Collaboration

Project collaboration

In the first year I usually found myself being the leader or most responsible person in all group works I did. As an example, in Project-1 I was the person to coordinate meetings, but also lead them and make sure everyone was doing their tasks properly, whilst also giving them to everyone. I was busy on the graphical side of things by making the design of the "bomb" but I was also constantly coordinating the people working on the development side of things. This was quite unhealthy and exhausting, and something I wanted to change in the second year after doing Project-2.

My plans didn't fully come true in Project-3 as our group was really small and most responsibility got put on me due to unfortunate circumstances and being the most motivated to work on the project and make something nice out of it. I ended up making pictorials, prototypes, thinking of the entire system for the pneumatic pouches, and the data structure behind it, and most time was spent trying to update the rest on what I was doing. This did change in semester 2 of year two where because of my previous experiences, I made sure to structure responsibilities at the start of each project with the group. In Design & Sustainability everyone took shared responsibility and the effort felt truly divided properly, so I was able to focus my energy and attention to the things I'm good at, which was making material maps in circularity, doing literature research and ideation for the regenerability module, and writing the manifesto in rights of nature.

Stakeholder Collaboration

Interesting to me is also the notion of collaborating with stakeholders. I did not collaborate with human stakeholders in the traditional sense, but learned and started understanding the collaboration with more-than-human stakeholders during the regenerability and rights of nature modules in Design & Sustainability. This fits perfectly with my focus in my Vision on bio-materials and taking into account that we shouldn't extract from nature but rather try and co-create with it and take it into account and integrate it in our spaces. This idea is something I'm taking further with me in my current course of Design for Post-Growth Living where I'm integrating stakeholders like bees and a cat pet into the house project we worked on and making sure they have a living space as well within the dwelling.

Exploring Media & Manufacturing

An important goal I set for myself this year is to learn about and try to explore new media and manufacturing methods. I did this particularly for Project-3 where I worked with soft pneumatic-capable fabrics that I heat-sealed using a modified 3d-printer. In particular I practiced how to work with new explorative material that I am still not familiar with, which will be vital for me in the next years when I continue with my masters, where I undoubtedly might work with new and more advanced materials. I also learned how to quickly prototype using 3d-printers for Aesthetics of Interaction where I used my personal 3d-printer at home to make interesting mock-vinyls with interesting shapes. I also printed plastic on fabrics to modify their bending properties for the course Digital Craftsmanship. My exploration of media and manufacturing took a turn towards sustainable and renewable materials afer Design & Sustainability, in particular I got inspired to make my own design process more stustainable, and thus I started finding alternatives to 3d printing by using clay instead of plastic for making models in Design for Post-Growth Living. It is a beautiful tangent that I want to incorporate and explore more in the following years.

Application & Quality of Media

Something I wanted to focus on this year as well is the quality of the material I put forward. Whether written or visual, I want to put care and effort into it. From Project-2 in year 1 I learned how to properly use my camera for documentation. This year I took it further within Digital Craftsmanship and particularly Aesthetics of Interaction where I made my pictorial using studio-quality pictures I took at home with a custom lighting setup and some editing. I took this idea with me to Project-3 where my final report and demonstrator pictures were also done this way. In Design for Post-Growth Living I also used my camera to document and take pictures and even sketch over them to tell a broader picture of how inhabitants would live in this post-growth dwelling.

Direction

I still have a year left on my bachelor study, of which next year is an internship and a final bachelors project. I found it important to already start considering my options and properly explore what I could do with my degree or what should come after and where. After talking to people in the field, people at university, coaches, and visiting events with master students from TU/e I evaluated my options for my Future.

Read further -> Year 2 - Expertise Areas.