Designers engage with sustainability in their professional practices in a variety of ways. They resort to Design for Sustainability (DfS) approaches, even though they tend to rely on intuition rather than theoretical works. They possess the ability to lead users to individual behaviour change through interventions. They have certain methods and capabilities to transform sustainability challenges into actionable and potentially sustainable futures, and certain shortcomings in skills and education as well as the challenges they face such as workplace conditions and policies which results in them prioritising other factors over sustainability. Given that, there exists a gap in the literature where the point of view on sustainability of professional designers is not adequately taken into account. Through a series of interviews based on a conceptual framework, this thesis aims to qualitatively study and understand the subjective perspective of professional designers on how they conceptualise and assess sustainability in order to detect opportunities to develop new and improved tools, methods, and approaches. Based on the interviews, designers are found to be not the decision makers around sustainability issues and they need to speak the business language to contribute to decision making. They could furthermore advocate by asking the right questions to the right people at the right time. Having said that, it is important to highlight that not everyone is passionate for sustainability and designers may be alone in their battle. Their challenge is to design solutions where user-centricity comes first and are still profitable for them to be effective. One skill of designers is that they could bring awareness via tangible ways, which is especially important for an issue as abstract as sustainability. Implications for designers is that they could look at examples for inspiration, but need to go beyond and nudging the customer is not enough, the product needs to have inherent sustainable qualities. Ultimately, sustainability is a complex, systemic issue yet design interventions are not yet holistic or integral. Through a co-creation session, the problem statement was defined based on the findings from the literature review and interviews. Stemming from a deeper need for guidance and direction, designers need inspiration to imagine new paths of navigating sustainability issues. They face challenges with advocacy for sustainability and the fight against green- washing in their organisations. They need ways of justifying their actions to managers by proving their actions with credible references and need to align and empower stakeholders with different backgrounds on sustainability issues by engaging them through compelling and accessible ways and effectively communicating with them through a common language. In response to this statement, the design intervention Tactical Sustainability Cards was developed. This tool helps the designer at hand by giving them tactics when trying to balance innovation and sustainability in the design process. They furthermore show examples from the industry to benchmark and get inspired. Additionally, they provide relevant academic sources for designers to strengthen their design work. These cards were validated through interview participant feedback and a validation session, and a final iteration is presented.

In the historically resilient and change-resistant banking industry, the unprecedented era of Digital Transformation (DT) asks for a re-evaluation of traditional business models, processes, and customer interactions. This graduation project, conducted in collaboration with Innovation Boosters (IB), addressed these challenges by developing a strategic design tool to support traditional financial institutions in their DT.
The research, grounded in the Dynamic Capability (DC) theory for DT and the design thinking creative problem-solving method, investigates the interplay between DT, dynamic capabilities, and design thinking (Magistretti et al., 2021; Teece, 2007; Warner & Wäger, 2019). It posits that leveraging a design thinking approach can enhance the effectiveness of DT initiatives within an organization, as evidenced by relationships in the literature (Cankurtaran & Beverland, 2020). The research methodology employed included a literature review and semi-structured interviews with 14 participants. Seven IB consultants and seven DT professionals from the Dutch financial sector were involved, aiming to empirically investigate the effectiveness of design thinking in strengthening DT processes. Findings from the research highlighted the multidimensional nature of DT, emphasizing the alignment of strategy with organizational culture and operations. The importance of design thinking in executing DT strategies, managing uncertainties, and fostering user-centric innovation was also underscored.
Based on these insights, the subsequent design process aimed at defining the design problem, setting the design direction, design goals, and a list of ten design criteria. Afterwards, a co-creation workshop with students was organized to develop personas for the change manager role, the identified figure for DT's successful implementation. The ten design criteria were later categorized based on the two key dimensions derived from the research: innovation leadership and transformation management. The design output is a Change Management Process (CMP) tailored for managers dealing with DT in their organizations. It aims to bridge top-down strategies with bottom-up insights, guiding managers from minimal DT impact to advanced integration and sustained transformation. The three steps related to innovation leadership focus on fostering a collaborative environment, learning from failures to fuel growth, and cultivating a strong sense of ownership among team members. The three steps related to transformation management emphasize building capabilities, enhancing operational excellence, and empowering team autonomy to effectively implement DT. The CMP is supported by two canvases, each featuring four questions that encourage DT managers to critically reflect on their role, thereby enhancing their engagement with the CMP and improving their impact on DT initiatives.
This process was subsequently tested and evaluated by IB consultants, identifying four areas for further reflection, and an action checklist was developed to support the consultants in their work. IB also conducted an assessment confirming the feasibility, viability, and desirability of the developed CMP. The CMP serves as an actionable tool that IB can further test and implement with their clients, facilitating meaningful dialogues and identifying key areas for organizational transformation.
The project underscored the importance of investigating the intersection of strategic management, design, and DT, advocating for further cross-disciplinary research to explore how design thinking can support DT and enhance organizational innovation capability.

