Hi,
I'm Bram Elema
A Creative Technologist
Vision
In my eyes, design is about functionality. Even though it is often important that something is aesthetically pleasing, it is even more important how good something works. I also strongly believe in Dieter Rams’ “form follows function”. A good design must be easy and intuitive to use, in line with what the user wants, and it needs a purpose. I believe a good design has to be able to adapt to people, as everyone is different and might want to use a product in a different way to suit their needs. Because I often try to incorporate some form of modularity into my designs as this enables the user to easily configure a product how they like. Nowadays, new technologies keep being invented and even though some of them such as AI might seem scary, I believe they have great possibilities to help humans in their daily lives. AI is not only very functional for answering your questions, in my opinion, its actual strength is its ability for personalisation, such that it can adapt to you.
Besides the function and capabilities of a design, it must also be intuitive to use. By making good use of feedforward and feedback, the user experience can be greatly improved.
In the future, I see myself designing electronic products that make people’s lives easier and more joyful. Technology is the future, and I believe that by using technologies such as AI, human capabilities can be extended and user experiences can be improved.
Identity
I am a technology-focused designer, which means that I incorporate electronics and software in my designs to improve the user experience. I enjoy working with emerging technologies such as AI, and try to incorporate it a seamlessly into my designs as possible. Designing new products has been something that I was interested in from a young age. Besides that, I have also always been interested in technology and its capabilities. More recently, I have started combining technology and design to make a seamless experience.
Recently, I have developed a specific interest in designing with light in home and working environments, which is also the reason why I have joined the student team Ignite. Here I am part of the technical cluster and responsible for helping the different projects with the integration of electronics and hardware.
I would describe my style as minimalistic. I like minimalism because it avoids unnecessary things and keeps a design simple and elegant. While designing, I pay attention to the little details that give a product a great user experience. I am also a critical thinker, even during the early stages of a design process, I analyse the feasibility, but also the desirability of a concept. This results in quickly being able to identify the benefits and drawbacks of each concept, allowing me to quickly iterate towards a better design.
During projects, I am often the one who works on the prototype, this is because I have a lot of experience with electronics and knowledge on how to assemble and program them. Besides that, I have experience with 3D modelling in Blender and recently also gained interest in prototyping techniques such as 3D printing and laser cutting. Recently, I have also expanded my skillset by learning how to model in Fusion 360, which is used more widely in the industry, and I have also started working on PCB design, allowing me to create higher fidelity prototypes. In a project meeting, I do not often take a leading role, but I am a good listener and gather all the information I need to make a well-informed decision.
Project showcase
Throughout my bachelor, I have done a variety of different courses in all expertise areas, with a main focus on Technology and Realization. A selection of these projects is shown below. Besides university projects I have also been busy working on extracurricular activities such as joining Team Ignite but also my own design projects, some of which you can find highlighted in orange.
Final Bachelor Project
BE, TR, CA, US, MDC
One of the best projects I have done was my Final Bachelor Project. For this project, I chose the topic of using Artificial Intelligence to personalise lighting experiences. Lighting can be very personal, and everyone has different preferences for it regarding both brightness and colour temperature. Therefore, I have created lamp-one, a desk light meant to be used in offices. This lamp will learn from your prior behaviour as well as your environment to predict the perfect light settings for you. The lamp has both a large light used to light your desk, but also a smaller but brighter task light, which can be used for reading. The device has 4 degrees of freedom, giving the user the ability to use it in any position they’d like.
To get to this point, I have done 3 rounds of user testing. Initially, I started testing how the AI should function by giving a small prototype with functional AI to 5 participants. This gave some interesting insights, such as that the light shouldn’t automatically turn on and off, as this is too sudden a change, making the user feel like they don’t have control over what is happening.
This was followed by testing different interactions of how to control the light; here, the focus was also shifted from lighting in general to personal office lighting. From this user test it became clear that users want to be able to control the light with as little interaction as possible while still being intuitive. Specifically, this resulted in a dial which can be moved up and down to control the brightness and rotated to change the colour temperature. The device could be turned on and off by tapping the top.
Finally, a short study was conducted among office workers to verify the concept and inquire about their current uses of light in and around the office.
(Un)original Prusa Drybox
BE, TR, CA, US, MDC
For a Printables design contest, I designed the (Un)original Prusa Drybox, an open-source drybox that can be 3D printed using most 3D printers. For 3D printing, a drybox is a necessary tool to dry your filament as wet filament leads to reduced print quality and strength. Because everyone might want to use the drybox in a different way or location, it is designed to have modular parts that have the filament exit in different locations. Initially, the drybox was only intended to prevent moisture from entering the filament; however, recently the design has been updated such that users can also use active heating to remove the moisture from the filament. Both of these designs are currently being sold through a third party. Finally, a successor for this design is currently in the works and will be released soon. This will have many improvements to make it more of a plug-and-play experience.
Custom Speakers
TR, CA, MDC
Besides my University projects I also set a goal for myself to make my own speakers. The aim was to make speakers that are minimalistic but still interesting looking as well as modular in some way. This project enabled me to make a design process from beginning to end. It involved everything from making different concepts for the shape and appearance of the design to selecting electronic parts and 3D printing In the end I ended up with a set of stylish Bluetooth speakers that lived up to my goal, they have a simple yet interesting look and the outer shell as well as the amplifier tray are made modular such that they can easily be replaced or swapped for a different design.
