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Delft Design Stories

24 October 2024

Including residents in energy hubs could solve energy poverty

Wind turbines, solar panels, batteries. We are producing, consuming and distributing energy more locally. This offers opportunities to solve challenges like energy poverty. “But if we want to create just, fair, and successful energy hubs, we must make them understandable and relevant for everyone," says researcher Abhigyan Singh.

22 January 2021

Sustainable design is not just about the material stuff

Sure, sustainable design can result in a trendy reusable bottle. But it’s not just about the product, it’s also about the process. Through his PhD research, Brian Baldassarre set out to understand how design expertise can be applied by business organisations in the transition towards sustainable development.

13 January 2021

An ecosystem perspective on circularity

Making the transition towards a Circular Economy is so complex and full of interdependencies that no single company or actor can achieve it alone. In his PhD thesis, Jan Konietzko proposed that getting there will require a collective approach: business innovation using an ecosystem perspective.

23 December 2020

Grab a pencil and paper

What do you need as an industrial designer? What are your main tools? Pencil and paper, says Nik Shahman. He researched the usefulness of sketching in a design team and obtained his PhD on 22 December with his research.

16 December 2020

Designing to inspire more sustainable consumers

Shifting towards the Circular Economy is not just about sustainable products, it’s also about sustainable behaviour. So how can design influence people to take better care of the products they use? PhD graduate Laura Ackermann says for designers, considering the consumer perspective is the key.

14 October 2020

Design that makes us happy

Design that makes people happy. It sounds like the holy grail. Or as a sales pitch. Yet things can contribute to our sense of well-being. Mafalda Casais researched how they do this and gained important knowledge for designers.

13 October 2020

What can mussel shells teach us about the circular economy?

In a circular economy, design is about more than just creating a sustainable product. In this system based on eliminating waste and minimising the use of resources, the design process is aimed at preserving the value of products and materials and keeping them in the economic system for as long as possible. So how do you do that? PhD candidate Marita Sauerwein came up with a novel material based on ground mussel shells and showed through 3D printing technology that the end life of a product is really just the beginning.

09 October 2020

The circular economy needs your old phones (and other things)

The transition towards a circular economy (CE) requires that products be returned for reuse, refurbishing or recycling. But getting people to follow through is not always easy. Looking at this issue from the user perspective, PhD candidate Flora Poppelaars researched ways to increase the return of mobile phones after use, helping to close the CE loop.

Delft Design Stories

Read the stories of researchers and students at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, and discover the scientific questions on which they work and the solutions they present.

A Taste of the Food & Eating Design Lab

How our society deals with food is of crucial importance. Many societal challenges can be traced back to our relationship with food and eating. “From agricultural production and food waste to growing obesity and diabetes problems. Even mental health can be related to food.” Rick Schifferstein is director of the Food & Eating Design Lab at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. Here, researchers, students and companies aim to improve people’s interaction with their daily food and provide solutions that promote people’s health and wellbeing.

These shoes are made for falling

…And that’s just what they do. No, it’s not a bad cover version of Nancy Sinatra’s sixties hit. It’s the conclusion of researchers at Delft’s faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) who have been investigating the suitability of shoes for the elderly. When it comes to shoes, it’s never been a case of one size fits all. Yet the researchers argue that it’s not just shoe size that matters, but the shape of footwear – especially in the over 65 age bracket. Well-fitting and correctly-shaped shoes can improve balance, stability, comfort and safety.

A beautiful alarm beside your hospital bed

In hospitals, sounds, beeps and other noises constantly tell staff and patients what’s going on; up to 700 alarm signals a day, or once every two minutes. But only about 2% of these signals require actual attention or direct action. This can lead to'‘alarm fatigue'. How do we solve this?

'Blended learning will remain the ideal model for me'

Having already won the 2017 award for best lecturer in the Faculty of Industrial Design and Engineering, Associate Professor Giulia Calabretta went on to be elected the 2017 Best Lecturer at Delft University of Technology as a whole by a jury consisting of students and former winners. As a result she is competing for the National ISO Teacher of the Year Award. What makes her teaching so special? And what makes the field of strategic design so valuable?

‘You first have to understand why people are equal before you can understand why they’re different.’

Paul Hekkert conducted research for years on the underlying principles of aesthetics and experience. As a ‘scientific figurehead’, these past two years he has mainly focused on creating the knowledge and innovation agenda for the Creative Industry top sector.

People are the key to success in the operating theatre

Professor Jack Jakimowicz will be bidding farewell to the IDE faculty in November, where he has been professor of Safety in Healthcare since 2007. His association with TU Delft goes back much further, however. In the 1990s, he already worked with engineers and researchers on improving the instruments and safety of minimally invasive surgery as a surgeon at the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven.

DesignScapes: Design-enabled innovation to tackle urban challenges

The European project DESIGNSCAPES officially started last summer, with a celebratory launch in Brussels. Associate Professor Ingrid Mulder is one of the partners in this consortium representing the Industrial Design Engineering faculty at the Delft University of Technology. ‘With DESIGNSCAPES I want to help designers create maximum societal impact.’