Following the increasing appreciation for Design Thinking’s methodologies and its positive impact on businesses’ success and competitiveness over the past decades, many organizations have attempted to establish a design capability of their own. This surge in interest is rooted in the recognition that Design Thinking offers a systematic approach to solving complex problems and fostering innovation, ultimately enhancing the value delivered to customers and stakeholders. It emphasizes empathy with users, a collaborative cross-disciplinary process, and a culture of prototyping and testing, making it an attractive proposition for businesses seeking to differentiate themselves in crowded markets.

However, the journey to successfully integrate Design Thinking into organisations is filled with challenges. Many firms encounter obstacles in translating Design Thinking’s principles into actionable strategies that align with their business models and operational workflows. One of the critical hurdles is the need for a cultural shift within the organization to embrace failure as a learning opportunity, encourage creative risk-taking, and foster an environment where multidisciplinary teams can thrive. Additionally, organizations often grapple with integrating design thinking with existing processes without causing disruption to the workflow or diluting the methodology's essence.

Moreover, building a sustainable design capability requires not just an initial enthusiasm but a long-term commitment to training, mentorship, and the development of infrastructure that supports design practices. This includes the creation of dedicated spaces for collaboration and ideation, access to tools and resources for prototyping, and establishing metrics to measure the impact of design initiatives.
In the context of these challenges, this thesis report examines ktc’s efforts to integrate design thinking methodologies into its digital marketing operations. In the context of an evolving marketing landscape, ktc aims to innovate and adapt by incorporating design thinking methods into its operations.

To start building a design foundation, a series of workshops based on the phases of the Double Diamond model: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver, were designed to equip the ktc team with knowledge of design thinking processes and to encourage the application of these methods to marketing challenges. However, the transition from theory to practice highlighted uncertainties among team members about integrating design thinking seamlessly into their daily tasks.
In response, a pilot design project was launched to apply design thinking methods within ktc's marketing strategies actively. This project sought to showcase the concrete benefits of design thinking while identifying and overcoming obstacles to its application.

The findings from creating this design initiative at ktc shed light on the challenges and successes of implementing design thinking in organizations not traditionally focused on design. It discusses how design thinking can revolutionize ktc’s marketing practices by adopting a more innovative, user-centered approach. Additionally, the report and its deliverables offers guidance for similar organizations, underlining the need for ongoing learning, adaptability, and strategic integration of design thinking with business objectives.

Be it for providing a positive customer experience, a holistic brand identity, or a way to combat stress and exertion, background music has been used by businesses for profit since the invention of the phonograph. (Thompson, 1995) Modern technology enables this to happen fast, and tailors it to the needs of the business. Kollekt.fm is an Amsterdam based B2B music consultancy focussed on doing just that: providing brand-tailored music to businesses. Though this appears to be a single service, it has multiple facets: commercial music licensing, music consultancy, creation of music libraries, and music management and playback. Kollekt's primary proposition is a culmination of all four of these, making it a high-end service accessible only to a particular market segment. However, the team at Kollekt believes that their expertise and assets have the potential to go beyond this current segment, and this project explores possible opportunities for new value propositions in this domain.

An extensive market analysis for services comparable to Kollekt (and their vision for the new proposition) reveals a dense competition space with several well-established players with a global presence, indicating that providing a comparable service and competing on standard business metrics (like cost) may prove to be futile. (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005). On exploring Kollekt's client stories, an enticing new opportunity is revealed: employee involvement and well-being. Employees in businesses are a key stakeholder in its music ecosystem, yet all the services explored in the market research give sole control (of music curation, scheduling, and playback) to the business owners or managers, effectively sidelining the staff in the journey causing unhappiness and possible conflict between stakeholders. Contextual Inquiry done in small businesses in the Netherlands also reveals interesting insights. Small business employees have power, autonomy, and often are in-charge of the music (often with restrictions placed by the managers). However, there are no services that enable them to do so well, and they find themselves relying on personal use streaming services like Spotify. This is not ideal as these services are illegal to use in businesses, and not designed for commercial use.

TRUNE, an end-to-end SaaS background music services for businesses, aims to fill this gap and create a more inclusive business music ecosystem by recognising staff as a key stakeholder. It also aims to make background music accessible to more businesses by expanding Kollekt's roster of value propositions. The essence of the concept lies in leveraging businesses' human capital (instead of expert curators in Kollekt's current service) to create a unique background music identity. This empowers the employees and creates a better working environment for them, which in turn positively impacts the customer experience and business performance. Different aspects of the solution are also tested and validated, resulting in directions for further iterations.

