Long-form reading fosters readings skills, comprehension, critical thinking, and empathy but also demands sustained attention, making interruptions common and disruptive. Existing supports try to mitigate the disruptive effects, yet few focus on long-form content, and personalization remains limited. With advances in AI, new opportunities for adaptive, engaging support emerge. Among different types of long-form reading, this project focuses on scientific paper reading—an especially demanding context due to its dense language, complex logic, and task-driven nature.
This project addresses the question: “How can we design interactions that leverage AI to better support readers in managing interruptions during long-form reading?” Using a user-centred, Double Diamond process, I combined a diary study, co-creation workshop, and user testing to investigate user needs and prototype solutions.
The outcome is PaperCast, an AI-powered podcast tool integrated into scientific paper reading. User tests indicate that PaperCast can increase motivation and help re-engagement after interruptions. And in order to build trust, while highlighting the importance of ensuring AI outputs remain source-traceable and carefully balanced to prevent information overload.
Beyond the design itself, the project shows how AI’s uncertainty, adaptability, and generative capacity can be treated as design materials. Insights include a framework linking interruptions and reading experience from user study, strategies for constraining AI outputs, and lessons for integrating AI into design. Future work should iterate the prototype, assess effects on reading comprehension , and explore broader contexts and modalities.

This thesis project began with a holistic exploration of fiction reading and the emerging development of immersive reading in virtual reality (VR). The investigation focused on the concept of narrative transportation—a mental state in which readers feel absorbed into a fictional world and may lose track of time in the real one. One key challenge in the context of VR fiction reading is the lack of clarity around what enables transportation in such environments. This research takes that uncertainty as its starting point, aiming to uncover the sources of narrative immersion and explore how they can be amplified through design in VR contexts.

The early phase of the project involved a user study with eight participants who regularly read fiction. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand their reading contexts, the sources of transportation across different media formats, and their perceptions of VR fiction reading using a 2D demo video adapted from previous studies. To analyze the abstract qualities of transportation, the Evaluation Grid Method (EGM) was applied—an effective technique for uncovering layered emotional responses and design preferences.
Key insights from the user study revealed that readers often create or seek environments helpful to immersion, and that visual cues—such as book covers or illustrations—serve as anchors that help them re-enter the fictional world and revive mental imagery. These insights led to a refined design goal: “Amplify narrative transportation in VR fiction reading by leveraging environmental and visual cues beyond the text itself.”

Through brainstorming and storyboarding, several design concepts were proposed, focusing on “transporting readers to other locations” and “interacting with symbolic objects that reflect previously read story elements.” Multiple rounds of low-fidelity prototyping were conducted, leading to the final research prototype designed to evaluate how different visual and environmental cues affect narrative transportation. The main design variables included: (1) Google Street View vs. AI-generated panoramic images, (2) static vs. dynamically shifting imagery that conveys spatial or temporal progression, and (3) whether showing an AI-personalized book cover—based on readers’ previous responses—enhances re-entry transportation.

In the evaluation phase, four participants engaged in two sessions on different days. The first session compared the effects of Real vs. AI-generated images and Static vs. Dynamic transitions. The second session evaluated whether an AI-personalized book cover, generated from the participant’s previous reading experience, enhanced transportation upon re-entry. Results showed that AI-generated imagery generally led to higher transportation scores than real street view images, as AI visuals could better match the story’s narrative content. Similarly, dynamic imagery that progressed with the narrative yielded higher immersion than static scenes. However, the personalized book cover had limited impact on re-entry immersion, as participants struggled to relate to the AI-generated symbols and found them weakly connected to the ongoing reading experience.

The findings highlight the potential of AI-enhanced visuals in immersive VR reading. When the background visually resonates with the narrative, it can significantly support transportation. At the same time, the study reveals a potential tension between AI-generated visual cues and the reader’s desire for imaginative freedom—a core motivation for fiction reading. Future research must investigate the optimal level of visual abstraction that supports immersion without undermining creative interpretation.

