UNiD 6

INTRO

WORK STATEMENT

JAN’S FUTURE

MIILANO 2006

DESIGN CAPITAL OF EUROPE I

Japan 2005

WHO IS WHO?

KEES DONKERS

LONDON 2006

DIMI

NESPRESSO

INTELLECTUAL PROPPERTY

Design capital of Europe II

Strp festival Dutch design week EDDINGBURGH EXCHANGE

SIMPLE VIDEO EDDITING

INTERVIEW WITH AD VAN BERLO

COLOFON

The answer to all problems is sex Sander Lucas, Mark de Graaf and Ianus Keller about Eindhoven

A preview on the Dutch Design Week 2006

An interview with STRP Festival’s general manager

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Supported by the European Union, Eindhoven now has the right to call itself ‘Design Capital of Europe’. Deservedly? Eva Hopma in discussion with several Work staff members.

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3333Are you interested in designy Eindhoven? Congratulations! Are you interested in what the

people of the domain Work have to say about this? Even better! Lying before you is the new

UNID, the magazine of study association Lucid. This issue has two themes: The domain Work,

the last domain in the series of 6 we have dealt with in the past three years. The other theme is

‘Eindhoven European Design Capital’.

With the previous issue of Unid we made a big step towards becoming a real magazine, by changing the looks. This time the content was the subject of change; more subjective, more mature, more interesting. We have gathered for you several interviews with inspiring, critical opinions and things you probably never heard about. Two trios with Works’ staff members shared their opinions about Eindhoven. We have covered the complete Triple Helix by interviewing Ad van Berlo, of VanBerloStudios, and Cees Donkers of the city government. Read about three study trips, three student projects, three… well, you get the point.

Mark de Graaf, program manager of the domain Work, will introduce the vision of the domain Work on the next page, Jan van der Asdonk, third year student, will introduce Eindhoven Capital of Design on the backside of the next page and this was probably my last introduction. After working two years for the Unid, I can say that the magazine has improved beyond my expectations. If it keeps growing at this pace I forecast that you can find the Unid in the kiosks within… three years.

Eric Toering, Chief Director

introductionintroductionintroductionDear Reader,

3333 ‘What are you doing in daily life?’ This is one of the first questions you are asked when you meet someone. And it is not informing about your stamp collection or your sports club mem-bership: it is all about the occupation you have. Work largely determines your identity. Also, when you are happy at work you are likely to be happy all together. Bad work, or even worse, unintentionally being without a job, is a big minus in life. Yet, we are rather ambiguous about work. ’I have to go to work’ is what I usually say when I leave home in the morning. Not because I feel bad about work, I have a great job, in a very inspiring environ-ment, but because it is a habit to do so. As if we are supposed to suffer from the job we have. We can do better than that. Take a

fresh look at the working life. Put the human in the center. Design for good work. That means work that enables people to perform to the best of their ability, so they can give the best of themselves. Domain work will provide you this perspective. The passion of our coaches for people will inspire you. To quote from Tony Jones’ speech at the opening of the Studio Lab:

‘The challenge in an industrial designer’s professional life is to make the environment for living and working more humane’.

We also want you to prepare for your own professional future. Where are the opportunities? Our economy is changing. Bulk industry disappears, a new creative economy emerges.

Creative workers will weave flexible professional networks, partly regional, partly global. You will be in the heart of that fabric, running your own busi-ness. You will have access to small scale production of technologically advanced products in spaces as small as your garage. From first question to commercial production, it can all be within your reach. We see it as our task to prepare you for this future. Explore the full design process, up un-til the making of a working prototype. Explore the business opportunities, get aware of IP aspects and marketing strategies. If you develop a strong empathy for working people, and if you get inspired for your own professional future as a design entrepreneur, you did good Work.

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What do you think about Eindhoven?

Outsiders might see Eindhoven as a boring city, but there are interesting things going on here: Eindhoven starts to ‘live’. The city council is finally trying to change the image of the city. I like the area around the Grote Berg and Kleine Berg: it has urban charisma combined with a local feeling. Also the STRP festival was a very good initiative: an interesting combination of design and technology.

