the language to talk about struggles, normalizes them and provides advice on how to help themselves or support others. This project brings PSI-patterns from a conceptual level towards a concrete and validated design service, and thereby proves that PSI-patterns are a suitable framework for design.
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In the Netherlands, 2,5 million people are low-literate, which means they have trouble with reading, writing, numeracy or digital skills. As a result, they can experience difficulty with everyday tasks such as making a grocery list or taking public transport. Low-literacy negatively impacts both the individual as well as society. Despite efforts to address low-literacy, the percentage of low-literates is rising. It is not just the older generation, five percent of 16-24-year-olds are low-literate, and children of low-literate parents are three times more likely to become low-literate themselves than other children are. Two-thirds of low-literates in the Netherlands are natives, but in practice, they are the group reached less by literacy efforts. They are often ashamed and successful at hiding it because they are fluent speakers. Those in programmes are often already in mature adulthood, whereas for both the individual and society it would be beneficial if education is sought earlier in life. Therefore, this thesis tries to design an intervention reach and activate a younger group to want to address their literacy issues. The main research question is: “What are the barriers and enablers to reach and activate native Dutch low- literates, in particular, young parents?”Because low-literacy is a social problem, both the individual and societal perspective is explored: the individual perspective through interviews with the target group, the societal perspective through desk-research, and both through conversations with employees at Stichting Lezen & Schrijven who have much experience with the topic. These explorations resulted in ten design factors that serve as a basis for the intervention, as well as the insight that the low-literate’s dependency on those around him as well as the government, might be the core of the problem. As a result of this dependency, people’s self-efficacy can be diminished. A third perspective, a theoretical one, focussed on self-efficacy and related constructs, is taken. This perspective resulted in 18 extra design factors. At the same time of the theoretical exploration, the design of the intervention was started, in this way both influenced each other in the focus they had. The 19 theoretical factors go beyond the context of low-literacy and could, therefore, be applied to design projects that wish to increase self-efficacy. Resulting from insights based on context and theory, a design intervention is created that focusses on supporting young low-literate parents to engage with their children in the context of literacy through crafting. The design intervention is proposed to be offered as a promotional 11-week programme at a supermarket, available to all parents of young children, as a way to not single out those that are low-literate. The crafting instruction contains very little text, nevertheless the difficulty will slowly rise each week, the goal is to make the parent feel capable (self-efficacious) but at the same time show them they could benefit from improving their skills. The design is evaluated with professionals and users, showing that it is overall well-liked but the link to education could be improved. Due to time limitations, it was not possible to assess whether the intervention manages to increase self-efficacy, a pilot is proposed as a way to verify the effectiveness of the design. As a result of these evaluations, a final design is created that incorporates reading of the instruction even more fully. ... Read more

Dogs and humans have been living in mutualistic symbiosis for centuries. The domestication of dogs was probably initiated over 15,000 years ago, when presumably proto-dogs took advantage of carcasses left behind by our hunter-gatherer ancestors and might have offered protection in return (Thalmann et al., 2013). This has resulted in a relationship, purposeful for both dogs and humans. Humans have increased the dogs’ chances of survival, by ensuring a more steady supply of food and providing them with shelter and protection. It has also given dogs the opportunity to fulfil different purposes in our lives. During the time that has elapsed their roles have varied from providing a source of transportation, food, body warmth, companionship and aid during hunting (Manwell & Baker, 1984). The purpose a modern dog has, is either to fulfil a ‘companion’ or ’utilitarian’ role in our lives. Although these are meaningful purposes, there are opportunities for making the relationships, in which a lot of potential is already embedded, even more purposeful for both humans and dogs. The current graduation project explores what the future might hold, and speculate about what the future of the human-dog relationship could look like. ... Read more

In this project I demonstrate how the world could have been different by portraying alternate historical realities, centered around food, to stimulate my audience to think about the choices they have in the present. The objective is to empower my audience to make mindful food choices today. The final outcome of this project is four stories and artifacts, corresponding to four distinct historical eras (including 1 future scenario), presented as parafiction. The project will be on display in the Cube Design Museum in Kerkrade, Netherlands. ... Read more

This project aims to contribute to the development of children’s social sensitivity. In this graduation project, social sensitivity is approached as a fundament for learning in the context of the new primary school Klein Amsterdam. Klein Amsterdam’s mission is to create schools as in-between spaces, in which children learn from society. Collaborating with Klein Amsterdam led to the following scope of the project: constructing learning lines for children to develop social sensitivity at primary school Klein Amsterdam. By studying the development of social sensitivity from various perspectives, the method ‘The Good Conflict’ was developed. The Good Conflict includes a framework of constructed learning lines that enable children to develop their social sensitivity. Research through design showed that children experience difficulties reflecting on their emotions. Learning about emotions starts by expanding a child’s emotional granularity, that is to say, the ability to differentiate between the specificity of emotions. This lead to the following design goal: "I want children of six and seven years old to have a multi-sensory learning experience, which contributes to their emotional granularity, by engaging them in a story both physically and mentally.” The final design is a storytelling experience for in the classroom through which children immerse themselves in a story. The storytelling experience enables children to imagine themselves being the main character of the story. By embodying the story, guided by the narrator, the children safely experience the emotions of the character. With this, they are introduced to the associated body of language and facial expressions of the corresponding emotion. The story is communicated through spoken word (narration), music, sound effects and visuals that represent the context of the story to create a multi-sensory learning experience. The intended user experience was tested with a prototype in a classroom with children of six and seven years old. The test showed that the design goal was validated and the interaction qualities were met. The children embodied several emotions in the learning experience and reflected on these in the group reflection. During the group reflection, children were able to link the emotion(s) to the embodied experience. The outcome of this project is a starting point for further development at Klein Amsterdam.In order for the design to be further developed, the content needs to be altered for different age groups. Guidelines should be made to create appropriate content for the other age groups. Furthermore, new content for the learning experience should be created. If other schools are interested in the design, the learning community of Jeelo will take the creation of content in consideration. ... Read more