The thesis ends with discussing the relevance of this concept within the context of Kollekt and its strategic fit with the company, and gives recommendations for its implementation. In conclusion, employee involvement in the background music (via the solution offered or other directions) has high potential in furthering the commercial background music industry and can simultaneously provide Kollekt with a blue ocean to grow to new heights. Scope for further research and development is also discussed, both within the company and externally.

This thesis set out to investigate how small to midsize industrial design practices address strategic challenges. For this a literature review was conducted, as well as complementary desk research and an interview study with design practitioners. Later on three small case studies helped set the direction of the project. The findings and insights were translated with the ViP method into a playbook containing interventions industrial design practices can use to connect their work closer to strategic design.

The playbook contains a framework that aims at proposing a new way of working together with clients that enables reciprocal strategy formulation and strategy execution by reenvisioning the consultancy model and utilizing collaboration within a creative ecosystem.
Furthermore, the playbook contains concepts, approaches, and tools that support Industrial Design practices to activate the strategic potential of the projects they work on.

Reciprocal Strategy Formulation and Strategy Execution

A central part of this concept is the reciprocal nature of strategy formulation and strategy execution. Combining the two and letting them interact with each other creates better outcomes for the process. Since the knowledge from the execution part informs the formulation in the first place, it makes a successful implementation more likely. Similarly, understanding (or better yet, being part of) the formulation stage guides the implementation better because the reasoning, goals, and objectives are already part of the process.

Reenvisioned Consultancy Model

The interaction and collaboration with the client get strengthened through closer exchange and teamwork. By being part of both strategy formulation as well as strategy execution, the design practice is no longer only involved in short parts of a project but can provide consistency throughout the project. At the same time the design practice has now more “skin in the game” than before, therefore they also feel more ownership over the whole process.

Creative Ecosystem Collaboration

Essential for this concept is harnessing the creative power that can be found in collaboration.
Especially combining a diverse range of participants enables the creation of innovative design outcomes. This concept also enables the design practice to remain relatively small and agile. It is through the network and the collaboration of different actors within the network that a potential absence of specialized skills and capabilities is balanced out.

This master thesis explores the integration process between Accenture's Industry X and VanBerlo, following the industry trend of big consultancies acquiring creative design agencies to enable transformative work and comprehensive solutions for clients. The research objective of this project is to design a Synergy Creation Approach (SCA) that enhances synergy between Industry X and VanBerlo, leveraging their capabilities to offer end-to-end solutions in joint propositions.

Using the double diamond method in close collaboration with Industry X and VanBerlo employees, the thesis examines the opportunities and challenges for synergy creation. The key findings highlight that a lack of understanding of each other's capabilities hinders synergy creation during business development. The research emphasises the importance of clear understanding and shared vision, preserving design thinking approaches, and incorporating all responsible parties in the process.

To foster synergy through business development, an understanding of client needs and each other’s capabilities is essential. This understanding allows for the identification of opportunities,enabling the proposal of synergy offerings to clients. By building upon each other's work, this collaborative approach delivers greater value to clients.

Based on the Outside-in Framework of Takhtehkar and Rademakers (2020), a Synergy Creation Approach is proposed. This approach guides Industry X’s and VanBerlo's domain leads in creating, validating, and selling synergy offerings. By increasing awareness of each other's capabilities and possible synergy offerings, the tools used during the SCA, such as the Joint Value Proposition workshop, the Synergy Canvas and the Synergy Offering Deck, help identify opportunities for synergy that align with the client's specific needs.

This thesis provides valuable insights through the Synergy Creation Approach, it addresses cases where organisations aspire to achieve synergy but face challenges in leveraging each other's capabilities, as seen in the case of Accenture's Industry X and VanBerlo. The SCA serves as a guiding framework that enhances collaboration between consultancies and design bureaus, enabling them to drive transformative and value-driven solutions for clients.

Design has evolved significantly in the past decades and the corporate designer is on the rise. In recent years, several studies were conducted to link design to business value, resulting in promising outcomes. Even though this data very promising, many companies misunderstand design and underestimate the process of introducing design in their existing organization (Rousseau, 2015). However, the full commercial benefit of design will only be felt by the company if design is well implemented throughout the organization and design excellence is reached (Sheppard et al., 2018; Quint et al., 2022). Therefore, the research to successful design practices in existing corporates is becoming more relevant. This report will discuss a case study of promoting design within a multinational service providing corporate.

Through a design process following a double diamond approach, the problem is further researched, and a design goal was stated. The goal of this project is to create clear and relevant proposals, which takes the design process into account, so the client can be served in the best possible way.

