Renske Spreeuwenberg - Development

Expertise Areas

Creativity & Aesthetics

Before I started my study at TU/e, C&A was already my most developed expertise area since I have always been creative. I believe this expertise area is important for designers since products need to look nice in order to sell. Creativity & Aesthetics is reflected in most of my projects by taking care of the layout of reports, images and posters. This has helped me enormously with tools as Photoshop and Illustrator. However, I have mainly developed in C&A through ‘From Idea to Design’, such as design processes and ideation techniques.

During Project 1, we ideated multiple times. We started by sketching an writing ideas down, later on we also did rapid- and paper-prototyping. After doing the rapid session, I realized that this generated some bad ideas, but these actually helped me to be openminded to new ideas. Next to that, I also realized that I find it important that the final product looks neat. This is partly due to my perfectionism and partly because I believe a product is automatically more successful when it looks appealing.

5-3-2 Ideation technique for From Idea to Design

Mind map for From Idea to Design

Card sketches and prototypes for From Idea to Design

Rapid-prototyping for Project 1

Ideation sketches from Project 1

User & Society

I think U&S is crucial in order to design product for users. 'User-Centered Design' taught me valuable techniques like personas, interviews, consent forms, and affinity diagrams. I realize that during UCD, these were not effectively utilized after they were made. I want to change this for future projects, so that ideas are validated by users. During 'USE basic' I gained knowledge on ethical concerns when involving users, realizing the different perspectives to what is morally right.

During Project 1 we applied the UCD techniques by conducting interviews using questions and consent forms that were prepared beforehand. Although asking additional questions deepened my understanding of the user, it made the analysis more difficult since teammates did not use this method. Afterwards we made an affinity diagram, but we failed to use the key takeaways and optimize using user-provided information. We also created personas, but again we did not actively consider them when designing our project. Moving forward, I want to actively involve and analyze the user so that their opinions actually matter for the product.

Informed consent form for Project 1

Persona for Project 1 (I did not create it)

Persona for User-Centered Design

Affinity diagram for User-Centered Design

Business & Entrepreneurship

Business and Entrepreneurship has developed the least in the past year. I followed no courses within this expertise area and it was also not incorporated in other courses. In the beginning of the year, I did not even think about integrating business and marketing into the design process, it was more about creating something. I now realize the importance of validating the financial feasibility of the products.

During Project 1, aspects of B&E were included. We initially set a certain price for the food, which was later validated through analysis of prices from existing stores. We also filled in the business model canvas together and the value proposition canvas. I only filled in one part of the business model canvas together with a teammate who had already learned about this model. I was curious about it and asked for more information. However, I found myself struggling to fully understand the models because I had no prior knowledge about them. I aim to learn about business to validate the success of a new product.

Business Model Canvas for Project 1

Value Proposition Canvas for Project 1 (I did not take part in this)

Data Frame showing the prices for meals (combination of 4 items) for Project 1

Math, Data & Computing

MD&C is important to scientifically prove and validate assumptions. After data is gathered it can be analyzed using visualizations and from that conclusions can be made. This way founded decisions within the design process can be made. When following Data Analytics for Engineers I learned how to make different visualizations of data using Python. I recognized that making different visualizations is important to find the correlations between two variables. In the end, I developed quite a bit in this expertise area, mostly in the data analysis because this is something I had never done before.

MD&C was not incorporated as much in our design process for Project 1. A data frame for food items and prices was made. This was very useful to combine items to create meals and to check its total price. However, I did not take part in this activity. For future projects, I would like to create more data visualizations to show the findings. I think this could have been applied in Project 1 by making visualizations of the information gathered from the interviews.

Visualization for Data Analytics for Engineers

Technology & Realization

Before this study I lacked experience in T&R, however it received significant attention during my first year and I now realize the importance of T&R for designers.

I realized that I learn the skills in this expertise area best by trying things out. For example, I learned most of programming by experimenting with existing code. For Solidworks, a friend taught me the basics and then I experimented and consulted online tutorials. During Creative Electronics, I learned about electrical components, which were new for me. I think my learning process was not optimal, as my teammate, a 3rd-year mechanical engineer, had more experience in electronics.

In Project 1, T&R was used mostly during prototyping. I made 3D-models of the food tubes that were used on a large poster to mimic the whole store, while not having to build the whole thing. I also 3D-modelled the foldable container. Additionally, a few electronics were used in the prototype, such as the digital interface and the receipt mechanism. However I did not realize this part. I want to incorporate technology more in the future because it can aid people in a nice way.

Creative Electronics final Mini-Project, the prototype

Creative Electronics final Mini-Project, the electronics

Creative Mechanical Design, Engineering and Manufacturing 3D model of bucket

Creative Mechanical Design, Engineering and Manufacturing 3D model of track part

Creative Programming Challenge 1

Testing of image part for Creative Programming Challenge 1

Creative Programming Challenge 2

Electronics in the recipe desk for Project 1

3D-model of foldable container for Project 1

3D-printed foldable container for Project 1

Design Research Processes and Professional Skills

Some trainings have improved my design research processes and professional skills. For example, the ‘Information skills’ training taught me how to use queries to accurately search for articles. This helps significantly in the research phase of the design process. Next to that, the ‘Pitching your Project’ helped me a lot with attitude and gestures to pitch more confidently.

In Project 1, I did not use the queries when researching because the information skills training was given after we had done most of our research in the project. Working in groups the past year has really improved my collaboration and communication skills. Additionally, I was more confident in my pitch after learning techniques from ‘Pitching your Project’.