Student Experiences
Read the stories of our international MSc students at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering and discover their experiences of getting used to their new study (and living) environment. Find out their tips to get the most out of the MSc programme or just learn in advance what the best study spots are at the faculty of IDE!
A selection of articles by our international master students

How to choose your electives for your IDE master programme
Jack Eichenlaub | June 2022

Hey everyone! Did you know the third semester of each master programme at IDE is reserved for electives? That is if one does not follow the master variant for engineers, of course. If you were not aware, this 20-week period is used for exploring the absolute range of what it means to “design,” and to discover one’s own interests within the field. When searching for master programmes, the existence of the elective semester a TU Delft was a key driver in my interest and application. I am glad to say that, generally, the semester met my expectations and truly helped me to broaden my horizons! Before I share my favorite electives and how they have influenced my design philosophy and capabilities, it’s first important to know how the electives are structured at IDE.
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The curriculum calls for a 30EC semester of electives, where courses range in EC from 3 to around 12 (and 15EC for an internship) depending on their planned scope and commitment. Courses are scheduled in morning and afternoon blocks and have a weekly repeating schedule. Some courses only occupy the one 10-week quarter, where some run the entire semester. It is also worth noting that one is not required to finish all 30EC of electives in one semester; given enough time and money (and an infinite student visa) one could take electives over multiple semesters. Notably, electives do not normally count for your required credit unless taken in the third semester or later. The reality is that most international students will do it in one semester-long block in the 3rd semester for cost and logistics-related reasons. That’s the crash course introduction on how the electives are structured, but how does one truly “do it right?”
The key to (elective) success is planning: the lists of elective courses offered are published twice per year, and while they vary every semester, many of the best courses are run year after year. Reference past course guides and seek out professors and courses that pique your interest. Write them down so that when it is time to register for courses for your second year, you already have a body of knowledge as to what is offered. The university recommends not signing up for 2 courses in the same day due to potential conflicts in schedule and group work. Having ignored their advice in the first quarter, I learned firsthand why this can be challenging due to the schedule juggling I had to contend with. However, if your two favorite topics are on the same day, I would not skip either to conform to the 1-per-day policy. If you can live without one of the conflicting courses, though, it’s best to spread out your workload evenly through the week. Now, onto my favorite courses.
Read moreIn an attempt to broaden my knowledge, I sought out elective courses that better fit within a Design for Interaction knowledge space (though there’s no master-specific electives). Design for Emotion, Introspective Design, and Vision in Product Design were my favorite three, so I’ll share what stood out from those experiences.
Design for Emotion ran as a “block course,” an intensive two week stretch at the start of the semester where it was my singular academic focus. That “all day” mentality helped us really embrace the work and dive deep into leveraging emotions as a design tool. The course reframed the idea of “requirements” when designing a product, even suggesting that designing from the perspective of unmet emotional needs could result in more impactful experiences. We practiced methods such as the holistic “micro experience scan,” as well as designing for dilemmas and creating “rich experiences.” Led by Professor Pieter Desmet, a pioneering figure in design for emotion and wellbeing, the course truly reset my perspective on design and how we can approach “problem solving” in the field.
Introspective Design, a new elective for this year, continued in the vein of Design for Emotion but sought to dive deeper into “the self.” Led by recent faculty appointee Professor Haian Xue, the course “guides students to rediscover the unique value of the enlightened self and subjectivity of the designer to human-centered, evidence-based design” (from the course description). In the IDE faculty, we often learn that the focus of design research and practice should be on the needs of the target user. While this statement is undoubtedly true in a broad sense, the course offered a unique opportunity to recenter our own experience and skill as a design tool, and to address real and present human needs through reflective and emotional self-evaluation. In completing various readings and assignments, we were challenged to express our own interpretations of our movements through life and our subjective views, culminating in a design project to inspire humor through the production of a “chindogu.” A chindogu is an object that paradoxically solves a problem we encounter while also being functionally useless. Sound confusing? It is, until you see examples (click here for some good ones). The course was a mind-boggle at every turn, but again served to wholly redefine my understandings of design as a field and practice.
The third of my favorite courses was ViP, or Vision in (Product) Design led by Professor Paul Hekkert. ViP is a design method developed at TU Delft by Hekkert and Matthijs van Dijk that approaches complex design challenges and “re-frames” them to precipitate novel solutions. Traditional design methods often ask for “requirements” as a constraint, which can lead to stalled innovation and challenge in creating something truly new. The ViP method encourages designers to construct their own vision of the future (as it relates to a specified domain) and develop design interventions to move our present world closer to this future, one that better supports human wellbeing and social equality. For this year’s course, we worked with “transitions,” or a targeted movement from our world today towards a commonly agreed better future. One example is “the protein transition,” our global need to shift towards a plant-based diet for ecological health. I would explain all the nuance of my own project, but that could be a whole article to fully detail. Regardless, I really enjoyed tackling a complex problem in a robust way and learning a whole new method for my Designer’s Toolbox!
In reflecting on my electives experience while writing this article, I began to clearly see just how influential this semester has been on my general design philosophy and interests. These three highlighted courses all re-centered the value of our complex and emotional experience of the world. Further, I saw that designers have both a role in and responsibility to enable access to the nuances of life for all people and to serve a socially beneficial purpose. I also saw how “self-focused” methods are not inherently negative, but rather that we can leverage our own lived experience to design more relatable and impactful creations. Overall, the elective semester was incredibly important in formulating my outlook on design, my career goals, and perhaps most immediately important, my graduation project! Look out for another article detailing that process. Until next time!