Using creative sessions, many ideas to solve the earlier defined problem were suggested. It was concluded that the problem could only be solved using more than one idea. Based on literature and the earlier research findings, the found ideas were structured into a Campaign planning, consisting of 3 phases: Know, Show and Grow. These phases were filled with activities that should be executed by the client. To further elaborate on the execution of the campaign, the campaign book was designed. This book is designed to give the client all necessary information, guidelines, and tools to execute the campaign.

The campaign planning and campaign book were validated with several employees and partners. From the validation sessions resulted that the campaign is desired, viable and feasible, and the campaign book is understandable and gives the right guidelines to start the campaign. After the validations, iterations took place, resulting in the final design.

By designing an internal campaign, the understanding of the value of design should be increased among employees of other consulting competencies, resulting in more and valuable collaborations.

In this graduation project, the aim is to develop a decision guide that will assist Strategiemakers, a strategy consultancy and organisational transformation firm, in addressing the challenge of creating sustainable business strategies for organisations. The current tools and models used in the industry are inadequate and do. not provide the necessary insights into an organisation’s strategic direction. To address this issue, the research project focuses on creating a holistic model that provides a comprehensive approach to the creation of flourishing organisation strategies.

The research project employs a research-by-design approach to develop the concept. This involved exploratory interviews with Strategiemakers employees, interviews with other strategy consultants, strategists within companies, and educational experts. The aim was to define the components necessary for a flourishing organisation, the requirements for a successful flourishing strategy and to examine the tools that can help to create a flourishing strategy.

As a result of the research and ideation, the concept produced four interrelated components: the Bee Flourishing Model, the Tool Inspiration Guide, the Sustainable Tool Storage, and the Back-end Spreadsheet.

The Bee flourishing model is an organisational model starting in the organisation’s core with its purpose and offers a holistic view of the interconnectedness between the impact of an organisation’s business on sustainability and its internal impact within the organisation. The Tool inspiration guide provides Strategiemakers with advice on the selection of tools that are best suited to support their clients’ journey towards a flourishing organisation. This guide adds value to Strategiemakers by better suiting the client’s needs and not forcibly converting the tools they always use. A structured approach to selecting tools for building sessions can help ensure that the strategy for achieving a flourishing organisation is well-thought-out and effective.

The reorderable matrix approach, when applied in a novel way for the back-end spreadsheet, provides a fresh perspective for strategic designers. It enables the visualisation and analysis of interactions between elements, i.e. tools for developing a flourishing strategy and facilitates how tools can be combined to complement each other to fulfil the specific needs or requirements of an organisation.

In conclusion, Strategiemakers can position themselves with this concept as thought leaders in the field of sustainable transformation by conducting research and making their findings open source. The Bee flourishing model can be used by organisations seeking to transform into sustainable entities, and the Tool inspiration guide should be expanded to better align with the requirements for a successful flourishing strategy. To improve usability, it is recommended to establish a hierarchy among the tools and to bring the style of the guide even more in line with Strategiemakers’ style. To stay relevant and up-to-date, Strategiemakers should keep actively researching new tools and expanding the guide, making it a comprehensive resource for the company.

The application of multidisciplinary collaboration has become a trend to prevent knowledge isolation obstructing business development (Schaubroeck, Tarczewski, & Theunissen, 2016), particularly in the IT industry as it pursue problem-solving innovation.

An IT service company is currently striving to transform into an IT innovation consultancy. Despite having a full-functional workforce and the Project Journey model, it is challenging for them to sell and conduct problem-solving projects to their clients. Not every employee from various disciplines is ready for multidisciplinary collaboration.

The project went through a variant Double Diamond process. The initial assignment was to mitigate the potential misunderstanding between different disciplines. After the generative design research to investigate the context and identify problems, the researcher concluded with a reframed problem as an essential need to have a continuous and concrete guideline for the company’s multidisciplinary way of working (WoW).

The conceptualization process commenced with two co-creation workshops involving frontline workers. Subsequently, the solution is refined based on the insights from previous research and feedback during the sessions. The researcher also drew inspiration from established literature, such as the classic RACI model for multidisciplinary project management and the organizational change management model Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). The final solution comprises three components.

Firstly, as a multidisciplinary WoW framework, Project Journey Blueprint was outlined under seven factors in the service blueprint format. It is more concise, intuitive, and actionable than the classic RACI matrix, with an emphasis on value-based illustration. It reduces misunderstandings between different disciplines and fosters a more efficient and effective multidisciplinary collaboration.

