This graduation project explores how polarisation is perceived among adolescents (16–25) in relation to their online environments, and how design can help reduce social media’s reinforcing effects. Polarisation is not simply about differences in opinion, but about growing emotional distance between groups. Research shows that while opinions themselves have not necessarily moved further apart, negative feelings towards others have intensified. At the same time, social media platforms amplify emotionally charged and extreme content through algorithmic systems, reinforcing existing beliefs while limiting opportunities for reflection. This project aims to understand how adolescents experience polarisation and how design can create space for awareness of online influences.
To address this complex societal problem, the project combines a systemic design perspective with co-creation and research-through-design methods. The research began with a literature study, expert interviews, and field observations to understand polarisation across societal, social, and individual levels. These insights were translated into clusters, a system map, and a central dilemma between freedom and safety within off- and online environments.
To incorporate youth perspectives, this dilemma was explored through creative sessions with adolescents, where their experiences and interpretations shaped the project direction. A key tension that emerged is the paradox between freedom and influence in online environments: adolescents experience social media as a space for self-expression, while being subtly shaped by algorithmic systems they are often unaware of. Although these systems strongly filter content, their influence is frequently underestimated. This creates an environment in which adolescents feel in control, while their views are continuously reinforced, limiting exposure to diverse perspectives and opportunities for reflection.
Based on these insights, the project resulted in a workshop that makes algorithmic influence tangible and open for reflection. Participants are exposed to “donated” social media feeds, allowing them to step outside their own personalised bubble. By experiencing these feeds and mapping their emotional responses, they become aware of how content affects them and how perspectives differ. This process encourages reflection on both the emotional impact of content and their own role within these dynamics. Rather than aiming to change opinions, the workshop focuses on fostering awareness and opening space for dialogue about polarisation as a shared experience.
The workshop was iteratively developed and evaluated through multiple testing moments with adolescents and experts. Evaluations show that the format is engaging and accessible, and effectively encourages reflection. Experiencing different feeds was particularly impactful, as it made clear how algorithms shape different worldviews. However, while the workshop raises awareness, its long-term impact on behaviour and sustained attitude change requires further development.
Overall, this project demonstrates that polarisation among adolescents is a complex and systemic issue. It highlights the role of online environments, showing how algorithmic systems reinforce polarising dynamics in subtle but powerful ways. Addressing this requires supporting awareness, reflection, and dialogue about the mechanisms that shape what adolescents see and experience online. At the same time, polarisation extends beyond the online context, requiring broader societal action.
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Facing terminality is a traumatic experience, one which entails a reorientation of one’s entire meaning system. Hospice care is an approach which aims to provide comfort in the face of this turmoil, through the pursuit and provision of quality of life and a good death, facilitated through the alignment of care decisions and resources with patient’s personal values.

For incurable head and neck cancer patients, the pursuit of ‘a good death’ is challenged as a result of their particularly short life expectancy – five months. This leaves patients with limited time to reorient, reassess, and reflect on what their values and priorities are in the unexpected face of death. Further complicating these efforts is the population’s elderly male demographic, wherein the influence of gender stigmas, taboos and cultural norms presents a cohort who are adverse to emotional vulnerability and expression.

Through an extensive literature review, in concert with secondary findings across forums, blogs, testimonies and conferences, the context of HNC hospice was mapped across three dimensions – the environment, the person, and the cognitive processes. Through delineation of findings, a solution space was identified and mapped, and an exploratory cycle undertaken in order to answer the core tension – discovering the fundamental meanings of the emotionally avoidant.

This project presents a theoretically grounded framework, which utilises the lens of legacy and life stories to act as a mediating interface between patients and clinicians, surfacing fundamental meanings and facilitating the alignment of care resources towards QoL through a shared understanding. In tandem, it answers patients desire to prevent suffering in loved ones after their death through the creation of a legacy document, which they can bequeath and which will provide comfort and a preserved sense of relatedness even after death.

