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Delft Design Stories

24 October 2024

Including residents in energy hubs could solve energy poverty

Wind turbines, solar panels, batteries. We are producing, consuming and distributing energy more locally. This offers opportunities to solve challenges like energy poverty. “But if we want to create just, fair, and successful energy hubs, we must make them understandable and relevant for everyone," says researcher Abhigyan Singh.

28 June 2024

TU Delft student team designs a self-supporting lunar village

Dream Team ‘Space Oasis Delft’ has designed a lunar village for 150+ residents. The dwellings have elements of biomimicry, contain a self-sustaining biosphere and simulate a day-night cycle as well as seasons. Smart design choices safeguard not only the occupants' safety but also their mental well-being.

28 May 2024

Helping consumers choose product repair over replacement

When your coffee maker or smartphone stops working, do you repair or replace it? While extending the lifespan of products is a fundamental aspect of the circular economy, getting people to make the sustainable choice is not always easy. For her PhD, Renske van den Berge wanted to understand why consumers replace electronic products and explore how several design and marketing strategies could support the consumer to extend product lifetimes.

14 May 2024

Give people control over AI systems that impact their lives

While government AI systems have the potential to improve things like efficient delivery of services to citizens, they can also harm people’s autonomy. So, how can public AI systems be designed to ensure citizens maintain control over their lives? Through his PhD research, Kars Alfrink says giving citizens a say in when, how, and for what purposes these systems are developed and used is vital.

29 April 2024

Design labels: the words that divide and unite us

As designers, how do we explain what we do? There's a wide range of design labels to choose from. And it makes sense. Labels are a way for us as designers to indicate what we do, how we do it and what we value. What if we had a framework which allows us to explain every aspect of our design practice? IDE researchers Pieter Jan Stappers, Froukje Sleeswijk Visser and Annemiek van Boeijen developed such a framework.

21 April 2024

The holistic textile design research of Holly McQuillan

As a fashion and textile design engineer, IDE researcher Holly McQuillan wants to change the fashion industry by introducing it to the woven textile-form technique, a kind of 3D weaving which involves creating three-dimensional form by using the weaving process. Through this she wants to make the industry more sustainable by providing realistic tools. “Automated 3D weaving increases control and flexibility, and may make production more cost efficient.”

16 April 2024

How design can help local governments better serve their communities

Governments increasingly see the value of design practices in public service and policy issues, but there are obstacles when it comes to implementation. As an emerging field, there is not much knowledge on design in the public sector. Through her PhD research, Ahmee Kim set out to explore what hinders design for policy practices and how embedding design in organisations can create value, helping local governments to better serve their communities.

15 March 2024

A train car design for day and night

Did you ever watch the film 'Murder on the Orient Express'? Inspector Hercule Poirot tries to solve the mysterious murder of an American businessman on the infamous night train. The film paints a very romantic picture of the night train, but is that still the case? "Actually, the business case of the night train doesn’t quite stack up," explains IDE Alumnus Annabelle Out. That’s why Annabelle designed a carriage interior for both day and night trains for engineering firm Royal HaskoningDHV.

Delft Design Stories

Read the stories of researchers and students at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, and discover the scientific questions on which they work and the solutions they present.

"Humans don't develop like machines."

When Stefan Persaud took over the second-year bachelor’s course Product Dynamics at Industrial Design, he brought along his motto: "If you can't reach them, you can't teach them." Persaud believes in student-centred teaching, where lecturers focus on how students best learn and engage students in active learning.

"Humans don't develop like machines."

When Stefan Persaud took over the second-year bachelor’s course Product Dynamics at Industrial Design, he brought along his motto: "If you can't reach them, you can't teach them." Persaud believes in student-centred teaching, where lecturers focus on how students best learn and engage students in active learning.

How sustainable are smart devices?

You might think that smart devices – something that can connect to the internet or another device – would be more sustainable. After all, if the lights and the thermostat only turn on when a person is present, they should use less energy. ‘But’ says Emilia Ingemarsdotter, ‘every technology has a hype phase’. For her PhD research, she wanted to look beyond the hype and critically examine the role internet-enabled devices play in the circular economy.

Sustainable design is not just about the material stuff

Sure, sustainable design can result in a trendy reusable bottle. But it’s not just about the product, it’s also about the process. Through his PhD research, Brian Baldassarre set out to understand how design expertise can be applied by business organisations in the transition towards sustainable development.

An ecosystem perspective on circularity

Making the transition towards a Circular Economy is so complex and full of interdependencies that no single company or actor can achieve it alone. In his PhD thesis, Jan Konietzko proposed that getting there will require a collective approach: business innovation using an ecosystem perspective.

Grab a pencil and paper

What do you need as an industrial designer? What are your main tools? Pencil and paper, says Nik Shahman. He researched the usefulness of sketching in a design team and obtained his PhD on 22 December with his research.

Designing to inspire more sustainable consumers

Shifting towards the Circular Economy is not just about sustainable products, it’s also about sustainable behaviour. So how can design influence people to take better care of the products they use? PhD graduate Laura Ackermann says for designers, considering the consumer perspective is the key.