Outsiders believe that Eindhoven isn’t cosy: that is because our city-centre has no nostalgia. Dutch people have a certain petty-bourgeois gene (kneuterigheids-gen): when a city has no canal houses, the city is cheerless and uninviting. I believe indeed that Eindhoven is very fascinating: it is looking for a personal identity and is rediscovering itself.

I live in Scheveningen and have to travel four hours a day, because Eindhoven is too far away from the sea. I

have a pleasant labour ambiance here, but I miss trigger-ing elements to leave the office. Nevertheless I think it’s a pity that Eindhoven is not located between my work and the station: maybe then I would have a drink here more often. I believe that Eindhoven certainly has the potential of a big city, but I spend too little time here to have a founded opinion about that.

I do not believe that Eindhoven is ‘uninspiring’. Although Eindhoven is a clear example of how it shouldn’t be: as a designer you should be inspired by the imperfections! I say: the more bricks, the higher the ugly buildings, the better…

What makes Eindhoven your city?

My work, my family and my friends are here: those are the most important reasons why I live in Eindhoven.

As I said, nostalgia is absolutely not relevant for me: it is the fact that Eindhoven has no explicit identity that

Supported by the European Union, Eindhoven now finally has the right to call itself Design Capital.

Deservedly? Eva Hopma in discussion with three members if the domain Work: Stpehan Wens-

veen, Maartje van Gestel and Fons Sweegers. text Eva Hopma foto’s Wouter Widdershoven

design capital of europe

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makes Eindhoven the interesting city as it is.

The only familiar things from Eindhoven are PSV and Philips. When I told people in Brazil that I am from Eind-hoven, no one knew what I was talking about. However, when I mentioned ‘PSV’, they immediately knew where I was from!

The beach, family and friends are reasons for me to stay in Scheveningen. Does Eindhoven deserve the name ‘Euro-pean Design Capital’?

I laughed when I heard it the first time…

Design is a common thought in Eindhoven. This started with the Design Academy: it was the first design school in Europe. Also the many companies in this region believe that design is an added value for their products: this is how they differentiated themselves in the market.

Design becomes an important factor in the develop-ment of a statement to the rest of the world.

The only reason I can come up with why we could be a Design Capital is because big cities (like New York) are seriously interested in what’s happening here in Holland. The Design Academy and Industrial Design are really innovative, they have a challenging approach. They use a new way of thinking and this doesn’t happen without a reason.

I think that Eindhoven is on her way to become a design capital, especially with companies like Philips and Océ. The combination of design and technology is typical for Eindhoven. The role of technology within design be-comes more and more important and this is Eindhoven’s unique selling point.

What is the most uninspiring place in Eind-hoven?

The TU/e on its own: inside you can find a lot of inspira-tion, but you have to go through such a thick wall to get there. Outside it is just like East-Germany: why are there no terraces? Why not five terraces? The most uninspiring place is the canteen on floor

eight. Kees Overbeeke said: “How can we educate students about design, when they get such food dished up?” And now I’m not even talking about the noise of the rattling cutlery…

I cannot come up with an uninspiring place: Eindhoven inspires me to the bone.

What is the most inspiring place in Eind-hoven?

The places where people meet are the most inspiring spots. For example FFFs – a temporary bar in the Licht-toren: that is where the creative sector comes together.

The restaurant in the Kamer van Koophandel is the most inspiring place here: it gives you a nice view on the Dommel .

The public toilet on the market [picture toilet] : I’ve never seen anybody going in there, so it must be an inspiring oasis of tranquillity in the middle of all that noise and tumult.

STEPHAN WENSVEEN

Stephan Wensveen

Scheveningen

Stephan obtained his

doctorate with a thesis on

emotionally intelligent

products. He is project

manager of the Interna-

tional Ambient Intelligence

Laboratory.