Secondly, a co-creation toolkit called Project Journey Embassy was developed to facilitate the Project Journey guideline development with the aim of evoking ownership and mutual understanding. It includes a generative workshop within each discipline and an alignment workshop across all the disciplines, resulting in a consensus on the multidisciplinary WoW guideline. The guideline includes the ideal team configuration and a Minimum Viable Team (MVT) for future projects.

Last but not least, a three-stage implementation approach was introduced to bridge the guideline into practice. The process begins with the bottom-up co-creation, followed by a circular organizational-level PDCA, where the Project Journey Blueprint is executed and updated quarterly. The third stage employs project-level PDCA where insights will be reported to discipline ambassadors and discussed in organizational 'Check' moments. The ongoing cycle ensures a resilient continuity of the multidisciplinary WoW.

The three-fold solution provides a clear path to foster the transformation towards problem-solving innovation by enhancing multidisciplinary collaboration. It can apply to a broader scope, as there is a common structure and similar project flow across the entire IT industry.

Innovation-centered entrepreneurship drives economic development. It is also a method for addressing the environmental and social issues that result from and impair economic growth. The rapid and continued economic progress in Rwanda and Kenya in the last decade has shown the power of entrepreneurship ecosystems- interconnected people and things supporting startups. However, amid this growth and potential, how can an impact be made on environmental and social concerns also?

This project sought to design a solution to help innovation hubs in Rwanda and Kenya increase their positive impact to sustainability. Innovation hubs include incubators, accelerators, and other programs that support entrepreneurs in creating and growing their businesses. They are the first stop for many new entrepreneurs as they begin their ventures. As a result, hubs can significantly influence startups and the larger entrepreneurship ecosystem.

This project had two aims:
Understand the current entrepreneurship ecosystems in Rwanda and Kenya
Design a solution to help hubs increase their impact on people, the planet, and prosperity (three Ps)

Literature and field research was conducted to create a picture of the ecosystems in which hubs operate. The ecosystem was explored by interviewing representatives of the most common stakeholder groups. This investigation identified stakeholders' opportunities and challenges in supporting entrepreneurship and sustainability.
Then, hubs were interviewed to understand their current practices and needs. Finally, a model was developed to assess the impact of hub program activities based on behavior change theory. This model allowed hubs to understand their potential influence directly instead of estimating it based on startups' performance.
This model was used within the design of a toolkit. The toolkit guides hubs to reflect on their activities and policies through a thee Ps sustainability lens. This process guides hubs to upgrade their current program and generate ideas for new activities to meet their sustainability goals. The toolkit also includes a pilot template to help hubs identify resources to test their impact ideas. For example, in testing, the use of the tool led to an upgraded environmental sustainability workshop for one hub. The new workshop will allow them to reach 3X more entrepreneurs annually.
Hubs often struggle to find sufficient funding and resources for their current programs. The toolkit helps them to optimize their existing resources. Facilitated sessions also lead hubs to identify the new people and financial resources they may need to implement their new ideas. Using a sustainability lens helps ensure hubs make the impact they seek and entrepreneurs get the support they need, now and in the future.

The purpose of the workplace has changed. Employees proved that they could be productive while working remotely, and they do not want to lose the flexibility they gained (Dahik et al., 2021). In addition, many companies are struggling to bring back employees to the office, and a lot of empty office space is becoming available (Gujral et al., 2021). In consequence, a new concept of the workplace is required. However, to design a future-proof workplace, it is necessary to understand what employees will need in the future and how they will work, have a clear vision of the company, and envision futures without the present's constraints. Unfortunately, the traditional research tools used in workplace studies fall short in this task, and some companies find these types of studies time-consuming. Therefore, this thesis aims to design a time-efficient tool to trigger users and clients to think and speak about the future workplace.

This project starts by understanding the evolution of the workplace and its trends and condensing this information into a development map divided into five workplace dimensions (Work model, location, space, services, and technology) and organized in three timelines (past, present, and future). Then, it develops a tool using future studies and co-design methods and incorporating the investigated workplace development map to trigger clients and users to think and speak about the future workplace. Finally, the tool was prototyped, tested with users, and iterated two times. The test results were positive, proving that incorporating futures studies and co-design is a potent combination that incites future thinking and provokes conversations about the future workspace.

The main contribution of this thesis can be condensed into five principles offering possible new applications of the tool to other domains where triggering people to think and speak about the future is required. The five principles are: Start with a multiperspective trend analysis on the specific topic, organize the information into timelines and dimensions, include random future predictions, enable open conversations in a workshop setting, and keep the outcome strategic and tangible. Moreover, this thesis also explores the potential combination of futures studies and co-design methods, enabling further research opportunities.

This project was done in collaboration with Drees & Sommer, a real estate consulting firm with headquarters in Germany and offices in the Netherlands.

