IDEAS AND CONCEPTS

Ideas and Concepts is an area I am more comfortable with. During my previous studies I learned a lot about the process of generating ideas, picking the best ones and turn them into useful concepts.

This semester I learned to approach the idea generating process from a different angle, because there was no predefined problem to solve. My coach says that you need to spot the opportunities instead of creating a problem.

Activities:

INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY

Integrating Technology needs improvement. This subject was nearly nonexistent in my previous study. This semester I worked on an Arduino project during the SDL-weeks. I learned a lot about programming and electronics. I want to learn more about this competency-area by doing two assignments.

In my masters it is highly probable that I will continue this competency, because it is also an area of interest to me.

Activities:

USER FOCUS AND PERSPECTIVE

User Focus and Perspective was developed within my project. My project was about people, so obviously it is necessary to take in account how your work affects the people.

In the assignment Designing Visual Information we were trained to sketch user manuals very quickly. You have to consider the way a user thinks and try to explain in a few steps how something works.

Activities:

SOCIO-CULTURAL AWARENESS

Socio-Cultural Awareness was developed during my project. The aim of my project was to give an individuals in a crowd awareness of the way they behave. By making these people conscious of their behavior you influence society.

During the assignment Designing Visual Information I developed this competency. Society consumes media every day. All this media is designed with a thought to influence their readers and watchers. This assignment made me remember the importance graphic design has in society and how you can use it to influence the reader.

Activities:

DESIGNING BUSINESS PROCESSES

Designing Business Processes was not developed this semester.

Activities:

FORM AND SENSES

Form and Senses was developed mainly through the assignment Designing Visual Information. The assignment is about teaching various skills in the designing of visual information. It is a worthy addition in my development in this competency area. My previous development is more in the physical than graphical form.

In my project I put the acquired knowledge from the assignment to use.

Activities:

DESCRIPTIVE AND

MATHEMATICAL MODELING

Descriptive and Mathematic Modeling was developed within the assignment Intelligent Products. Through this assignment I got my first introduction with Matlab. Matlab was used to process and convert data. Furthermore I got acquainted with the Neural Gas algorithm and used it to run the acquired data.

Activities:

DESIGN AND RESEARCH PROCESSES

Design and Research Processes was developed during my project. This is the first time I worked from such an open design brief. This influences the way you do your research. I noticed that I made much more explorations and in a lot of different directions.

Activities:

TEAMWORK

Teamwork was not developed as much as previous years. This is due to the fact that the premaster is mostly individual learning. I Worked together with Lennard Bunk on the Arduino Projects. We were a great team. The other extra curricular activity, the future newspaper, is also a team effort. I noticed that I was a little bit afraid to speak up and express my opinion.

Activities:

COMMUNICATION

Communication is mostly developed within the assignment Designing Visual Information. Beside the graphical communication skills I gained, I learned a lot about communicating in the way of giving and receiving feedback from other students. We were trained to reflect upon work of the others in a professional way.

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