[email protected]

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Fons Sweegers

Eindhoven

Fons gives an assign-

ment on marketing and

has his pown consul-

tancy: d[o]kvis. He makes a

crossover between design,

marketing and technology.

www.dokvis.nl

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FONS SWEEGERS

Maartje van Gestel

Eindhoven

Maartje just returned from

Brasil (Sao Paolo). At the

moment she works in Den

Bosch for a company that

assists other enterprises in

innovation processes.

www.maartjevangestel.nl

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MAARTJE VAN GESTEL

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Study trip to Milan

Domus Academy and Politecnico di Milano

In the first two days we visited the Domus Academy and Politecnico di Milano. An interesting contrast appeared between the intimacy of the

Domus Academy and the magnitude of the Politecnico di Milano. Size wasn’t the only difference; while the Domus teaches design in

a practical way the Politecnico has a more theoretical approach.

The Domus Academy is a small private academy that teaches

several Design-related Master programmes that take one

year to finish. It has a lot of similarities

with our study, especially in

the ideology and the

way of working.

It’s nice

to

see that other institutes share the same project oriented approach and with success. Companies invest time and money in student projects because they know the outcome will be of use.

Politecnico showed a completely different approach towards the students and the education. Where Domus Academy worked with team-based projects, master classes, clients and experts, Politecnico di Milano educates in a traditional way. They give big lectures in Italian and exams as we know it from other faculties at the TU/e. It was interesting to see how the same study can be completely different but no-one of our group was eager to leave Industrial Design and attend a “classical” study.

The Da Vinci museum of science and technology

The Da Vinci museum only showed a little collection of Da Vinci’s work and focused more on the development of science and technology. One of the expositions showed different concept cars ranging from the seventies untill now with different views on the division of space, placement of the driver and aerodynamics of the body.

The Furniture Fair

The furniture fair was an absolute high point. It amazed us in size, amount of studios and the quality of designs made by students. Furniture in all sorts and sizes were on display and new trends were introduced. The fair offered a big collection of modern design furniture and the student studio showed furniture made by students from all over the world. To be honest, this experience is indescribable and you’d have to see it for yourself… maybe next year?

For the fourth year in row, Lucid has organized a trip to Milan with the Furniture Fair as main topic. The design faculties of Politecnico di Milano and Domus Academy were also visited and of course the cultural programme was not forgotten with as highlight the Da Vinci Museum.

Study trip to Milan

What if? I’ve always liked that phrase. What if? What if it could be like this…? Or what if we didn’t have to deal with this…? It is the art of wishful thinking…

What if Eindhoven would be the capital of design? What would it look like? What would I be able to find in this city of creativity, innovation and uniqueness?

To start with the appearance of this city should be quite different; one cannot have the new Mecca of Design look like a mishmash of random styles. The city will be redesigned by promising architects and designers, though we might need to drop a “small” bomb to get rid of the old buildings from the industrial era. The creators will be handed unlimited amounts of cash and given total freedom in design as long as they stick with the dominant colour; Cupertino White. The motivation for this choice is quite simple; it provides a

uniform background and at the same time gives the city a bright appearance which you have to admit; would be great advertisement when using Google Earth (though we won’t name it “The White City” just yet). Unfortunately I was told that neither the Adobe nor the Bob Ross-palette will support this colour in the near future…

Another important aspect of the aesthetics of the city can be found at the bottom of the contract the creators signed. It states, in font-size 0.1, the city will be re-designed each year to stay up-to-date with the current styles. And as for history, not to worry, a small museum will be built to showcase all those city-versions, creating a unique array of design throughout the years.

But such a city should not be just about design, but also about technology. Upcoming technologies will provide the much-needed innovation and possibilities for its inhabitants. To start with I’m thinking of free ultra high speed wireless internet all over the city; hmm call it Phileas, after that other oh-so successful product. Besides that possibly embed RFID into all products and Minority Report-style interfaces just for kicks & coolness, infinite power supplies for all our mobile products, personal teleporters for everyone and, obviously, those super-PDA-thingies the size of a credit card with everything you’ll (n)ever need.

However, let us not forget the ubiquitous functionality, a vital part of user focus. Creating a pleasant and persuasive

interactive experience in an affective environment using tangible controls implemented into intuitive interfaces is an important aspect in creating intelligent and ambient products. All right, I admit: I like to use fancy words, comes with the education…Or we could just use some kind of touch-sensitive clickable wheel-shaped concoction which allows for surfing through content and easily selecting it and stick that interface on everything that needs to be controlled by us…hmm, sounds good, I might need to patent that idea…

We might as well do something good for the environment and only write with eInk on our ePapers publishing them in eBooks and selling them on eBay, making paper superfluous and saving some trees. Though I wonder if we’re going to need an ePen for that… But come on people, eInk? That’s like sooo 2008…

And last but not least: we are only allowed to use apples, whether you eat them every once in a while or use them to run Photoshop CS-whatever is up to you.

