Ir. J.W. Hoftijzer

Ir. J.W. Hoftijzer

Research

Dissertation working title: 'Design for Do-It-Yourself / DIY product design' 

My research addresses the topic of ‘Design for DIY’; the ‘new Do-It-Yourself’ . Compared to the customary definition of design, in which the professional designer and client company decide what to bring to the market, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) product design promises the opposite. Technology advancements, combined with people’s natural tendency to employ and express his/her creativity, to participate, have created a basis that stimulates today’s DIY product design. DIY product design is more feasible than ever, given the availability of modelling software, and new ‘scale-free’ production tools and platforms helping to 3d-print or laser-cut one-off objects (Anderson 2011). Many of today's developments and research sources from various fields confirm the evidently positive consequences DIY product design could have. Two questions are of major importance to the field of industrial design: (1) how - as a designer or as design educational institute - to anticipate these ‘democratizing’ (technological and social) changes, and (2) how to facilitate people in designing and making their own product (to DIY). For more information, please contact me.