News

At IDE, we design for our future: a world that is better than the one in which we live today. We might specialise in different areas — sustainability, mobility and health, to name a few — but are unified by a humanistic approach. It’s no surprise, then, that many of us are familiar with the work of pioneering design activist Victor Papanek, whose life and work are celebrated in a new exhibition at Design Museum Den Bosch.

Taking on the global environmental sustainability crisis will require new ways of thinking when it comes to the way that products and services are produced and consumed. In the context of the circular economy, Phil Brown’s PhD research explores how companies, through collaborative circular oriented innovation, can become part of the solution.

Professor Maaike Kleinsmann will become the fifth board member of the National eHealth Living Lab (NeLL), the international knowledge network in the field of eHealth. As Professor of Design for Digital Transformation at TU Delft, she will focus on design and devices at NeLL.

When designing the interior of a sustainable aircraft you need to optimise the use of available space, minimise the weight and improve the comfort. IDE’s Professor Peter Vink is a Professor of Environmental Ergonomics and worked on the aircraft interior of the Flying-V, an innovative flight concept which embraces an entirely different approach to aircraft design. At TEDxAmstelveen he told about their innovative ideas on improving passenger comfort.

With the nights getting longer and winter on its way, it’s more important than ever to stay safe on the road. A big part of safety for cyclists is visibility - especially when it’s dark outside. However, conventional bike lights focus on illuminating the road instead of the cyclist, which can sometimes hinder more than help when cycling at night. IDE’s IPD master student Luci Santema is tackling this issue with Ziemi, a new kind of light that harnesses the motion of cycling to make the road safer for everyone.

With the application deadlines for the new academic year fast approaching, information activities are in full swing. Last week IDE organised a successful Master Event, and in the coming weeks there will be various bachelor information sessions. Curious? Read on.

The strategic designers among us will doubtless be familiar with design roadmapping, a methodology for envisioning and strategising towards innovative futures. IDE SPD master students following the Design Roadmapping master course have been using this approach to imagine new service propositions for CLEAR: a start-up offering a personalised nutrition service that uses biodata, lifestyle information and precision AI to support users in their health journey. Led by IDE's course coordinator Lianne Simonse, the students explored life-long health services in relation to food and biodata. They developed strategic directions for CLEAR, resulting in future visions and roadmaps that are compelling and convincing in equal measure.

Cities are complex and have been at the core of research across several disciplines. From urban planning and geography to econometrics and policy science. With his research into using sensor data to improve design, IDE researcher Achilleas Psyllidis has recently contributed to the publication of Seeing the City.

For her exoskeleton for boys with Duchenne Muscular Distrophy, IDE alumna Lindsey Vermeer was awarded the Human Factors NL Thesis Award 2020. Her design, which featured in this year's Dutch Design Week, grows with boys as they grow older and features an interface and a video game controller which appealed to the target group.

Congratulations again to IDE alumnus Nitin Gurram, who won the prestigious Red Dot Award in the Design Concept category for his graduation project, Foxpat Surgical Trainer. Earlier this year he has also won an iF Design Talent Award and the silver award in the A' Design Award & Competition for this project.

Since the emergence of COVID-19 in Europe earlier this year, both natural and social scientists have made great efforts to better understand its impact. However, significant knowledge gaps remain, meaning governments may not always have the information needed to make urgent decisions. It’s clear that a deeper understanding of the pandemic is needed – no easy feat in an increasingly complex world.

“It’s the dream job of every designer and architect: a makeover of sixteen metro stations” comments IDE’s Professor Jeroen van Erp. Indeed, this was the brief that GROUP A architects, Maarten van Bremen and Maarten Lever took on back in 2008, together with Jeroen’s design agency, Fabrique. The ten year project which led to the renovation of five underground and 11 over ground stations is mapped out in the fascinating new book, Metro Oostlijn Amsterdam – Designing the System.

yourself kit for parents, with which they can give a plush animal new life. By adding new elements to the cuddly toys, they not only last longer, but parents and children can discuss the impact of human activity on animals. Stacey has won a prestigious iF Design Award for her project.

When someone you care about is hospitalised, the situation is difficult under any circumstances. But during a pandemic, when you can’t visit them, the stress is even greater. Design for Interaction and Medesign MSc graduate Chen Chou recently developed a way for people to stay in touch with loved ones who are in Intensive Care, through music made by their vital signs. This won her the title IDE Best Graduate 2020 for her research, and Chen is now the official IDE nominee for TU Delft Best Graduate 2020.

Jan Bernard Heeman, former managing director (secretarisbeheerder) of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, has passed away.

After a five year term leading the Department of Sustainable Design Engineering (SDE), Professor Peter Vink will be succeeded by Professor Alessandro Bozzon.

Congratulations to Professor Jeroen van Erp! At the end of a very active Dutch Design Week in which he also participated as an expert commentator on the theme of Crisis!, Jeroen’s design agency, Fabrique, went on to win the best product category at the Dutch Design Awards, together with Ocean Cleanup - the not for profit set up by TU Delft’s alumnus Boyan Slat.

With just three days left to go of Dutch Design Week, do take the time to explore the diverse contributions from TU Delft’s Industrial Design Engineering students, researchers and alumni, many of which are gathered at tudelft.nl/dutchdesignweek.

It’s more important than ever to stay active and get outside when we can, but for people with sensory impairments, this can be easier said than done. Enter Equarun: an assistive device to help disabled and able-bodied people run together safely and comfortably.

Ergonomics enthusiasts will likely be familiar with DINED, an award-winning anthropometric database developed in IDE’s own Human-Centered Design Department...

On Monday 2 November the online course Culture Sensitive Design by Annemiek van Boeijen, together with Chen Hao, starts. Professionals need more than just cultural awareness to systematically address culture in their design practice. In this online course you will become acquainted with new and practical models and methods that offer help in researching and designing for your own (business) culture and for that of your customer or other stakeholders.

In a year when normal has been turned on its head, it’s no surprise that this year’s Dutch Design Week is set to be rather different. But digital doesn’t have to mean less daring. Read on to find out about the places where you can delve into Delft design.

Any of you browsing the faculty website of late will have noticed that our research pages have come to life. Designed to help spark collaborations inside and outside the IDE research community, the pages have been structured around IDE’s three research themes of Health, Mobility and Sustainability, three Delft Design perspectives of People, Technology and Organisation; and Designing Design. These pages not only give an insight into what each theme means for research at IDE, they also offer increased findability of researchers according to their research interests and expertise. This expertise is evidenced with a selection of current research projects, as well as links to the latest Delft Design stories and the most pertinent Delft Design Labs, giving a strong sense of IDE’s strength in design research.

IDE’s Design for Sustainability (DfS) section was recently approached to contribute to a Road to the 4th Indonesia Circular Economy Forum - a webinar with ministers, industry representatives and NGOs.

Design that makes people happy. It sounds like the holy grail. Or as a sales pitch. Yet things can contribute to our sense of well-being. Mafalda Casais researched how they do this and gained important knowledge for designers.

Marita Sauerwein shows that 3D printing and reprinting using locally sourced sustainable and natural raw materials is a viable option in a circular economy.