Come to think of it, we should name this city “Beginhoven”, because this is were it all begins; at the capital of design!

Eindhoven,capital ofdesign

By Jan van der Asdonk

While the majority in the south of The Netherlands was celebrating carnival, a small delegation of Industrial Design students took a airplane ride towards London to kick off with the third London study trip organized by Lucid.

The program was filled with visits to industrial design related companies, educa-tional institutes and museums. Between the acts there was room to gasp upon London’s cultural highlights and fulfill the necessary shopping needs.

Naturally we were all amazed by dazzling (cultural) highlights such as the play-ful Science Museum, the mighty Big-Ben and the massive Apple store. But it’s the studios in remote alleys and universities in decayed buildings that make this trip interesting for us future industrial designers.

During the visits to the studios we got a great opportunity to look at different perspectives on present industrial design.

At Therefore we saw an engineer and a designer struggling trough a big pile of catalogues filled with different kinds of screws, nuts and bolts. Each individual part was selected based on different preferences ranging from screw head life-time to thread tension forces.This critical thinking continues throughout the complete design process, all in favor of the final product.

Moving on to IDEO where they also make detailed designs, but at IDEO they put the focus much more on design methods. Unfortunately they only showed us some pictures of their highly classified idea-generation rooms containing all kinds of tools and materials for fabrication of quick prototypes. But we did get a feeling of the outcome of those sessions and noticed that they also work with pieces of cork and cardboard for early interaction models.

Although both companies have their own methods, they are working towards a more progressive design process. This motive was finally confirmed at the third company, Frazer Design. This small studio is practicing industrial design for over thirty-five years now. They have a very traditional way of product development and manage to keep up. Nevertheless they showed us some interesting future views. Being in the business that long they could tell us that the climate is shift-ing towards Asia and that traditional industrial design, like they practice, doesn’t hold the future in the Western countries. We have to distinguish ourselves by focusing on subjects we pioneer in. Think of sustainability, design methods and ambient- or experience design. This future view wasn’t unique for Frazer Design but could be distilled from all the visited companies.

London study trip 2006

“Industrial Design in practice”

Eindhoven European Design Capital in 2006, is that justified?

As ambition it is justified, whether we will be a design capital is up to the future. It starts with the ambition and ambition is clearly present in Eindhoven. It is grafted into the qualities that we specifically have. Think of the term brainport; there are many things invented here. There are also many designers and we have good education. All of that is important.

Who are the inhabitants of the design capital?

That is part of a piece of history: in 1800 Eindhoven was a small town, and started to grow with Philips; it has been the driving force of Eindhoven for a century. However, around 1990 things changed; the famous fabrication industry of Philips left and moved to Asia. The development industry stayed behind. There are still many wonderful things developed, but now by companies that originated from Philips. Philips created a large knowledge driven industry and that powerful knowledge is still present, but is not to be called under one name anymore. The name Philips has (partly) left, but the new companies that were created are still here. Philips has sowed, and we are harvesting now. That is what the Design Capital is about.

The single name for all that knowledge is gone. Should ‘Eindhoven Design Capital’ replace that?

I think so, I think of the Evoluon as a good metaphor for that. Philips built that dome 40 years ago, to present and let people explore technology.

A fantastic dome for the brainport; our ambition is beneath that dome. I am currently organizing the monument-day which will take place there. We want to make a modern translation of the original ambition, explore technology in a playful way.

How does Eindhoven distinguish itself compared to the ‘randstad’?

By the term Brainport: Rotterdam is the mainport, The Hague is the government city and Amsterdam is everything and nothing at the same time. Eindhoven has the brains and that is its strength. Rotterdam has a good image, and I think that Eindhoven has that too.

Is Eindhoven showing that to the rest of the world?

