On this page I reflect on this semester in general and I reflect on the personal learning goals I formulated at the beginning of my final bachelor’s project.

General

My internship last semester helped me to climb out of a hole that I fell in the semester before . It gave me a clear insight in who I am as a designer, what I want to accomplish and which learning goals were necessary to finish my bachelor’s. I feel I have a balanced package of knowledge and skills to take with me into the professional field after my final bachelor’s project. I’ve closed the gap between ideation and prototyping and feel that I have tools to tackle problems in each step of the design process.

I feel that, opposed to my final bachelor’s project, I prefer to work with others in a team. As described in my future page I’m planning to start my own design firm with some colleague students. This is exciting and frightening, but it’s a good time to start on ourselves.

I tried to communicate my portfolio in a concise and visual way. Since I started with the self evaluations as reflective document I tend to ’say’ to much. In this portfolio I’ve managed to present my work in a nicer way, keeping the descriptions of the actual learning activities concise.

Reflections on Personal Learning Goals

User, Design and Technology

• Follow an iterative design process with the main industrial design pillars implemented. Using contextual inquiry technique to built an affinity diagram that maps general themes to keep a birds eye perspective on the project.

This was one of the main goals I’d set at the beginning of this semester. I’ve tried to use several approaches (as you can see in my project report) to help me streamline the process and gain depth into the three main pillars; user, design and technology. Especially the creation of an encompassing vision has helped me to argument decisions and keep an birds eye perspective on the project. Before I tended to get lost in a project whilst working on it individually because I was to perfectionistic in the early stages of the design process. I’ve experienced how an iterative design process helped me to get the right focus in particular stages of the design process, whilst keeping a birds eye view.

Visualising Ideas and Concepts

• I want to learn how to communicate my ideas efficiently and focus on discussion about the object’s use, design and/or other aspects, instead of endless talk to describe the object.

During my internship I’ve experienced how easy it was to use Illustrator for 2D design, especially to communicate ideas. I wanted to extend my skills in concept development and communication into 3D objects (which we usually deal with). I’ve used tutorials to learn the basics of Rhinoceros and a friend of mine helped me with rendering the models. During the rendering process I’ve learned a lot about material usage, light and composition. This tool will definitely help me with developing and communicating my ideas.

Integration & Identity

• This goal has a lot to do with the theme of the third year and with the goal of an final bachelor’s project in general and is twofold; shortest summary possible: What am I capable of doing? and What is my identity?

I feel that during my studies I’ve been exposed to all of the competencies that make up our curriculum. My strengths are the Ideas & Concepts, Integrated Technology, User Focus & Perspective and Form & Senses competences. I prefer the front end of the design process where you do the analyzation, ideation, concept development, prototyping and user testing. In my professional live I will have to focus on finishing assignments within a set amount of time, instead of when I feel they are decent enough.

To get back to the second question this goal consists of; the cultural/social context and the focus on technology to transform this context suits my identity very well. The willingness to share with the rest of the world is also very applicable. I can envision myself working as a professional. Other pillars of my identity that didn’t really came forward during my project  have an organizational character, i.e. seminars, workshops and festivals. Organizing is something I enjoyed doing since my year as a Lucid board member. I will elaborate on this a bit more on the Identity page, otherwise there’d nothing left to write there!