There is a need for environmental sustainability also beyond the atmosphere: Human activities are causing a tragedy of the commons in outer space, and most of the world population does not know anything about it. Outer space has become a non-cooperative game for a few players with infinite resources, in an environment with limited resources. The threat of space debris is real and governments will spend hundreds of millions in the following years trying to solve it, by using the money of unaware taxpayers. This is the legacy for the future generations of space citizens.

With this graduation project I aim at raising awareness about the space debris issue and at enabling people to give a small individual contribution, which can be worth much as a collective action. I designed a cultural metaverse to educate the new generations of space citizens through the use of advanced immersive technologies. People can get access to its services by purchasing a NFT connected to a specific piece of debris in orbit. Once the piece is actually removed the NFT becomes part of the Museum of Space Resilience, a virtual environment paying a tribute to the NFT owner, to the company who made the removal mission possible and to the government that allowed it. The initiative is intended as non for profit, since all the income generated will be spent to fund other removal missions, in a circular business model. A cosmopolitan approach to help humanity make space truly democratic, by turning space situational awareness into a civilian service.

My research is based on the most recent theories about systemic transitions (Geels, 2017) and governance of the commons "beyond markets and states" (Ostrom, 2010). As a designer, I have applied speculative processes and co-generative methods to envision alternative futures for space. In this way, I have demonstrated how the so-called "cryptocommons" can represent a novel strategic use of blockchain technologies to rebalance economies towards higher human values, like culture and sustainability. This result has been possible by developing in six months a wide and diversified network of experts throughout Europe.

The BMW Group is one of the world’s leading premium manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles. However, mobility, together with an increased world population, causes problems like traffic congestions, emissions, and an increased energy and raw material consumption that impacts our climate. This, digital developments like the Internet of Things, and the pressure from emerging car brands like Tesla or new mobility providers, have disrupted the automotive industry. Complexity has therefore increased, creating wicked problems for BMW that has to adapt itself to these dynamic times. It however also creates opportunities opportunities for whole new driving and mobility experiences.
To create these experiences, BMW has to rethink its current ways of working that are still largely engineering and product driven. Instead, a more experience driven mindset could be the answer to increasing customer demands and market pressure. This research therefore focuses on developing a strategy on how industries could adapt to dynamic times by changing a company‘s internal mindset, from a product-oriented focus to a more experience driven one. Starting from the experience, means taking a user-centred approach that focusses on human needs instead of merely product- and feature-evolvement. This would not only benefit the customer, but also the company‘s success by generating competitive advantages, profitability and sustaining long-term customer loyalty.
Following from the research, it was found that UX and CX can be taken to a next level, which not only optimises customer touchpoints around products and services but solves for human needs around a clear purpose. This is called a Business of Experience (BOX) and the newly framed goal is to create a strategy that transforms the BMW Group into a BOX that is fully human- and experience driven. In line with the 4M framework, the need for four strategies was derived, called CO: strategies, to reach this final goal. On the individual level, a strategy is needed that enhances the engagement of every employee, a.k.a. Individual Contributor (IC), which is translated into CO:NTRIBUTION. On the second level, collaboration and knowledge flow between teams and departments must be enhanced, resulting in a strategy involving CO:LLABORATION. Next to this, there is a need for supporting organisational structures, cultures, and leaders, thus CO:ORDINATION. Lastly, stakeholders that form the community around organisations should be involved in the development process to learn about needs and innovations, and a strategy to enhance CO:-CREATION should be implemented.
A roadmap with three horizons and a final vision for the BMW Group was created, that should lead the BMW Group towards becoming a Business of Experience. A good starting point is the creation of a Centre of Excellence (COE). A COE is a centralised and independent, physical and/or virtual facility within an organisation, that leverages the resources that are already there and provides the rest of the organisation with coordination, research, knowledge, support, trainings, and enablers in a specific area. It supports change initiatives, like that of mindset shifts, in corporate environments and constantly explores new tools and practices, which it then transfers across all functions of an organisation.

Nat King Cole once sang “the greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return” in the song “Nature Boy” written in 1947. Four years prior to its release, the psychologist Abraham Maslow published his book “A Theory of Human Motivation” in which the hierarchy of needs is explored (Clark, 2010). Above our physical needs and below the esoteric lies our need for love and belonging- the need to love and be loved in return (Robinson, 2021).

The search and devotion for romance is an agonizingly difficult experience from which a few of us have been spared. Online dating services aim to address the excruciatingly tedious process of finding a mate by offering a space-less platform in which a date can be planned in a matter of minutes (and from the comfort of one’s toilet seat if one wishes). In such services, however, drastic differences in activities between their cisgendered male and female users have been identified. In fact, the female demographic has a relatively high dislike-rate of profiles, often leading to the question: why are women so picky?