Not enough, we should show off ourselves much more, we should become more arrogant. If I see what is happening here at the university, we can be really proud of ourselves. The

Dutch Design Week is important for that, but I think the Evoluon could be a fantastic tool too. Perhaps the city

government has a role in that as well.

Will there be working more designers at the city government in 10 years?

I think that in the future the government will use its creativity more in organizing the process and employing the qualities of the design climate that is offered by designers in the city. For example: ten years ago I designed furniture for public spaces, and developed urban plans (Emmasingelcomplex), but in more recent years this has been done by recruited designers. So the climate for designers in Eindhoven is improving.

So Eindhoven is a real Design Capital in 10 years?

That is something else. We don’t talk of Eindhoven European Design Capital as a plan, but we say so because it is already partially the case.

interviewinterview

To complete the Triple Helix (Business, Education and Government), we interviewed Cees Donkers. Cees is urban planner for the municipality in Eindhoven.

‘Concerning the national Big Cities Policy, Eindhoven has made agreements with various educative institutes, such as the TU/e, Fontys and Design Academy. The purpose is to promote sharing of knowledge which should lead to policy-improvement. Since 2002 Cees Donkers is involved with working out those agreements, first as coordinator and as guest lecturer at the faculty of Architecture at the TU/e. At this moment he is municipal account E+ and coach of atelier E+, an atelier of graduates with subjects in the city Eindhoven.’

DIMI is a smart companion, created by Philips, and is meant to form a bridge

between user and technology in the home. It can respond to speech and can interpret facial expressions and gestures of the user. By doing so, it can give information that the user asks for, or turn on any device the user

wishes. DIMI has a ‘body’ and a ‘head’: the body is formed of four rectangular plates on

top of each other; the head is mounted on top, consisting of two plates and capable of nodding

back and forth. The plates are lit in separate parts: the plates in the head each have three lit parts; the

body plates consist of two parts each.

DIMI, SMARTCOMPANIONSECONDYEARPROJECT

ZANEAMIRALISBRAMBRAATMARCELTONMARLOESVANDRIEL

SEBASTIAANMESSEMAKER

This project team was one of the three teams who were asked to design the communication of DIMI; considering light, sound and movement. The result that was expected initially was a movie, animated in Flash. However, the team decided that they would build their own DIMI. This would not only give them opportunities to develop their knowledge in technology; it would also make the interaction resemble reality more, and create a richer experience.

In order to build DIMI, the team had to design all of the constructions as well as the electronics by themselves. The control of the prototype would be done using Phidgets, which of course needed programming in order to work properly.

After an extensive building phase, which you may imagine when you hear that no less than 72 RGB LEDs controlled in groups of 4 or 6 are used in this small creature, the team was ready to create behavioral characteristics for DIMI. The client asked for a number of messages -states- to be communicated by DIMI. In order to design these states, it was necessary to know what personality DIMI should have, so that he would react in a more or less consequent way. The requested states would all be translated into a combination of light, sound and movement and formed the building stones of the personality. In an ideal situation, this personality would be opposite of, and slowly growing towards the user, but since this was difficult to achieve, the states were created for a single, non-changing personality. This personality was chosen from the personas that the team had created in an earlier stage.

With help of acting out sessions the team searched for an unambiguous expression for each state, as well as possible sounds and lights that the actor would add to make DIMI’s expression clearer. All states were expressed by three people using either their full body, just a hand or a plate resembling DIMI’s head.

Conclusions that were drawn from these sessions resulted in a recommendation to Philips, to make DIMI capable of tilting its head not only from front to back, but from

side to side as well, as this would increase the expression possibilities. Besides this, decisions were made on the use of the other output possibilities. Since color can be interpreted in different ways among different cultures, the use of colors would only be of help as an add-on, to intensify a certain state. The use of sounds and auditory icons would be easier to understand and interpret. The different states were recorded in a template and programmed into DIMI.

With help of several tests, the team tried to find out whether DIMI’s body language was interpreted as the right state and improvements on the communication could be made. After each round of tests, the results were analyzed and used to make adaptations to the states where necessary, eventually leading to an increase of correct interpretations in the following tests. After each iteration it became easier to determine the personality of DIMI.