Project 3
TR, US, MDC
For my research project, we did research on how AI could aid Industrial Design students with building circuits and programming. With Large Languange Models such as ChatGPT becoming increasingly more popular, students are starting to use it for programming as well as circuit building, the issue with this is that LLM’s aren’t 100% accurate and usually only give the result and not why it made certain decisions, this is where Circuit Tutor comes into play. Circuit Tutor is an AI that doesn’t just give answers but rather guides you through the process of designing a circuit by dividing it into easily understandable pieces. It was made to have a custom chat-bot where users could enter what circuit they wanted, the AI would then guide them through the process of choosing parts. It would then send you to the circuit maker where you had to digitally connect the parts into a circuit. Finally, it would send you back to the chat-bot where it would help you by making bite-size pieces of code, explaining what it is used for and how the users could do this themselves in the future.
Aesthetics of Interaction
CA, US
In my second year, I followed a course, Aesthetics of Interaction in this course I learned about the importance of feedforward and feedback as it is crucial for making a design intuitive. Interactions can have both inherent and augmented or simulated feedforward and feedback. Together with my group, I made Wave Awake, an alarm clock which contrary to a normal alarm clock doesn’t show any numbers on it, instead you enter the amount of sleep you want by moving the slider. As a way of augmented feedforward, the slider is matched with 3 circles ranging from small to large. Large would be used for a long and well-rested night, but small can be used for a short nap. The slider also uses variable resistance to guide you to your optimal amount of rest. Finally, the device is positioned on a base station, where it will start rocking back and forth once your alarm ends. To turn the alarm off, you would have to physically take the device off the base station.
Modular Keyboard
TR, CA, US, MDC
Recently, I have been working on designing a custom keyboard as I was dissatisfied with the range of keyboards that are currently available. They are either very bulky or don’t have mechanical switches. This is why I designed one myself. It uses low-profile tactile mechanical switches to minimise the form factor but still make the switches have the right feel. These switches are also hot swappable in case you want a more linear or clicky feel. The keyboard is also completely wireless and has a magnetically detachable numpad, so it can be stored when not in use, but once you need it, it can effortlessly be attached. Finally, it uses a dial for audio control to give the user a more precise and intuitive interaction than pressing multiple buttons.
Design Innovation Management
BE
In my third and final year, I also expanded my knowledge in the Business and Entrepreneurship area. During Design Innovation Management, we were tasked with exploring possible new markets for Coolblue to expand to. Here we came up with the concept of Coolblue Care, an extended warranty subscription offering both technical support for all your devices as well as discounted repairs. Throughout the process, we had to analyse the business strategy and feasibility of the design using various methods.
Exploratory Making
TR, CA, MDC
In my third year, I followed the course Exploratory Making. During this course, I learned the importance of exploring rather than just making something, as it gives you the opportunity to reflect and it can give you inspiration of mechanisms or features that could be useful for a final design, which you otherwise might have missed because of tunnel vision. From the explorations I have done, I found that I wanted to make a small portable light. Something which I initially didn’t think of was having the top of the device open once you pick it up so it can be used as both a flashlight and portable accent lighting. The side of the device could be swiped down to open up the LED lights on both sides while also placing the device at an angle, which resulted in a nice light distribution on both the table and the wall.
Engineering Design
TR, CA, MDC
One of the first courses in my second year was Engineering Design. For this project my group and I designed an attachment to automate existing manual blinds which most people have in their homes. Together with sensors, this system could automatically open and close your blinds to control the temperature and amount of sunlight that enters the room.
Future Goals
During my future development, I would like to continue designing with a focus on the Technology and Realisation and Math, Data and Computing expertise areas. For the TR expertise area, I want to learn more about how to make moving mechanisms, but also how to optimise designs for manufacturing, as those processes are very different from the 3D printing and laser cutting, which I currently use. As for MDC, I want to expand my knowledge on connected systems. Currently, most of my designs only work locally; however, I think it would be very valuable to also have multiple designs work together. In this expertise area, I would also like to continue the process of data-enabled design by making design decisions based on data collected by interactive prototypes.
Even though my main focus will be towards TR and MDC, I will still continue to expand my skills and knowledge within the other three expertise areas.
Previously, I have gained some knowledge in the Business and Entrepreneurship area; however, this is mostly about verifying whether a concept would be a good addition to the market. One of my future goals for this EA is to actually sell a product by finding a place to manufacture it and doing marketing. In the User and Society EA, I want to continue incorporating the user in the design process as I am doing now, since I already have quite some experience with this. I would still like to do larger-scale testing, as currently I only conduct user tests with a maximum of 25 to 50 participants. For the final expertise area, Creativity and Aesthetics, I have already developed a consistent and unique style. In the coming months, I would like to further define this style by creating guidelines for it.
Finally, my professional skills have greatly increased over the years. I have become better at pitching and speaking in front of groups. Both of these are now at a level I am comfortable with; however, there is always room for improvement. Therefore, I would like to get more experience with speaking in front of larger audiences.