While the current VR prototype was relatively static, this project points to broader affordances of VR in enabling multisensory and immersive experiences. The outcomes are forward-looking, offering insights into the evolving intersections between AI, VR, and reading. In an era where attention spans are fragmented and reading motivation among younger generations is declining, immersive reading formats like VR could offer new ways to revive narrative engagement.

Future directions include exploring how reader profiles, fiction genres, and physical reading environments may affect the effectiveness of AI-supported immersive reading. This thesis contributes early groundwork toward that vision.

This thesis investigates the topic of ‘Cognitive Perception for Dyslexic Readers,’ with a focus on the dyslexic subtype detection and the use of assistive technology. Through a review of existing literature, it became evident that there are separate insights into the challenges faced by individuals with dyslexia, as well as the assistive technologies that are available to support them. However, a significant gap exists between these two areas, as current technologies are often designed for a homogenised group of dyslexic individuals without considering the specific subtypes. This oversight can result in a frustrating reading experience and may lead to disengagement with texts.

The goal of this project is to design a digital assistive tool that improves the reading experience of dyslexic readers so that they can comprehend e-books in an immersive/engaging manner. The project was developed in close collaboration with the Koninklijk Bibliotheek (The National Library of the Netherlands) and emerged from a shared vision of creating accessible digital reading experiences with their extensive e-book collection. As a result, an assistive tool, the ReQuest application was created. The name of the application, ReQuest, has been coined from the combination of two words; Reading and Quest. The core idea of the application is that it acts as a buddy for every reading adventure that the reader takes on. ReQuest aims to provide the right assistance to dyslexic readers by identifying their subtype, giving them a custom toolkit and making the experience of reading engaging and immersive. When a reader opens the application they are onboarded in a few simple steps. They will then be guided into 4 quests that will detect their subtype. The first two quests focus on pseudo-word testing in isolation and context. The third quest employs eye-tracking to analyse gaze patterns. Research points out that pseudo-word testing; i.e. reading and speaking tests with non-words, and eye-tracking are effective ways of testing for dyslexic subtypes. Lastly, the fourth quest is to self-report reading deficits. Through these quests, the user will be presented with a relevant subtype and will then be prompted to open a toolkit that has been created for their personal needs.

Readers will then be led into a product demo that showcases how their toolkit can be used while reading with the Online Bibliotheek (online library) at KB. The application will then contract into a button on the right-hand corner of the screen and function as a plug-in would. It will contain embedded tools like a thesaurus, dictionary, text-to-speech etc. based on the contents of the custom toolkit. The user will also have the autonomy to add and remove tools as per their preference.

With the European population rapidly aging, addressing the vulnerabilities associated with physical and cognitive decline is essential. Promoting an active lifestyle among older individuals has proven effective in preserving health and independence. Growing evidence suggests that combining cognitive and physical exercises can significantly enhance both cognitive function and physical health, especially among sedentary elderly populations who are at increased risk due to physical inactivity.

This thesis, conducted in collaboration with the Portuguese company Neuroinova, presents the development and evaluation of a digital intervention aimed at integrating physical exercises into their platform for cognitive training COGWEB in individuals experiencing cognitive decline or impairments. The integration process started with ACTIVAS, a program developed in collaboration with researchers from the University of Aveiro, who provided guidelines for an effective physical exercise regimen based on personalization and progression. However, motivating users to adhere to the program, particularly in a remote setting, remained a challenge.

Understanding the needs and barriers of both patients and professionals was crucial to shaping a program that positively impacts user motivation.
Utilizing a user-centered design approach, including generative sessions, interviews with healthcare professionals, and literature reviews, two primary user groups were identified: sedentary individuals with minimal physical activity and busy active individuals with irregular physical exercise patterns. Despite individual differences, the insights revealed that successful integration of physical exercises into COGWEB requires clear, structured guidance from a trusted professional, such as a physiotherapist, alongside engaging and enjoyable exercise activities. Personalization of the program emerged as a key factor in addressing these needs.