It is interesting to notice that the more PC-related states harder to understand than the more human-like states. Since DIMI will function as a companion for the user, it is important that DIMI is seen as a more anthropomorphic creature. The results may be an indication that DIMI has a promising future lying ahead of him. The technology isn’t available for use at home yet, so we must have to wait a few more years before we know if DIMI will be ever a success.

NESPRES

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PROJECT

One of the more interesting first years projects at the domain Work must

be Mellow. The goal of the project was to design a new experience for

Nespresso, the famous espresso brand. At the same time the team

would participate in the design contest, organized by Nespresso.

text and photo Eric Toering

illustrations Daniel visser

Mellow: a coffee experience

The team consisted of: Laurens Hellemons, Sebas-tian Pijnappel, Leon Schrijvers, Rik Speijcken, Wouter Theloosen, Kevis Verleijsdonk. The team members have at least one thing in common: They all have a funny name. And that was not the only thing, because the result of the project was a fully working espresso machine! Mellow is a campfire espresso device; consist-ing a water container, a high pressure valve and a slot where you should put your Nespresso cup. To make an espresso simply place the container in a campfire, wait

until the water boils and the pressure builds up; open the valve and see how your delicious espresso drips out of the Mellow straight into your coffee mug. ‘The device has all those qualities a backpacker needs in a portable espresso machine; it’s small, light, sturdy, and it builds character as you use it.’, so says the flyer lying besides a 50 cm long and 2.5 kg heavy prototype. But it sure is cool!

Intelectual Property

Since the start of this academic year the Industrial Design faculty strongly advised all students to sign an intellec-tual property agreement. This advice caused a lot of fuss amongst the students. ‘Why would I sign a contract that gives me rights to only one third of my idea?’

An idea is not the same as intellectual property. An idea is something that sprouts from your imagination, solving a problem in an appealing way. Intellectual property describes very specific hów that problem is solved. The functioning is laid down in writing with an official institute and obtains legal status.

All universities in the Netherlands receive funding from the Dutch government to conduct research and educate students. Recently the government has decided the universi-

ties should also use their capacity to earn money. This is possible when they protect their intellectual property. What happens now is that potential interesting research outcomes are published, dissipating the valuable intellectual property. However, before publishing the TU/e has a legal framework in which all employees and their research are protected. Students however are not regarded employees of the university

and are therefore not protected within the framework. Since a project coach is always familiar with the project you release every idea directly.

When a student signs the IP-agreement he becomes part of the legal person TU/e. For starters, this brings the possibility to give project presentations to people from the TU/e without releasing the idea. But the IP-agreement offers more advantages. Students who have signed the agreement can discuss the potential of their ideas freely with an expert within the TU/e. If the idea shows enough potential according to the expert, the students are referred to the innovation lab of the TU/e. The innovation lab is an organisation that brings research and industry together. Un-fortunately, intellectual property is worth nothing without a potential market. The innovation lab can help students to get in touch with manufacturers and provides legal advice. Furthermore, when the innovation lab decides that an idea is good enough they will help to get a patent – something they can achieve, but you never will on your own. Of course all involved parties want to get their share when money is made. The innovation lab will get one third, the ID faculty will get one third and the person or project team will get one third.

Why would i

sign a contract

that only gives

me the right to

one third of the

idea?

I assume the location Strijp S was a source of inspiration for the festival?

Well, it was even more than that; if the festival could not be held at Strijp S there would have been no festival at all. During the early stages we had ambitious views about how this technology festival should look like. To substantiate these ambitions we knew that Eindhoven Strijp S would be the only suitable place.Strijp S is the location where Philips has his roots. Most of the participating artists and press journalists were fascinated by the fact that Einstein used work there. When I for example approached Stellarck, a god in the field of robotics, he showed immediate interest after I told him this. Too bad he was too expensive.In conclusion we think that Eindhoven is in need of an appealing festival. Nijmegen has the “Vierdaagse” and Tilburg has “Festival Mundial”. With STRP festival we want to create Eindhoven’s equivalent.

Do you think that the choice for mainly electronic music excluded people?

