Master 1 at design for people who just finished their last exams and are now having their well-deserved summer vacation. As a way for our readers of the blog to know some of the students that study design for people, we want to present some of them and tell what they have done previously and what they want to do in the future.
In this way you get to know the designers and not only the projects that they make.
Each of them was asked to write a short text about themselves as a designer and what their dream job would be.
Camille:
I am a French graphic designer specialized in print design and I would love to use this skill to design books based on cognitifs/ intuitive layout that would make those books very easy for everyone to read.
Contacts:
Instagram
Nina:
Before enrolling in the Design for People program at DSKD I have been educated, as well as professionally involved in two fields – Industrial and Interactive Media Design. Combining the two areas of knowledge helped me to become a well-rounded creative, who can not only drive the design process, but also navigate in business-oriented environments. I decided to apply for Masters in Design for People as I wanted to develop further in a human-centred mindset, learn about participatory design and specialise in co-creation. I am interested in possible futures, as well as speculative and critical thinking.
I don’t dream of labour, but during the degree I aspire to become an empathic facilitator, who opens the dialogue and helps stakeholders to identify areas for future impact and has a required skill set to act on them. I would like to work on various projects in interdisciplinary teams, where I could contribute with my expertise as a design researcher or consultant.
Aitana:
As a designer within the field of Social and Inclusive Design, my aim is to make people feel seen and heard. I want to use my work to give people a platform and make them be part of the solution finding. I see design as an action for change and I’m aware of the importance it has to listen and immerse ourselves in other people’s worlds to understand what needs to be done. I am interested in people’s wellbeing and consequently, on their mental health. That’s why I am specifically fascinated about the relationships we built with the people and objects around us, and integrate these feelings and authentic connections in my works. My goal is to connect people to their surroundings, to their families, and eventually to themselves.
My dream job is to work with a multidisciplinary team on inclusive projects that inspire for change.
Haavard:
I’m originally from Oslo, Norway and before starting at DSKD I did a bachelor in product design at Oslomet University.
As an industrial designer I inspire to design long lasting and easily fixable products that will make the everyday life of the end user just a little easier. I love working on products that help people with disabilities overcome the problems that they face in their everyday life. I also love to travel and meet new people, and I find design as a perfect fit for that.
My dream job will have to be working in a place where I get to try new tasks often and always face new problems to solve. So I guess that something like a consultancy would suit me perfectly.
Jack:
My name is Jack and I’m an Irish Product Design graduate from NCAD currently studying my masters in Design for People at Designskolen Kolding in Denmark.
Through projects I’ve pursued, my work has been driven by social change and design for ability. Considering people and their individual stories when trying to create solutions that empower overlooked communities within society.
Since graduating from NCAD, some of my work has been recognised and awarded by a number of organisations, including the National Disability Authority, the Department of Justice and Equality and the Royal Society of Arts.
My graduate project, Flo, focuses on designing for neurodiversity, considering how we can support people with conditions like Autism and their ability to navigate the public environment.
After finishing the masters course I would love to stay within the design for social impact, accessibility, and ability industry! Using what I’ve been taught to create products and services that simply help people be themselves.
Larissa:
Hi. My name is Larissa. I am a 27-year-old student in the MA Design for People. I position myself in the center of an ever changing, fluctuating field between human-centered design, social design and nowadays critical and speculative design, with impulses from anthropology, sociology and psychology. I wouldn’t describe myself as a classic industrial designer, but rather as a concept-driven creative, who works on projects that should enable and encourage people to think about social and environmental issues.
I don’t really have a proper “dream job”. As long as my profession will always challenge me to step outside of my comfort zone and learn new things, I will be happy. The most horrible job for me would probably be always doing the same things with no new input. I love working in interdisciplinary teams where people inspire each other and always bring new ideas to the table. As long as I can step into different roles – from researcher to facilitator to designer – new projects will always excite me. Working in a more experimental and critical way, I think, the closest to a dream job description that I can get.
Gabriella:
My name is Gabriela Vieira and I have a bachelor’s degree in Design from the School of Architecture of the University of Lisbon and am currently taking my master’s degree in Design for People at Design School Kolding.
In my bachelor’s I was educated mostly on Product and Communication but also had some experience with Service Design. I was taught to think of the whole process, starting from how a product is made to its impact after its use. During my education at the School of Architecture, I thoroughly learned the true impact Design can have on people’s lives. This translated into a strong reflection on the positive power of change that I, as a designer have the duty to do. I intend to create useful outcomes that matter, by working with the people who will experience them. I use my skill set to translate what needs to be done and what is wanted, into a result that will benefit both.
As a dream job, I see myself working for a design studio that works within Social Design and will bring my multi-discipline skills to great use. By working surrounded by other professionals, I hope to continue my education with experience and a hands-on approach, helping me become a designer that can better support and communicate projects and people.
Contacts:
Instagram
Anastasia:
In my career I want to use design as a tool for social transformation. Passionate about engaging people in social causes and public development through communication. Together with developing experiences, visuals, services and organizational processes with a participatory and creative perspective. By integrating different fields of knowledge, humanities, and using design thinking methods, striving to create meaningful experiences to multiple stakeholders.
My dream job would be to work as a concept designer.
Alice:
Hello, I am Alice Mingotti. I am a product designer and I have studied at Politecnico di Milano, Scuola del Design. Now I am attending a master’s degree at Kolding Designskolen in Design for People.
In my student career path, at first, I thought that being a good product designer meant most of all having great skills in 3D modeling, rendering, illustrating, drawing, and choosing the right materials for the right shapes and structures, with the final goal to industrially produce the product. But at some point in my career, I simply asked myself: “Is that all there is?” Well, no. As a designer, my aim is to enhance the living standards of people, to add and convey values, to be able to solve a problem, to make people raise the right questions around a matter, to lead innovation, to be able to work in every different aspect of the design process. To do so, it is very important for a designer to find stimulations in every aspect and subject of life itself and being free to grow as a professional.
A foundational concept of me as a designer is Beauty, or as we call it in Italy: Bellezza. The beauty I am talking about is not related to aesthetics or appearance but to shape, meaning and function. It doesn’t have to be meant as attraction towards what is considered beautiful, but to what has a tendency to elevate life towards what is Higher, towards the spirit. The expansion of this concept allows to embrace also objects produced by industries and all of these values are extended to everyday life throughout the design. I think that “La Bellezza” is the real added value that we can offer to the world: what is meaningful, what is good, what is well done.
Since no woman or man is an island, in the future I’d love to be part of a dynamic team in a design studio that always motivates me and allows me to grow and learn more day after day. I’d be honored to be chosen by a company whose values I endorse, a company that decides to invest in me as the professional capacity to bring them significance. And even though my skills are not as refined as I am longing for, every day I am always making little steps with the aim to improve these skills.
