USER & SOCIETY (U&S)
Taken generally, my FMP used the context of SE to explore designing for transitions. Social enterprises aim to engage with complex societal challenges and thus contribute a clear sense of complexity to the project. Engaging in this complexity, I aimed to gain a deep understanding of the transitions and future visions present in the context. I approached this analytically by situating the project within its historical, societal, cultural, and political context, building on insights from my internship at Social Enterprise NL. In addition, I involved a broad range of stakeholder perspectives to deepen this understanding. This included qualitative analysis of the Social Enterprise NL podcast as a form of deep listening, drawing on existing data and connecting to MD&C through analytical interpretation. From this, I was able to derive values and a future vision for the transition that the SE movement aims to realise. Stakeholders were more actively involved during 'Schaal je Impact', where speculative artefacts (C&A, T&R) guided interviews to question, validate, and enrich the values identified. Finally, the project was evaluated with the Social Enterprise NL team to reflect on impact and relevance.
​
Present
During my Final Master Project (FMP), I used the context of Social Entrepreneurship (SE) to design for transitions. More specifically, I aimed to uncover and design collective future visions of the social entrepreneurship movement in the Netherlands, to provide orientation for the transition required to move toward these futures. In my approach, I built upon my understanding and skills of the expertise area as developed throughout my master (past). In the following section, I therefore demonstrate how each of the expertise areas were integrated in my project. In doing so, it also reflects my overall growth as a designer in relation to my identity and vision.
​​
​
CREATIVITY & AESTHETICS (C&A)
During the process, I firstly used the area of C&A to enrich my understanding of the context by opening the new perspectives on the context and underlying values (U&S). This was mainly done in the first phases of the project, through creative methods like visualisation, brainstorming, design narratives, and the development of speculative artefacts. I reflected on these both from a first-person perspective, as well as with stakeholders. In the last phase of the project, this focus shifted toward the development of an intervention that was aimed at creating meaningful impact for the transition by implementing it in the existing practices of the ecosystem (B&E). Here, scenario sketching and making activities were used to build toward the final design: ‘Het Impact First Toekomstenlab’. Throughout the process, my personal aesthetic language was consistently present, with careful attention to elements such as colour and visual composition. At the same time, I deliberately translated this aesthetic to align with the Social Enterprise NL brand identity, ensuring that the final design fit properly within the intended context.
​
BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP (B&E)
I positioned my Final Master Project within the Dutch SE ecosystem by collaborating with Social Enterprise NL as the client. Regular meetings guided iterations and decision-making using their expert knowledge, which allowed me to explore how implementing my design in the organization can leverage change and transitions. Here, I drew on insights from my prior internship at Social Enterprise NL to further understand their position in the ecosystem, and I made use of this at the event ‘Schaal je Impact’ to talk to a wider range of stakeholders in the field (U&S). Furthermore, I examined their practices and developed the final design as a flexible, non-commercial intervention tailored to their central role within the ecosystem. That way, the speculative artefacts useful for exploring new perspectives are leveraged and provided in such a way that they can be implemented in existing processes and interventions in the ecosystem (C&A). Evaluation with the team, supported by a written statement from the client supervisor, confirmed the relevance and potential of the design for continued use with members and partners, while also highlighting that further development of its implementation could strengthen its real-world impact (T&R).
​
TECHNOLOGY & REALIZATION (T&R)
T&R was closely connected to C&A in this project, primarily through the realization of concepts, artefacts, and the final design. While one of my PDP goals initially focused on making the speculative artefacts with electronics, reflecting on this goal led me to recognize that technology should only be introduced when it clearly adds value to the concept. As a result, I deliberately chose to focus on tangible making methods that better supported the intent of the design. This included developing skills in 3D modelling and printing, as well as laser cutting, expanding my repertoire of more technical making methods. In the final design, these skills were applied across the different elements of the intervention, choosing materials and techniques to realize a complete and functional prototype for the client. Alongside the physical realization, I explored technological opportunities such as the use of AI, not as a finalized implementation but as an exploration of future possibilities. This allowed me to assess how the design could be further developed technically, where I recognized that the further integration of this throughout the tool could strengthen how it leverages the transition in the current ecosystem (B&E).
​
MATH, DATA & COMPUTING (MD&C)
Building on the data-driven insights into the ecosystem developed during my internship, these insights informed my understanding of the context (B&E, U&S). However, within this project they played an implicit and preparatory role, as the large quantitative dataset of the monitor is not publicly available. Therefore, I expanded on this understanding with a deeper qualitative perspective, where I explored the use of a new media data source, namely the podcast ‘Systeem op de Schop’ by Social Enterprise NL. In working with this large available data set, I used clear requirements for data selection and used my skills in qualitative analysis to find emerging patterns. Here, I expanded my skills by using NVivo to carry out this analysis in a more systematic way. These inductive qualitative insights were further grounded by relating them to transition models such as the X-curve, strengthening their contextual relevance. Throughout the process, I consciously prepared data-gathering approaches with attention to ethical considerations and used visualisations to communicate key insights and design considerations, supporting both analysis and the clarity of the final design.
​
Looking back at the complete process of my FMP, the implicit guidance of the Reflective Transformative Design Process supported my ability to switch between perspectives, research and design activities, and the different expertise areas. The project proposal written in preparation provided a strong and stable framework that guided the process with few adjustments. Where it was my initial goal to explicitly and visually map my process, this was done not through a mapping exercise but rather through consciously positioning myself and each design phase within the landscape of Designing for Transitions and Transformations and coherent methods. As such, I see the final design as a clear representation of my vision and identity as a designer: working within transitions, building understanding through research and creative methods, and positioning an intervention within an existing ecosystem.
​
​
