REFLECTION ON DESIGNING

MAX RIJKEN

WWW.MAXRIJKEN.COM4018435

ZEN & THE ART OF DESIGN P. 2INTERIM REPORT

REFLECTION ON DESIGNING

AT MICROSOFT DESIGN EXPO, SEATTLE 2015 AT JACOB JENSEN DESIGN, SHANGHAI 2015

AN ESSAY ABOUT PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND POSITION IN SOCIETY AS A DESIGNER

The last months have been almost like a

dream to me, not only the kind of dream

every young designer has, but also from

my personal perspective. Last summer I

got the chance to present at the Microsoft Design Expo

in Redmond with my team from the course Interactive

Technology Design (ITD) and few weeks back I had yet

another great trip together with inspiring people. After

winning an online design competition for Bruynzeel

Storage Systems I got the opportunity to go to Shanghai

and work at the studio of Jacob Jensen Design and

develop my winning concept together with Bruynzeel

and Jacob Jensen Design. It is the best feeling ever as a

student Industrial Design to feel appreciated by people

that believe in your design and are willing to invest time or

money in you and your projects. This is not always have

been the case of course. The road to success, especially

as a young adolescent who is not only developing himself

professionally but also personally, is not something that

just happens. I can guarantee you that. In this essay I am

trying to figure out how I developed myself over the years

and how I’d like to position myself as a designer.

At this moment I consider myself as explorative with a

hands-on mentality, what I love is the multidisciplinary

aspect of designing. The combination of strategy,

researching and prototyping with a strong user focus is

what keeps me going. At this particular moment in my life

I believe that investing in your dreams is most important,

the time has passed that others took care of you.

“I STRONGLY BELIEVE IN THE RESPONSIBILITY THAT DESIGNERS HAVE TOWARDS SOCIETY, WE DESIGN THE PRODUCTS THAT ARE USED TOMORROW”

In my belief I got at this point by passing this iterative

process that I was not aware of before writing this essay

(see image 1). Something that was caused not only

by change of behaviour and attitude, but also by the

influence of specific teachers and friends around me.

What I don’t want to do is to give the illusion I had a sort

of revelation a few years back that inspired me to change

my personality, attitude and behaviour or whatever. No, it

started with due to smalle events and changes. It is very

hard to find the origin of this process but I think it started

by setting small and short-term goals (A). I can give some

examples to illustrate this: A few years back I was very

much in love with designing for the retail industry, doing

an internship was my goal. To accomplish this goal I had

to change my attitude and behaviour for the better (B),

invest more time in developing professional skills such

as learning the right software and being more productive

and ambitious as a person in order to pursue this dream

and goal.

How I am describing this now it sounds like it is all about

self-made success but this is definitely not my point,

because still being in a very insecure phase in your life

you need not only the right attitude and behaviour as a

student. I also am very dependent of the opinions and

stimulants of others. For my Bachelor Final project I was

lucky with a coach that give my exactly the feedback

to push even harder and give me the feeling of being

on my way to becoming a more professional designer.

This reflects on me as a designer that I appreciate being

surrounded by people that have the same attitude and

who express their trust in you and challenge me to do

more.

Setting a goal, big or small, results sometimes in succes

but being critical also a lot in disappointment (C). Having

so many courses in the Master program, setting priorities

is sometimes necessary. An example of a project that did

not go so well is Exploring Interactions, I nearly failed the

complete course because I did not think about my initial

goal or how to achieve this goal. By reflecting on this I still

think the learning goals of the course are implemented

and I learned to use some new interactive software

programs. So although the disappointment was maybe

big, a still achieved some small goals (D).

To conclude it is not a coincidence that the two pictures

on the left are group pictures, although winning the design

competition was an individual challenge I am very much

aware that teamwork is not only necessary to come with

more comprehensive designs. Working with other people

that have different skills and viewpoints is what makes

the design process more thorough and the end results in

a more valuable product for the people using it.

IMAGE 1ITERATIVE PROCESS OF WORKING

SETTING GOALS

INFLUENCE BY OTHERS

PERSONAL ASPECT

REFLECT ATTITUDE & BEHAVIOUR

SET ATTITUDE & BEHAVIOUR

SUCCESS OR DISAPPOINTMENT

ZEN & THE ART OF DESIGN P. 4INTERIM REPORT

WHERE AM I GOING?

My development as a person and professional designer

is about learning more in-depth skills and generating

more knowledge and understanding in all disciplines

involvement in designing in order to foster personal

growth (image 2). To ensure myself and others that I

posses the capability of being effective and contributing

in order to create benefit to myself and society. I want to

be different and distinctive and to give value to the life of

others by designing products that have meaning besides

the aesthetic value design can give to people’s lives. This

attitude can be seen in some, but not all, of my projects.

For example our concept for ITD called Fuzzy Bird, which

is an interactive transitional object that supports children

with autism in involving themselves in social connections.

The process involved doing research into the values and

needs of the children, their parents and psychologists.

How can technology and design be contributing to the

well-being of people with special needs are a few of the

elements that are important to me being a designer. It

also shows clearly that designing is not something that

happens only on paper and by yourself, you have to

involve others to make successful products and you just

can’t do this by yourself. What I absolutely don’t like is

that sometimes the ego of the designer is overshadowing

the design itself. I strongly believe in the responsibility

that designers have and the modesty that they should

possess, we design the products that are used tomorrow

and therefore should add value to the life of the people

using them.

At the moment I am today feels like a critical moment,

close to graduation and working in a professional

environment. What kind of company fits my profile? I

still don’t know, but that does not make me insecure.

Some days I daydream of being the next Elon Musk or

Daan Roosegaarde, connecting design with technology

or social ethics in a visionary way. Other days I just want

to be a furniture designer, live a quiet life and work just

enough to pay the rent. I am finding it very relaxing that

my future is not set in stone yet.

IMAGE 2MY VALUES AND BELIEFS

POSITIVE ATTITUDE

INTERNAL DESIGN VALUES

EXTERNAL DESIGN VALUES

PERSONAL VALUES TEAM VALUES

VISUALIZE, PROTOTYPE AND TEST!

MULTIDISCIPLINARY

TEAMWORKSELFMANAGMENTBRING OUT THE

BEST IN EACH OTHER

COLLECTIVERESPONSIBILITY

SELF-CRITICISMMODESTY

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

VALUE AND BENEFITFOR END USER

LATEST PROTOTYPE OF FUZZY BIRD SCALE MODEL FOR DESIGN COMPETITION

PRODUCT DESIGN INTERNSHIP RETAIL DESIGN INTERNSHIP

SELF-MANAGING & PERSONAL GROWTH

USER-TESTING THE PROTOTYPE USER-TESTING A REDESIGN

LEARNING NEW SOFTWARE & USER TESTING WITH TEAM

PERSONAL GROWTH & VALUE FOR THE END USER