Bikes, Delft, and Nederland!
Vignesh Balakrishnan | April 2021
If you are planning to start masters in the Netherlands, polishing your biking skills should be in your priority list because on Dutch streets, bikes rule. Bikes are an essential part of Dutch culture and holds even more importance in student life; Your bike is your best friend. Be it going to campus, grocery shopping, visiting a friend or to just for leisure, bikes make life easier. Delft is a beautiful city with both narrow alleys and picturesque streets. Most roads have dedicated bike track and with having a maximum speed of 30 kmph in every living area makes biking even safer. Biking can be a really enjoyable experience in Delft especially with lush green nature surrounding the city. If you are coming here to Delft, here are a few tips and trips in relation to biking.
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Getting a bike
In a country where bikes outnumber people, choosing a bike for yourself is going to be tricky. You have to decide which bike suits you best and where to get it from. You have a lot to choose from depending on your preference and there are multiple ways with which you can buy one. Here are some useful links.
Long term bike rental - https://swapfiets.nl
Short term bike rental - https://www.ns.nl/en/door-to-door/ov-fiets
Bike stores – Fietscyclette, Decathlon, Wijtman Tweewielers.
Maintaining a bike
Every bike deserves attention but sometimes it attracts bad attention. It is always a good practice to chain the frame of your bike to the rack even if you’re just running errands for a few minutes. Maintaining the bike regularly could save you good money as repairs are not cheap. In case you need a repair, the train stations usually have bike repair facility priced reasonably.
Using a bike
In addition to helping with your day to day chores bikes can also be an energizing hobby. I find it refreshing to go biking in the weekends in and around Delft for a few hours. Getting away from screens to get some fresh air enhances wellbeing. Although there are quite a few places I'm yet to discover, here are the three routes that I would recommend you trying.
(click to view route)
Until next time!
Vignesh

Writing a paper and getting it published
Regina Morán | July 2020
During the master, you will write papers in some courses, and you can decide to present or try to publish your work. For this article, I will share my own experience in publishing a paper.
I will explain what the project is about, where it was presented, what the biggest challenge was, and the learnings. I have also interviewed another student who wrote a paper as part of the research elective.
Publishing a paper
I realised my research as part of the research elective (see electives overview). The research elective consists of realising a research project; for instance, it could be in collaboration with an existing research in the faculty. Besides, you can select the working hours you will assign to the project (e.g. 3, 6, 7, 8, or 9 EC). For my project, I was coached by Dr. ir. Marina Bos-de Vos. and together we defined I will assign the hours needed to receive 9 EC.
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What was my project about?
It is about collaboration in healthcare. I studied eight open innovation initiatives in healthcare in the Netherlands to explore how they are working to contribute to a sustainable healthcare system.
Where did I publish my work?
Since, the beginning we (my coach and I) looked for opportunities, and we found out the 6th European Conference on Design4Health would take place in July 2020. Although the conference got cancelled due to COVID-19, we still managed to publish the paper (see full paper here). Timewise it was perfect because I started my project in September, so I had time to apply.
What was my biggest challenge to publish?
The theme I was exploring is a bit complex, and I wanted to include a lot of information (see Figure 1). When I realised there was a word limit for the paper, I had to cut out a significant percentage of the paper. It was challenging for me to scope down the study and talk only about concrete findings.
Figure 1. Analysis session
What did I learn from this experience?My most significant learning was to have a clear goal and scope down the project; otherwise, you will never finish. Besides, a good advice I got from my coach was to focus on what is really interesting and what are the mechanisms that are causing this. So my advice would be, that if you are doing research and writing a paper, you need to know what you are adding to the existing literature and why your contribution is relevant.
In the end, writing down a paper is a learning exercise, it is an excellent opportunity to learn more a specific topic of your interest. Besides, by publishing, you contribute to existing research, and you are presenting yourself as an expert on a specific topic.
Writing a paper
I continue with the story of Jesal Shah; she is currently studying the master of Strategic Product Design.
What was your project about?
The project was under the domain of design-led transitions. It was done as part of the research elective, under the guidance of Dr. Rebecca Price. It aimed at understanding how design can be applied to transverse and connect different perspectives in order to achieve sustainable transitions. Using the recent demonetisation effort in India as a case study, we reflected on how design could have been applied to improve the transition, as well as to anticipate and alleviate social losses encountered during socio-technical transitions.
What was your biggest challenge to publish?
Since the paper has not been submitted yet, the challenge would be to find the appropriate platform, journal, or conference to present the paper. We have put up a pre-print working paper on ResearchGate to gain some interest and feedback from the research community (see pre-print here).
What did you learn from this experience?
That it is vital to define the goal and scope of the research explicitly; it helps to stay on point. Although my process was very organic, early decisions (e.g. which case study and point of view to pursue) helped in guiding the process. Having a well-defined method of organising the materials you have read is key. Otherwise, it is challenging to keep track of literature (the content, its relevance, and important aspects) and find relevant sources or arguments while you are writing your paper. Lastly, pursuing the project helped me find my writing style (both language and process-wise) as a novice researcher. I write a lengthy first draft to ensure I have captured all my ideas and arguments. I build it for redundancy since it is much easier to remove things rather than add later on.
