BlueHair: Interaction & Product Design

Tag: VanBerlo

  • What can my organization do to develop more usable products?

    Dr. Jasper van Kuijk is a post-doc researcher at the TU Delft studying user centered product development practice. He is an expert on usability and how it affects not just the people using the products, but the industry that develops and markets those products.

    At VanBerlo, identifying how important these factors are not only for our business, but for our client’s business, we had the pleasure of inviting Jasper a few weeks back as a guest lecturer for our team at our Eindhoven offices.

    It is important to remember that better usability does NOT increase purchase intent but it DOES play an important role on the user experience, which can affect whether people buy your products again and whether they will recommend them to other potential customers.

    During his doctorate research, Jasper identified 4 main drivers (more…)

  • 360 UI & Interaction Trend Report… this baby is finally done!

    Finally! After a good couple of months of research and analysis, our UI+Interaction Trend Report ’10-’11 is finally finished and ready for our clients to take advantage of it.

    The borders between purely physical products and the digital world are becoming increasingly blurred. Over the last 40 years, with the price and size of components steadily dropping and microprocessor capabilities constantly increasing, products have the potential of becoming more and more intelligent. This translates into new, exciting features for the users, but it also poses challenges for designers on how to manage the added complexity through an easy to use and efficient interface that allows smart products to fulfill their promise of making life a little easier and more pleasurable.

    We at VanBerlo, believe that a proper understanding of the present and  future of people’s interaction with products will create great new possibilities in the world of design and therefore, as part of my work at one of Europe’s leading design studios, I had the responsibility to develop our very first trend report focusing on the world of interaction and user interface design.

    These award winning trend reports are part of VanBerlo’s  360 creative services offer and they focus on providing up to date, global and detailed insights into the relevant trends in product development.

    As a special treat, here’s a sneak preview of some of the content you’ll find in our full, 160 pages long report (including high resolution photos and HD videos) . (more…)

  • Design for Interaction (and the afterlife)

    A few days back, I was invited to give a short presentation at the TU Delft to the new first year students of the Design for Interaction (DfI) master of science. Apparently being a DfI alumnus working at the biggest dutch industrial design studio made me an interesting profile to talk to Delft’s future interaction designers… or maybe I was the only one who accepted to come 😉

    I was asked to talk a bit about my experience during the master, especially during my graduation project and how it’s been so far as an interaction designer “in the wild”.

    To be perfectly honest, I didn’t have much time to practice it very well, but anyway since the faculty recorded the presentation I figured “why not publish it?”. So here it is…

  • New year, new decade, new job, new city… and I get to play with robots!

    It’s being a pretty hectic end/start of the year. As of last Monday (11th of January) I started working as Interaction Designer at VanBerlo Studios, the biggest design studio in the Netherlands and an important player in the European scene of product development.

    As a consequence and after 9 years of my life spent in the little and picturesque town of Delft I had to move to Eindhoven, a bigger city down to the south of the Netherlands, very well known for being the headquarters of technology giants Philips and home of former European champions PSV Eindhoven (I guess I can never wear my Ajax jersey in public around this town).

    The city is not as charming, but the work and the company is absolutely fantastic so far… and I get to play with robots! One of the first projects I’ll be working on deals with robotics and therefore today I paid a visit to the mechanical engineering department of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). (more…)

  • JFTOT: User experience design for a family of industrial lab equipment

    PAC

    Relevant keywords

    Laboratory instruments, User interface harmonization, GIO Award 2013, American Good Design Award 2013

    Design goal

    PAC commissioned VanBerlo with the task of performing a portfolio-wide harmonization of their user interfaces, based on the design and styling developed during a previous project. This harmonization was to be started with the design of JFTOT, the newest addition to their growing family of industrial lab equipment.

    Specific role & contribution

    • Project planning and management, including preparation of quotes and direct communication with client
    • On-site visits and direct communication with developers
    • Initial analysis of the benefits of a UI harmonization
    • Conceptualization and wire-framing for JFTOT’s UI
    GIO2013GoodDesign

    (more…)

  • Langen: Creating UX guidelines for industrial packaging machines

    Relevant keywords

    Industrial machinery, User interface guidelines, Packaging

    Design goal

    In an effort to bring together the user interface developments of both its European and American branches, Langen Group commissioned VanBerlo to develop a new set of harmonized UI guidelines for its products.

    Specific role & contribution

    • Project planning and management, including preparation of quotes and direct communication with client
    • Organized on-site visits and workshops with the client for an in-depth analysis of the product
    • Responsible for all conceptualization and styling activities
    • Direct communication with developers and support during production phase

    (more…)

  • VIDA Density Meter: UX design for industrial lab equipment

    PAC

    Relevant keywords

    Laboratory instruments, user interface design

    Design goal

    A more user friendly interface was required as part of the latest version of the VIDA density meter, in order to support the less experienced users that PAC is targeting with the new design of the equipment.

    Specific role & contribution

    • Project planning and management, including preparation of quotes and direct communication with client
    • On-site visits and direct communication with developers
    • Conceptualization and wire-framing
    • Overseeing of styling activities

    (more…)