Mate selection is a gender-specific decision making process, where males and females showcase different parameters for assessing and selecting a potential partner. Instead of questioning the level of selectivity of female users, this research acted as a probe for exploring the extent to which online dating services address the female mate selection needs online through their digital translations of offline mate assessment factors. With this said, the following research question was formulated: How can needs for an offline interaction be met online to encourage Breeze’s young urban professional female users to like profiles?

A culturally-sensitive approach was used to uncover the archeological state of the female scope and their relationship to this modern mode of love pursuit. Breeze, an online dating app, was used as a case for the investigation as the service similarly faces the aforementioned problem of gender-imbalanced like-rate activity. The goal of the research was therefore to propose a design that would enhance the female online dating experience on Breeze, ultimately increasing their like-rate.

As Breeze offers an online mate assessment experience for an offline interaction, the research revealed that the content of the gap between the current and the desired female online activity consisted of behavioral factors as mate selection needs that were best digested through a visual language. As a result, four concepts for Breeze were created and positioned on a scale of present to future implementation. Each prototype provided behavioral information through different degrees of visual-orientation, exemplified by the proposed visual languages. The concepts are a response to the internal and external research, allowing for Breeze to stay future-proof and congruent with behavioral change in both the online and offline domains. The concepts were assessed and evaluated by the female scope and the Breeze company, leading to suggestions for design iterations and recommendations for future research.

Increasing energy usage and environmental concerns force us to look into green innovation. Organizations need to become more sustainable in every aspect to stay relevant. To minimize a company’s carbon footprint, IT should also be included in the sustainability strategy. Therefore, greening IT is and will continue to be a necessity, not an option (Murugesan, 2008). his project is done in collaboration with the department Technology Strategy & Operating Model (TSOM within Deloitte Consulting. Within the research phase of the project, desk research was conducted which existed of literature review and trend research, which was followed by ten expert interviews. The outcome detected an opportunity for Deloitte TSOM. By using a collaborative design process, a modified framework, implementation strategy, and adaptation AIDA model for employees were developed to incorporate sustainability in their everyday work. Additionally, an implementation roadmap was created using the AIDA model to ensure a straightforward adaption process. The new framework and implementation strategy were validated in multiple validation sessions with employees. New insights resulted in iterations on the AIDA model and a new implementation strategy of the new capabilities. Finally, based on the validation and assessment of the solution, it can be stated that the outcome adds to Deloitte TSOM’s current offerings.

Companies let their employees take short-haul flights for business trips while there are alternative, more sustainable, modes of transport. Understanding the motivation of the company and their employees for flying is essential to create a design solution which could change their behavior. To reach the goal of a maximum global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees by 2050, we have to change our polluting behavior as much as possible. The data reported in this report is drawn from both a literature study and a series of qualitative, semi-structured interviews. The results of the research show that for the company the motivation to go on a business trip is driven by social motivators. The motivation of employees is driven by emotional motivators. Both the company and the employees experience physical motivators when choose to fly (compared to other modes of transport). The design solution is a seminar that helps creating awareness about the impact of short-haul flights in combination with a website, where users are guided in their decision to go on a business trip and in their choice for the best suited (sustainable) mode of transport.

This graduation project focuses on creating a meaningful connection between BMW and Indian consumers. The goal is to increase 

understanding of the Indian market, as a means to strengthen BMW´s market 

presence in India as well as emerge as the most preferred luxury car brand. 

An extensive research has been conducted, including a field trip to India, to get an understanding of what ´makes Indians tick´. The insights generated by this study can help BMW substantially in catering in a more efficient and Indian market if desired by the brand.

 

As India has currently the second largest population in the world, with 1.41 billion people (India Population (2022) - Worldometer, n.d.), and a proportionately growing economy, many leading global players, such as BMW, are competing for prominence in the Indian automotive market (Chhibber & Gupta, 2021). 

This explains the tremendous acceleration of the luxury automobile market in India, which finds itself racing to keep pace and cope with the increasing demand for premium models. The Indian luxury car market was valued at more than USD 1 billion in 2020, and it is expected to reach a value of USD 1.54 billion by 2027 (India Luxury Car Market Size, Share, Report (2022 - 27), n.d.). Thus, although Indian may not be one of BMW´s high-volume single markets today, the potential for growth is high.

 

To flourish in a culture-sensitive country such as India, luxury companies must tread carefully and understand the Indian consumer, their values and needs. With the aim to fulfil this purpose and portray how this consumer understanding may translate into design, this graduation project seeks to find answer(s) for the following research question:

 

How to create a meaningful connection 

between BMW and Indian consumers in terms of values and what kind of experience fuels that value?

