Positive Design
TU Delft students design for our well-being
Together with colleagues and students from the Delft Institute of Positive Design, IDE Professor Pieter Desmet explores how designers can make positive contributions to the well-being of individuals and communities. As part of his recurring column in the (Dutch) Journal of Positive Psychology, Pieter spotlights inspiring well-being driven products created by industrial design students.
Professor Desmet has looked at everything from digital piggy banks designed to encourage meaningful saving behaviours to toolkits that help young people avoid trouble and instead reveal their personal talents.
In his 25th and latest column, Pieter introduces the audience to “Prana – a luminous meditation assistant”, which was designed by DfI student Gijs Spierings. To learn more about Prana and other IDE projects, click here.
The story behind Professor Desmet’s column
In 2015, the (Dutch) Journal of Positive Psychology was launched. The editor-in-chief invited Desmet to contribute to a reoccurring column that would reflect on the question of how design can contribute to the field of positive psychology. Through this, Pieter saw the potential to share the inspiring work of IDE students with a wider audience. So, he and the editor-in-chief agreed that the column would serve to present examples of ‘Positive Design’ - design cases that focus on human flourishing created by students from the TU Delft Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering.
Over the years, I have witnessed how an increasing number of design students have become inspired by the concept of well-being. These are designers who aspire to consciously and deliberately use their design skills to contribute to the happiness of individuals and communities. I hope the column conveys some of their contagious enthusiasm. Some of the design cases focus on individuals, others on groups. Some help us to rediscover our talents, some support us in forming meaningful relationships, and others enable us to invest in the happiness of ourselves and of the people we care about.
Professor Pieter Desmet
Pieter Desmet
Pieter Desmet
- +31 (0)15 27 83375
- P.M.A.Desmet@tudelft.nl
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Room C-3-230
"Reason is, and ought to be, the slave of the passions" - Hume