Gijs Vogels
I'm a 4th year Industrial Design student who prioritizes physical and mental well-being in our day-to-day life.
Professional identity
Motivation and drive
What drives me as a designer, is implementing my ideas in the sports landscape to enhance the physical and mental well-being of users. One of the key motivating factors in physical activity is personal progress, whether that progress is physical, such as improving on endurance, or mental, like gaining confidence or altering body perception. Therefore, my goal is to create designs that enable users to make personal progress. Design focal points to achieve this goal are focusing on user needs, goal setting and tracking, the integration of personal feedback and adaptive design. These design principles allow my ideas to increase motivation during physical activity and therefore promote physical and mental health. Another inspiration of mine that is related to this topic is the connectivity to the physical world. Digitization in recent years has provided many benefits to our society, but also has created some challenges. A growing number of individuals have distanced themselves from the physical world, shifting crucial aspects like work and social interactions with friends onto online platforms. I aspire to craft tangible designs that bridge the gap between individuals and the physical world, fostering a more meaningful and grounded connection.
My role as a designer
During a design process, I focus on defining key features of the concept and working out iterations by creating prototypes. In these two phases I implement hard skills such as sketching, 3D modelling and coding. Since I often work on the realization of the concept, I bring a level headed mindset to ideation sessions that sets realistic boundaries and expectations of the possibilities during a design process.
Strengths and weaknesses
As mentioned previously, examples of my hard skills are sketching, prototyping, 3D modelling and coding. Examples of my soft skills include problem solving, active listening and stress management. Skills that I struggle with are doing background research and setting up user tests. Especially when I am passionate about a certain idea, it is challenging for me to do research on a different subject or consider other options.
What designer do I want to be
I’d like to become a designer that increases the motivation of users during physical activity and therefore help them reach their physical and mental health needs/goals. This can be done by either using personal progress or competitiveness as a tool. I would prefer to work in this area by developing prototypes and iterating on them after getting data from testing the prototypes.
Vision
In recent years, digitalization and the rise of technology such as AI take have taken a center stage in our society and day-to-day life. Tasks have become easier, connections can be made quicker and vast amounts of information can be accessed with the click of a button. However, the shift towards a more digital society also has its drawbacks, such as health concerns and social isolation. Increased screen time and office jobs have resulted in a more sedentary lifestyle and excessive social media use can lead to less face-to-face interaction, and can even cause stress or sleeping disorders. In my ideal world, overall vitality and health are seen as a number one priority, which means that new technologies are used to promote physical activity and connections to the world around us. I believe that not everything has to become faster, bigger or more automated. Many people spend too much time behind a screen focusing on work or comparing themselves to other people, sacrificing their mental and physical well-being in the process. I believe that design can play a crucial role in enabling people to take a step back and focus on themselves, by assisting users in increasing physical activity, releasing stress and connecting to other people.
Past
When I was younger I always had interests in building and drawing. My mother is an Interior Designer, who has also done the study Industrial Design. Over the course of high school I was very interested in her work and sometimes helped her with making sketches. I have visited many museums in the past, including design museums like Vitrahaus. My inspiration goes beyond the scope of product design, as from an early age I have been attracted by multiple branches of the creative industry, such as interior design, fashion and art. For instance, expositions such as abstract art galleries or Vitrahaus have given me a lot of inspiration in the past, and they still do now. Furthermore, before the pandemic I used to travel a lot. This has showed me how design is influenced by different perspectives in different cultures, which I am fascinated by.
Present
During my past projects and courses I have encountered many experiences and opportunities to develop into the designer I am today. Here you can read about my personal development based on the five expertise areas regarding Industrial Design, and the developed of my collaboration and professional skills.
Future
Over the past years I have become a well balanced designer and have developed significantly in each of the Expertise Areas. However, I believe that I am still lacking somewhat in Business & Entrepreneurship. That is why in the coming semester (2023-2024 semester B) I will be doing extra courses to develop in this area. The courses I will be following are Designing business processes, Fundamentals of product innovation, Stakeholder perspectives in design and Digital craftsmanship. After completing these courses I will have developed a good base to start my Master, which I will be doing in Eindhoven as well. Since my PI&V focuses on physical and mental well-being, I believe the two EA’s that would be most beneficial to develop more in are Technology & Realization and User & Society. However, I would like to continuously keep developing my skills and knowledge in Creativity & Aesthetics, since that is a key aspect of creating my own design DNA, which in my opinion is important for every designer.