This framework is presented in concert with a set of protocol considerations which dictate application and embodiment considerations for the frameworks successful deployment, including both within, and external to, the HNC domain, representing opportunities for its deployment in hospice care across the terminally ill, as well as its applicability in trajectories pre-hospice.
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This graduation project aims to reframe migration by exploring the domain of “the relationship between European society and immigration, 2040.” Using the Vision in Product Design (ViP) method, the project envisions possible futures of this domain and proposes design interventions within a context shaped by two dynamics: the use of public inertia as a political strategy to address immigration, and emotional detachment as the prevailing social atmosphere in European society. In recent decades, Europe has experienced an influx of displaced people from non-European countries, placing migration at the center of public and political discourse. European politics initially framed this influx as an emergency, and later as a crisis, reviving historical patterns of “othering” and “national traditions.” This framing has fostered exclusionary and politicized thinking while denying migration as part of a broader global transformation. Current migration policies, focused on restricting asylum systems and strengthening border controls, have proven ineffective, overlooking migration’s potential value. Yet, policy strongly shapes how citizens interpret reality. Reframing migration within the policy sphere can therefore positively influence how European society engages with this phenomenon. This project structures a future vision around two major forces. The first is “treating immigration with public inertia”, expressed through three political strategies: a utilitarian framing of immigration, processing a fluid reality through rigid schemas, and preventing public influence. The second is an “emotionally detached society: high contact, avoiding dialogue”, manifested at three levels of society: the macro-level (loud rhetoric fueling polarization), the meso-level (dehumanization and othering shaping collective fear), and the micro-level (tensions and misalignments in everyday transformations). When these two forces intersect, they generate nine future situations. These situations form the basis of nine design interventions, each unraveling a future meaning. The interventions aim to foster a more constructive relationship between European society and immigration by encouraging citizens to think critically and act responsibly, equipping them with tools to navigate uncertainties brought by societal challenges. The main outcomes of this project are: 1. A framework that maps how this future context may unfold and makes sense of its complexity. 2. Nine design ideas that, collectively, represent a perspective shift capable of enabling meaningful change. 3. The development of one concept, “The Civic Trial,” as a concrete example of designing for this envisioned future. 4. A methodological reflection on the design process. The Civic Trial concept stems from the idea of educating citizens in dialogue. It envisions a pluralistic space for meaningful exchange, where people’s needs can be expressed and translated into inputs for policymaking. The concept takes the form of an agonistic democracy embedded in a legal trial setting. Based on inclusion and citizen representation, it is designed to inform European Commission policy initiation, bypassing polarized politics that often feel distant from citizens. Ultimately, this project demonstrates how design can add value to policymaking by equipping citizens with meaningful tools to navigate uncertainty and by fostering more constructive engagement with migration. ... Read more

This thesis explores the growing issue of youth political disengagement in Europe, focusing on the misinterpretation of apathy and how it can be reframed as a valid form of political participation. Using speculative and strategic design methods, the thesis investigates how emotional reflection, rather than passive reaction, can empower youth and reconnect them with politics.

A significant gap exists between European youth and traditional political systems. Youth, frustrated by a distant, self-serving system, have increasingly turned to alternative forms of engagement. Politicians’ empty promises, lack of focus on youth issues, and slow reactions to urgent matters like housing and climate change have deepened the disillusionment. While the electoral process remains central to democracy, its outdated structure is no longer aligned with the needs of today’s youth—who are digital, issue-driven, and expect more continuous, meaningful involvement.

This thesis proposes a solution to address this disconnect: Civic Mirror. This platform is designed to acknowledge youth’s emotional engagement with politics and provide them with a space to reflect on their feelings and influence policies. Unlike traditional voting systems, Civic Mirror allows users to express their emotions about current issues, track their emotional states, and take action when they feel most passionate.

Civic Mirror offers an inclusive, dynamic, and emotionally-driven model of political engagement that empowers youth to engage meaningfully with politics. By validating their feelings and offering personalized participation, Civic Mirror helps bridge the gap between youth and politics, ensuring their involvement in the democratic process is both relevant and impactful. ... Read more