The design process focused on ensuring effective guidance and engagement by iteratively testing various prototypes of exercise sessions, with special attention to interaction qualities such as being engaged, guided, proud, trusting, and in control.
The final concept involved a session where cognitive tasks in the form of games—similar to the original COGWEB format—were paired with physical movements and exercises, allowing users to train both cognitive functions and their body simultaneously. Emphasis was placed on providing clear instructions and professional guidance through the presence of a physiotherapist.

Final test results showed promise in motivating sedentary individuals to participate in these sessions, achieving the design goal of ensuring guidance and engagement. While the design objective of this thesis was met within the study's scope, further work is necessary to implement and evaluate the program's long-term effectiveness in real-world settings. The findings suggest that this approach has the potential to significantly increase physical activity levels and improve adherence among elderly COGWEB users, contributing to their overall well-being.

Introduction: Individuals with burnout often experience cognitive challenges in general performance or the excessive effort to perform certain tasks. With the increasing work pace over the years, on average, over 10% of workers in Europe and over 17% in non-European countries had experienced burnout up until 2018 (Schaufeli, 2018). Personal solutions like websites and guided meditation applications have emerged to help alleviate burnout symptoms. Governments have passed legislation to prevent burnout from occurring.

The advancing cognitive personal informatics (CPI) technology has made it possible to monitor psychophysiological data and quantify human cognition and cognitive activities. The quantified human cognition-related data could be of great value to people who wish to be more aware of their condition or needs and refer to this information in reflective activities to become a better version of themselves.

Methodology: Three main research questions were generated to inquire about the role of cognitive data in burnout solutions. This project follows the principles of participatory design and the double diamond framework with minor adaptations to answer the research questions. Background research was conducted to gather theoretical and practical information on topics related to burnout solutions, measures of cognitive data, and state-of-the-art CPI technology. Semi-structured interviews with people with burnout experience were conducted as a user study. Creative sessions with target users were conducted to guide the design direction.

Results: The background research clarified the basic burnout profile as well as the cognitive burnout correlates that can be measured by CPI systems. This part of the research elaborated on 7 key correlates that can later be applied in the design phase. The participatory design research activities revealed different perspectives from potential users on burnout that complemented the background research. The participatory design activities also proposed key features that shaped the initial concept.

Conclusion: A design guideline was proposed to help users make good use of CPI technology and self-reflection to search for burnout solutions independently based on the research findings. Some of the key stages in the guideline were conceptualized into wireframes. The guideline suggests users should have full control and support over the entire burnout recovery process, with resources for community support when needed.

Our understanding of mental workload (MWL) is still limited compared to well-known physiological data like blood pressure and heart rate. MWL measures the cognitive resources required for tasks against what's available. Innovative technologies offer more comprehensive and objective cognitive data, but their impact on individuals and their tracking needs requires exploration, including how to establish continuous self-tracking behavior.

Therefore, this research aims to understand people's perceptions and thoughts on MWL and explore meaningful MWL self-tracking behavior. It follows three phases: exploratory, validation, and reflection.

In the exploratory phase, literature is reviewed to define MWL and promote self-tracking. Interviews explore users' understanding, motivations, and needs, highlighting issues like data interpretation bias, mistrust, lack of visibility, connection, and use timing.

Validation involves co-design activities, including user tests and surveys. Before user tests, the literature is reviewed for potential solutions. A rapid prototype is designed based on insights and existing metrics from EMOTIV, facilitating discussions with co-designers. Offline surveys track users' workload and stress levels to understand how they record it in their way and their perceptions and confusion between workload and stress.

Reflection combines literature review and validation insights to discuss research findings and propose future design recommendations.

Overall, this research found several barriers and negative attitudes among users toward self-tracking MWL. The main issues include difficulties and misconceptions in understanding MWL, as well as the inability to see the impact of tracking cognitive data. These challenges make it difficult for users to trust MWL data and incorporate MWL tracking into their daily lives. Additionally, this research identifies unique user perceptions of cognitive data compared to physiological metrics like blood pressure and heart rate, informing future design considerations. Ultimately, the research concludes all the insights from the literature review and research to propose several avenues for future design and research.

