Business and Entrepeneurship
The expertise area business and entrepreneurship evaluates to what extend the designer is able to create meaningful product-service systems that create value for people and the economy. This value is created by learning to understand the different business models, market analyses and an understanding of the ecosystem. It is about understanding how to look at design from an entrepreneurial perspective.
Activities
Besides the core business course ‘Design innovation methods’ in year 3, I chose mainly business elective in my elective courses. I’ve completed ‘Introduction to Business Design’ and ‘Design for multiple Stakeholders’ in year 1. In year 3, was asked to become a tutor for ‘Introduction to Business design’. I coached the students and helped with grading their assignments. I’ve been tutor two times in total.
In year 2, I completed ‘Design trends and forecasting’. I had a good connection with the teacher, and they offered me an internship spot at the company they worked for in Poland; Greenhat Innovations. Due to the pandemic, the internship was cancelled, so they arranged a new internship at the Schiphol Innovation Hub. At the Schiphol Innovation Hub, I worked on a user research study to unravel the problem about how we might verify that all passengers at the airport are COVID-negative in an accredited way, and propose a solution.
Examples
To create new value propositions, I use my visual communication skills to visualize user insights gained from market analysis. The value propositions are the starting point for the design guidelines which make the blueprint for the design of interactive prototypes. In the business courses, we often worked on a business case of established companies like HelloFresh, Bang&Oluflen, Starbucks, Karim Rashid and more. I would often work on the presentations and visualisation of the business tools.
For the course ‘Design Innovation Methods’ I did an extensive market analysis of HelloFresh in a team. Our approach started with research to collect data, followed by a value model or strategy canvas which we then analysed and evaluated. A few examples of models, canvasses I am experienced with: market & user segmentation, personas, value proposition canvas, user experience journey mapping, PESTEL-framework, service-blueprint, SWOT analysis, feasibility viability desirability - framework, blue ocean canvas, problem-solution fit canvas, value laddering, stakeholder onion mapping and the Business Model Canvas.
For the courses ‘Introduction to Business Design’, ‘Design for multiple stakeholders’ and ‘Design innovation method’, patents and intellectual property rights were part of the curriculum. I expected never to have to use this information again, but in my Final bachelor Project, I was surprised that I needed this knowledge to find out if my concept was not offending laws.
During my internship at Schiphol Innovation Hub, I learned that Identifying the financial, social and technological risks of a new concept an essential part of the design process is. At the Innovation Hub, we worked with hypotheses in the viability, feasibility, desirability framework. We evaluated the risks of our concept on each of the topics. This analysis allowed us to look critically at the concept and discover what problems we should pick up together with experts.
During my final bachelor project, LILO, I took an entrepreneurial approach. I treated the project like it was a start-up. This helped me practice designing for real-world applications. I had to actively reach out to experts to help me out, and I had to make sure my contact with the community stayed close. Because the university was closed, and I couldn’t with other graduating students in the same room, I decided to post updates about my project on a new Instagram page. it was surprising how many positive and surprising reactions I got from the followers. Throughout the project, I kept posting photos and videos about the project. This helped me stay connected to users of the sewing community, but also with other design students. My entrepreneurial attitude identifies with the short lines of contact that I have with my ecosystem and the way I aspire to enthuse and support others. I use my presentation and visual communication skills to make myself understandable to my audience.
Conclusion
I have a natural interest in business and entrepreneurship. During my projects, I often tend to take an entrepreneurial approach. I am familiar with numerous business tools and have had the opportunity to work with this entrepreneurial approach during my internship and final bachelor project. Because of this mindset, research projects and other more abstract cases are challenging to me. For me, that is an important aspect that determines whether I want to do an ID master after my bachelors.