Below, I will broadly indicate my development over the past years.
At the right, you will find links to M1 projects and the curricular electives that I followed. 
The extracurricular electives can be found under the 'Extra-Curricular' button.

Development as a designer

In the past, I have worked as a social worker and massage therapist / naturopathic therapist. Although I did this work with pleasure, I finally came to the conclusion that I wanted to go beyond that and wanted to learn how to concretize my always popping ideas.
Where my work until that point was often subordinate to the wishes of the clients and the results immaterial, I had the desire to be able to realize my own ideas, resulting in a concrete design, happy to look at afterward. However, I already felt that I would not be satisfied with designing only luxury items, nor with purely technological innovations, so I would have to find a balance between 'beautiful' and 'useful'.

During this education I was involved in quite some projects and electives, also often containing 'mini' projects, and I learned about everything. At the same time, I regularly was confronted with the fact that I was no longer able to use a certain program/tool properly, after a half year of not using it. However, knowing how to address it is still valuable.
At the moment I got permission to enter the Master program, I first went on a half-year parttime internship on my own initiative. I wanted to get out in the real design world and liked to be among adults for a while. Although I had a nice and sensible time there, I realized that I would not come to my right in a design agency. I need more variety and space than working on a very specific demand from a client while the boundaries are already clearly defined.

I gradually realized that I would like the challenge to create a product or service that would be an answer to a problem or need. In other words, I chose to think in a client-oriented way again, in this field a 'user-centered' way. I started to appreciate the skills from my background and consciously combined them with design-research techniques. It is my strength to contact with different kind of people and create a relationship. Due to my background, I have the insight to use research techniques that suit a particular target group in a specific situation in order to get the right information needed to fine-tune a design. It turned out I also have the overview to develop my own piece of methodology, which I liked a lot to do as well.

At the beginning of my education, I found design particularly important, having no idea of ​​the foundations for good design, although, I could be annoyed by, in my eyes, ugly and/or illogical designs and too thick manuals. Over the years, intuitiveness, user-friendliness, and sustainability have become important pillars for me. I enjoy a well thought-out design, unconscious positive influence, and 'smart design' is only 'smart' for me when the end user can intuitively use it. 

During the years, I became aware of my responsibilities as a designer; with regard to the impact of my design, both on the user in his context as well as with regard to the big picture. That's why I started looking into issues such as sustainability, end-of-life, and circular economy. I did this amongst others, by working on a extra-curricular program 'Technology for Sustainable Develepment' at the TU/e.