Trust plays an important role in the implementation of chatbot technology. This study was also focusing on user trust in chatbots, particularly focusing on the role of response delay and explanation-driven driven subjective transparency. This research includes a pretest and a main test. In the pretest, we selected one explanation that was perceived by the participants that can raise the most social presence feeling as well as the subjective transparency of the chatbot. In the main test, a 2 × 2 between-subject experiment was designed and conducted to test the hypotheses. First, the findings revealed that while response delay did not significantly influence trust or social presence, clear explanations, especially in the context of instant delays, positively impacted subjective transparency and trust. Second, the study reinforced the positive correlation between social presence and trust, subjective transparency, and trust. From a practical perspective, the research offers insights for chatbot design, emphasizing the importance of improving subjective transparency and rendering a more natural and human-like interaction.

Deciding if an online entity is trustworthy can be challenging. How do you decide if you can go into business with an unknown company, offering an enticing product?

This thesis project aimed to enhance consumer trust in Insify, a starting business insurance company operating in a competitive market. The objective was to identify trust indicators and evaluate their impact on conversion rates, ultimately seeking ways to improve consumer trust.

Insify is an InsurTech company aiming to simplify and digitize insurance processes. They offer disability, property & casualty, and health insurance directly to customers, targeting self-employed entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized enterprises. However, they face competition from established insurers and challenges associated with digitalization in a crowded market.

In the e-commerce realm, building consumer trust is challenging but crucial. Early UX designers incorporated trust-building elements into online spaces. However, during the past decade, deceptive design practices emerged, complicating the trust-building process and increasing consumer skepticism towards the online provision of personal information.

The project follows the Double Diamond design method, involving literature research, expert interviews, customer surveys, and A/B testing to redefine trust indicators and enhance the customer journey. In the final section of the design phase a strategic roadmap is presented, highlighting future opportunities for Insify.

The research findings revealed that customers value personal contact and support. The customer survey indicated the significance of insurance premiums and coverage for business insurance customers. Trust-building was identified as a multifaceted process that extends beyond competence, integrity, and benevolence, indicating a need for a connected set of trust indicators throughout the customer journey. However, the research project faced limitations, such as difficulties in translating trust indicators into design components and defining precise methods to measure consumer trust.

Based on the findings, recommendations were made for Insify to showcase customer testimonials and use cases to demonstrate positive experiences, conduct A/B tests with more significant variations, and focus on addressing the desire for personal contact among customers. In a broader sense, the financial industry should recognize the impact of information asymmetry and prioritize conversations over fully automated application processes and questionnaires. Furthermore, the industry should prepare for disruptive transitions, such as the integration of AI.

While the specific design components tested did not significantly impact conversion rates, the research process contributed to a deeper understanding of trust indicators and their role in consumer trust. The recommendations provided can guide Insify and the financial industry in enhancing consumer trust and improving the customer journey. Further research is encouraged to address the identified limitations and explore trust-building topics in more depth. Building trusting relationships with consumers should remain a primary goal, emphasizing the trust-building potential of each touchpoint in the customer journey.

This report outlines the key challenges faced by customers when purchasing smart lighting products through different online presentations. With the user-centered approach and the report serves as an initial step in exploring the design aspects of online retailing pages for light products. By focusing on the user and light experience, this report aims to provide valuable insights into enhancing the design of these pages to better meet the needs and expectations of customers.

This project is guided by the following research questions: (1) Which aspects and how affect the use online experience? (2) How do they influence? (3) How to better present smart light products online?

In a quest to answer the above questions, this project conducted different user tests and studies and ended with a guidance. Based on the difference between the online and offline lighting scene presentation, the researcher invited 10 participants and started the first user test in which the following questions were studied:

How does the experience with the hue online representation differ from the real-world experience (regarding lighting and overall user experience)?
Which aspects affect the user’s perception of online and offline experience? Images’ style, quality, interaction way or other aspects?

From the first user test, the researcher learned that the difference between offline and offline experience is that offline can show more light levels and provide users with a sense of more control. According to the results of the questionnaire and interviews, users also put forward their requirements in terms of content, interaction and light experience.