Any choice of music would have kept certain people away; this is always a consequence of making choices. We tried to put a programme together covering the entire range of electronic music styles with exception of the commercial segment. Did you think David Grubb’s music to be electronic? What about Vert on his piano and Zeena & Ikue Mori with their harps? I agree that most of the music was electronic but this could be expected at technology festival. However I was surprised to see that despite this choice of music we did attract a lot of different people.

Eindhoven is profiling itself as design capital. How does STRP contribute to this?

STRP is not a design festival; it is an art & technology festival. Perhaps our festival contains some design elements but it will certainly not be the main focus. If we can contribute to the overall feeling of Eindhoven as design capitol we will naturally play our part. One of our main goals is to interest young people in technology. A festival is very broad minded and within this lays the opportunity to involve the field of design. However, this will be a decision we make in favour of the festival and in favour of the board of Eindhoven Design Capital.

Although there is no direct connection with design can we expect student work from the department of Industrial design at the TU/e on future STRP editions?

As a precursor of the STRP festival we have been organizing Dorkbot together with Studium Generale. Industrial Design (I.D.) students frequently exposed their work during these events. The motivation for me to organize Dorkbot was to establish a platform where art meets technology. This platform is quite unique in Eindhoven so I would definitely encourage I.D. students to show their work on events like Dorkbot but also on the STRP festival. The link between art and technology should be apparent in the work of the students; I am not interested in things like an electronic watering can.

As one of the volunteers at the STRP festival I naturally experienced a lot of the manifested art and music, but as an extra I also received a glimpse of organization behind it. In my curiosity to learn more about the organization I interviewed general manager Frens Frijns.

Where did the initiative of STRP festival come from?

For ages the city council of Eindhoven was striving for a technology festival to promote beta amongst young people. It is regrettable that even with involved of the industry this initiative failed. Then about three and a halve years ago the former manager of Mu, Ton van Gool, called me with the idea to set up a technology festival from an art point of view. Together with representatives from Plaza Futura, Mad Emergent Arts Centre, Alice, Studium Generale, Mu and De Rechter we brainstormed about the foundation of this concept. Onwards Peter Kentie, Ton van Gool and I formed the board of the STRP foundation to raise funds for the festival.

Design Café’s

In cooperation with Jan van der Hulst from metalwork factory Phoenix, DCEr organizes informal meetings for inexperienced designers to get in contact with production firms. Set in a safe atmosphere, the involved entrepreneurs have an open mind towards the sometimes insecure designers. Five of these ‘Design café’s’ are organized this year.

Designer Shared Service

Under the name of ‘Designer Shared Service’ designer Maarten Baas and DCEr founded an information desk where designers can get all sorts of information. “I was contacted by a gallery, who will pay transportation costs?”; “What about intellectual property, can I protect it?” or “I am looking for a company that will produce my design, what to do?”. Such an information desk can save lots of research.

Eindhoven European Design Capital 2006

One of the most well-known projects of DCEr is the establishment of Eindhoven European Design Capital 2006 (EEDC); this is a platform for a variety of projects that brings every type of design to the attention. The open and new character of EEDC enables young designers to influence the shape of Eindhoven as their future work environment.

If you have initiatives for a project, a lobby or some other activity –preferably emphasizing the link between designers and industry– DCEr can help you realize your plan by contacting potential partners or searching financers. However, DCEr will only help in the initialization phase. Eventually the market will have to take the steps to execute the project.

The Designhouse

In the spring of 2007 the Designhouse will open its doors in the former cantonal courthouse next to the city hall of Eindhoven. It is supposed to give shape to Eindhoven’s Dutch Design by providing exhibition space and publicity. If you have ideas for the use of this space or if you want to organize an event please contact the Design Academy, since they are in charge of creative direction.

Design Incubator

History has shown that young starters often fail due to the absence of an adequate network, and a lack of facilities such as coaching and housing. The Design Incubator can offer extensive help in those areas. There are of course some conditions, like being settled in the Eindhoven region. You can visit www.designconnectioneindhoven.com and check under ‘Design Incubator’ for more information.

Tips for more information

• www.eindhoveneuropeandesigncapital.nl• Handboek voor het opzetten van een ontwerppraktijk, Vincent van de Eijnde, Kitty de Jong, Monica van Leest / ISBN 90 6369-11-7 • Marketing en acquisitie voor Ontwerpers, Shan Preddy / ISBN 90-6369-105-X

‘All conditions for a dynamic design climate are present.

