Expertise Areas

Technology and Realization

Making has always been at the core of how I approach design. I already had a firm understanding of 3D printing after my bachelor’s, and during my master’s I got to deepen it further. Aqua-Morph explored the use of various flexible TPU filaments combined with hydrogel through a Material-Driven Design (MDD) lens.

During my M12 Greebling, I experimented with textured pressure-sensing prints made from foamed TPU. My M21 Sonable used accessible 95A TPU to create compliant mechanisms, and my FMP Tabula again used foamed TPU and also trialed polypropylene for creating deformable interfaces.

This combined experience gives me knowledge that goes beyond just the best settings for consistent fabrication quality: interacting with so many different samples over the years gave me real insight into what kind of interactive qualities they might offer a user (U&S). Each material has its own unique feel that may be best suited to the haptic qualities a particular design needs.

Beyond trying different materials for haptics, I also experimented with applying 3D-printing in more unconventional and creative ways. One of my pursuits during the master’s was to embed conductive materials into 3D-prints to create circuits and actuators. Some of these experiments failed, but others turned out successfully. During my FMP Tabula, I was able to fabricate double-sided PCBs designed in KiCad, which enabled more complex circuit designs and more sensors.

Creativity and Aesthetics

Besides T&R, this is my other main expertise area. The two are not separate at all; they’re deeply intertwined. To some people, 3D printing is a fabrication method that imposes limits on their designs, but I tend to look for design opportunities instead, asking how this technology could be used to create a unique aesthetic. I often hear people who tend to pass off printed designs as prototypes, or even as toys. This is a stigma I want to break by offering functionally and aesthetically unique designs through filament printing.

The course Interactive Materiality was also a core learning experience, teaching me to look more closely at material qualities and how they can inspire interaction modalities and haptics.

Besides materials and tacit knowledge, I cannot help but mention sound. My fascination with sound design didn’t come from nowhere. I’ve played instruments since I was a teenager. Only recently did I get into producing electronic music, and what immediately stood out to me was the sheer range of sound design possibilities. Different synthesizers, sampling methods, and editing methods can produce sounds I could never fathom playing myself. Through the course The Sound of Smart Things, I got to apply sound design to interaction design. Sound is an important, omnipresent sensory channel, as it can evoke so many different emotions in a user.

Through my studies, I got to partake in different projects that applied the MDD method. Aqua-Morph M11, CDR, and UME were all courses and projects where I got to apply the method. Applying it in Aqua-Morph in particular helped me gain a deep understanding of the different parameters that affect the material properties of printed TPU. This ultimately led to my continued, extensive use of TPU and its foamed version during my M12, M21, and FMP.

Math, Data and Computing

My foundation in MDC was already very strong coming from my bachelor’s. During my bachelor’s, my main focus was on software development for desktop computers using Java, Processing, Python, and Jupyter. During my master’s, I shifted my focus to microcontroller projects, as I felt this more closely aligned with my vision. I wanted to create controllers for music, which need to be responsive: slow response would inevitably lead to a bad user experience. Convoluted software running in multiple stages on an Arduino, communicating with a slow Python script, did not suit this vision.

In my M12 Greebling, I really got into the Pico-SDK for the RP2040 microcontroller, learning to program it in C. This made sure the device would run as fast as possible. I also did a deep dive into the MIDI protocol so I could connect the device to digital audio workstations (DAWs) such as Ableton.

For my M21 Sonable, I used a sensor that required more high-level abstractions to keep the code readable, which meant learning C++ for embedded object-oriented programming. During Sonable, I developed an SPI library implementation for the MLX90395 3D hall-effect sensor, so I could seamlessly interface with multiple sensors at the same time while running them at full speed.

Becoming proficient in these languages is a valuable skill that lets me iterate quickly through multiple design concepts (T&R, C&A). In my experience, LLMs do not do well with these less-documented code applications, so I do not use them for these types of projects, as they only slow me down.

In order to expand my creative toolbox outside of embedded devices, I followed the course DUIET, where I turned my bass guitar into a MIDI controller using ArUco markers.

User and Society

I feel like I grew a lot in this expertise area compared to last semester. Although I had already applied the MDD method to multiple projects, the insights it generated were only relevant to designers.

I think my continuously developing skills in CAD for FDM 3D printing don’t fall exclusively under T&R. Working as a student assistant for the E-Lab and 3D-Print Farm made me see common assumptions and struggles other students face when designing for FDM. These insights can prove to be really valuable when working with stakeholders who are less aware of its capabilities. It can go two ways: they either think everything is possible, or that nothing is. Discussing a middle ground is invaluable.

During my bachelor’s, the role of technician was always bestowed upon me, which rarely let me take part in conducting user tests myself.

For my FMP, I conducted a co-design process which, through multiple design iterations, ultimately led to my final design, Tabula. It was a valuable experience to work with musicians who aren’t designers themselves.

Reflecting from a first-person perspective, I found that my two internal monologues, the musician and the designer, are actually intertwined a lot of the time. Seeing how expert musicians react to my designs made me reconsider that internal sense, and reminded me to be careful about assuming what is intuitive and what is not.

Conducting thematic analysis on this design process allowed me to formulate concrete insights about what made my designs valuable, and to help create a definition of expressivity in deformable DMI design, and to frame it around existing HCI research. This also makes it easier to explain my project’s importance to a wider audience, not just academics and designers.

Ultimately, I feel like Tabula is something I can be really proud of, as it clearly fills a gap that is present in deformable DMI work. What started as a creative vision over a year ago has now turned into something I can confidently say makes an impact on design at large.

Business and Entrepreneurship

This expertise area is, in my eyes, about bringing my creative imagination and skills to a wider audience. A design can be insightful for uncovering new things without being producible at scale. I was asked by multiple musicians in my personal network if they could buy a Tabula device from me. Currently, Tabula is not fit for sale; it is a design research artifact.

Although I am confident that I am more than capable of creating a design suitable for production, I would say this is far from profitable, monetarily speaking.

Still, bringing my design to a slightly larger audience could do several things. For one, it could spread interest in deformable interfaces. I do not see the HiFi production of deformable DMIs as a main occupation, but rather as a passion project that shows off my skills. More importantly, it could demonstrate my fabrication capabilities and design creativity (T&R, MDC, C&A) for potential employers.

A prime way of doing this is by using deformable DMIs in my own compositions and live performances. There are also several synthesizer events throughout Europe where I could show off my work, for example, Dutch Modular Fest in August.