Based on the first user test, the researcher developed four hypotheses to explore how different factors affect the experience and how design can be used to enhance the online product exhibit experience. After receiving 20 valid results, in a second user study it was found that (a)higher interactivity of the prototype, better user and light experience, (b) abstraction stimulate the user's imagination of the product use scenario.

Based on user testing and analysis, the researcher summarized guidance that help designers have design direction when they start designing, or review existing designs. The guidance focuses on these three directions:Better visual content
Interactive, product display, Immersive light vibe

Dementia is an umbrella term for progressive loss of cognitive abilities, which mainly affects elderly- affecting relationships, feelings and behaviour. A person living with dementia (PLWD) might forget the names of their grandchildren, the face of their loved ones, important places and life events. Due to the rising population growth with more than 55 million people living with dementia (8.1 % of women and 5.4% of men over 65 years) and increasing life expectancies, dementia is already recognized by the WHO (World Health Organization) as a public health priority, and it is now the 7th leading cause of death (WHO, 2021).

The population pressure that care homes are currently under cannot be easily remedied without significant monetary investment into the manpower of the industry. Therefore it would be more fruitful to enable PLWD to function more independently from the help of their carers.

VR technology has seen immense growth in the last 10 years especially within the field of child and elderly care. Although dementia has been understood since 700BCE, the decrease in stigma has allowed the current era of dementia care to flourish using music, art and drama therapy- amongst other person-centred care techniques. Combining these reminiscence therapy techniques with the booming technology of VR is therefore the next logical step in improving immersion. To this end, VR offers control and consistency in testing virtual environments that guarantee safety. However, a key obstacle in the uptake of VR for PLWD is the risk of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia- negative behaviours. To reduce these behaviours, a balance must be struck between stimulation and overload- namely stress.

Emotion classification models were established using the valence-arousal circumplex model before identifying the physiological embodiments of such emotion. Of the stress sensing technology surveyed, electromyography was the only technology reviewed that showed evidence of accurate, low-latency, sensation of arousal and valence by way of measuring contractions in the trapezius and zygomaticus muscles respectively.

To design a conducive VR environment, overarching goals for reminiscence in VR were identified as presence, occupation, comfort, inclusion and novelty. The method of reminiscence therapy was broken down into three forms- place, object and interaction based. The parameters of brightness, volume and non-player character movement were established to be adapted in VR for stress reduction over the course of a 10 minute exploration test.

Results of the study showed a 26% decrease in average stress experienced during the three modulation stages over the control stage. Volume modulation was identified as the most effective parameter showing a 32% stress reduction.

Participants reported that the presentation of familiar environments in VR did in fact promote feelings of nostalgia and reported moments of reminiscence. Future work opportunities call for more studies with PLWD, multi-modal & multi-channel stress sensing and concurrent parameter modulation.

Technology improvements such as integrating all peripherals into a standalone system as well as utilising more convenient and ergonomic sensors that could be applied semi-permanently to form a more holistic data overview for PLWD outside experimental conditions.

Behavioural data that shows how and what people do could help designers unlock new ideas and perspectives about their users. However, collecting this data is expensive and time-consuming, and ethical concerns inevitably arise because the data often contains personal information. Ortega presents designerly data donation as an efficient and ethical approach that encourages the active participation of users to obtain contextualised data (Ortega et al., 2021). This subtle switch of attitude towards data collection will help designers reduce concerns about budget or invasion of privacy. Designers can build up proper triggers to inspire users to donate their data and provide enough information to enable donors to autonomously participate in their control and choice. While its potential has been defined, there are a few challenges to further integrating this concept in practice. In particular, designers must understand the whole system to plan the right strategies to call for donors, taking the right action at the right time. With this in mind, the main focus of this project was how to deliver the concept of designerly data donation as a design method for designers in practice. A design challenge and related activities were conducted with UX designers of The Valley and the data-centric design lab at TU delft, after which I proposed the initial shape of the DDD toolkit that can be used in practice as a result of this project.