It’s just a matter of joining in.’

Robert Jan Marringa, program manager

of the Design Connection Eindhoven region (DCEr) supports his words

with some examples of the many initiatives, showing design in this

region is vivid. DCEr plays a central role in supporting these initiatives by providing a professional network and

project support.

Innovativeinitiatives

with a focuson design

REPORTER

ARD JACOBSSTRP

STRP is a new festival where art meets technology. In

the Philips Clock Building located at Strijp S you could do many different activities and visit wide variety of performances.

• There was the “Pain Station”, an installation where stabs of pain were integrated within the legendary paddle game Pong.

• A cockroach controlled robot demonstrated a combination of nature and technology controls our future.

• “The tramp” is a robot that responds to its environment and interacts with people by making a little chat or by playing its musical box. • On “The treadmill” you have to run through different worlds that are projected on a big screen in front of you. Your position and run speed influence the dynamics of the projected scenery.

These and many more of these interactive pieces made sure that I had a great day. Later that night after an intensive and tiring afternoon you were

entertained by highly interactive performances, laser shows and live video editing. There was drinking, dancing and every one went wild that night!

I hope we can enjoy this spectacle again next year so that you can see/hear/feel it for yourself!

After the great success of the expositions

‘Hocus Pocus User Focus’ and ‘Do Not Disturb’,

organized during the Dutch Design Week

in 2004 and 2005, there will be another

exposition this year. Only this time the faculty

has the coordination, in cooperation with Lucid.

But that is not the only thing that is going

to change. Therefore I interviewed Martijn

Jansen, chairman of last year’s exposition and

now contracted as student assistant for the

upcoming Dutch Design Week.

Martijn, how are you involved now?

During the evaluation of the last exposition

we concluded that the faculty should be more

actively involved in the exposition. It costs

Lucid great amounts of time, and in the end

it is more the responsibility of the faculty to

promote the study. At the same time there

were initiatives of (amongst) Berry Eggen to

cooperate with Delft and Enschede during the

Dutch Design Week. So the faculty took the

initiative to organize the exposition. I am now

sharing my experience and working on our

next exposition.

How about the cooperation with

Delft and Enschede?

The idea is to combine forces of the three

studies and promote the profession Industrial

Design together. A workgroup has been

formed with the Director of Education

of Industrieel Ontwerpen in Delft, the

Communication Advisor of Industrieel

Ontwerpen in Enschede, the three study

associations (I.d from Delft and S.G. Daedalus

from Enschede) and Berry Eggen as leader.

The goal of the cooperation is to show why

Industrial Design on an academic level is

important. We want to distinguish ourselves

from all those HBO IPO (industrial product

design) educations. The Dutch Design Week is

the perfect moment to present the world our

serious and essential profession. Of course the

three educations are not exactly the same,

but there is enough room to differentiate from

each other. To enforce our cooperation we

chose the title: Design United.

So what can we expect?

The exposition is again in the hall of the

main building of the TU/e, but this time we

will use it completely. We want to expose

student projects in context and besides that

also an in-depth explanation of the projects

and the studies. We don’t want an exposition

where you can only look at nice objects,

we want to involve the visitor so that he

or she can experience the projects and will

understand the underlying thoughts. It is also

a nice comparison between the studies, as all

projects will be exposed next to each other.

Do you expect that the exposition

will exceed last years’?

Last year we had approximately 2000 visitors.

I expect that we will double that amount

definitely; perhaps we can make it up to 7000

visitors. The Super TU/esday of Industrial

Design is also during the Dutch Design Week

and will be a crowd-puller for the exposition.

We now have a large team of organizers,

professional people who help designing the

exposition and a much bigger network of

people that are promoting the exposition.

Each meeting we get more and more

enthusiastic, so in the end I expect a great

exposition. I wouldn’t be amazed if we

would become serious competition for the

graduation show of the Design Academy in a

few years.

DUTCH

DESIGN

WEEK

PREVIEW

- I would not be amazed

if we would become

serious competition

for the graduation show

of the Design Academy

in a few years -