 

Inter IKEA Systems B.V. (also known as Core Business Franchise or CBF) is the franchisor and the owner of the IKEA Concept. By means of this franchising system, IKEA’s vision of creating a better everyday life for the many people is upheld through the collaboration, feedback, sharing and joint development between the franchisor (CBF) and the IKEA franchisees. IKEA Culture & Learning is responsible for strengthening the IKEA culture and empowering IKEA co-workers through their own abilities. However, the current tools provided to enhance co-workers’ competences, gather their feedback and discover potential business improvements lack in cohesion, ease of use, relevance and active dialogue. Therefore, this project focused on designing new concepts for bi-directional information sharing between the franchisor and customer-facing IKEA co-workers. The final concept ensures the development of IKEA co-workers by presenting IKEA Concept Knowledge, Learning Solutions and IKEA Product Information given by CBF and Range & Supply. I started the project with a literature review about the modern-day Employee Experience and based on three literature studies I established the theoretical parameters of my thesis’ design context to create a theoretical framework. The literature framework consisted of the following research findings that acted as the guiding principles for the design process: Daniel Pink’s Intrinsic Drivers of Motivation: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose (Pink, 2009); Joseph Pine’s Drivers of Experience Value: Time well spent & Time well invested (Pine, 2020); Bi-directional Information Sharing via a Digital Infrastructure (Koenders et al., 2018). In parallel to the literature review, I conducted interviews with CBF employees and IKEA Delft co-workers. This was to contextualize the theoretical findings with real-life, IKEA stories and experiences from both stakeholders. From these interviews came the following core insights: 1. CBF wants to be more accommodating and foreseeing in terms of IKEA co-worker learning needs and overall learning experience 2. CBF wants to create more points of involvement and interaction with IKEA co-workers to get their feedback on the IKEA Learning Offer 3. CBF wants to add more tangibility and guidance to the IKEA Learning Experience. 1. Co-workers want a relevant and personalized IKEA Learning Experience 2. Co-workers want to be more involved in CBF projects and be kept up to date on the status of their feedback 3. Co-workers’ autonomy in their learning experience is strong and that should not change. These insights guide the implementation of the concept idea because they’re based on more detailed and subjective findings and therefore, they contribute to a more specific level of what the concept should achieve as opposed to the literary findings. Additionally, L&D managers from external companies were also interviewed and to bring more meaning to the findings of my research and design context. These findings are presented as ‘advice’ within this assignment because even though the findings were valuable, they represent a different company or industry than IKEA. Therefore, these findings were more suggestive than imperative to include. With these findings, I went through an iterative process to define the design statement of this assignment. First, I created user stories, which I then clustered into design opportunities, and conducted collaborative brainstorming sessions with IKEA people to gather content for my individual ideation cycle. It then became clear that the design process was sprawling and didn’t have a clear design goal. So, based on an initial design statement, I created three concept idea directions that each had a digital infrastructure as a facilitator of their goals. These directions proved to show a disconnect with the initial design statement as they contained design decisions about the manifestation of the concept idea that weren’t reflected in the initial design statement. So, by conducting user feedback sessions with IKEA Delft co-workers, I gathered their feedback on the relation of the design qualities in the initial design statement to the concept idea directions and finalized the design statement to eliminate the disconnect that had established itself during the design process. The final design statement is: The concept should enable Inter IKEA Systems B.V. to facilitate promptive learning of the IKEA Concept so that customer-facing co-workers feel autonomous, purposeful, and heard. This should be achieved through customizable layers, visualization of co-worker growth and omni-channel feedback. From these user feedback sessions, I gathered feedback on the three concept idea directions and evaluated them based on their fulfillment of the overall goal of facilitating promptive learning of the IKEA Concept, as well as the goals to make co-workers feel autonomous through customizable layers, feel purposeful through visualization of co-worker growth, and feel heard through omni-channel feedback tools. The same was done for an iterated version of the concept idea direction based on the feedback gathered during the user sessions. This potential fulfillment of the design statement was the deciding factor for the final chosen concept idea direction which was a combination of Direction 1 and Direction 3, and ultimately led to my final concept idea, Ändamål. For IKEA co-workers, Ändamål is a social performance support platform that presents a personalized experience of the IKEA Learning Offer with relevant learning content and personal development tools. By providing a digital space for IKEA co-workers to come together, share their experiences and feedback with all IKEA people, Ändamål gives IKEA co-workers the drive to continue their purposeful learning journey and improve the IKEA Concept. The platform is introduced at the beginning of someone’s IKEA career during their onboarding process. It has been designed with customer-facing co-workers in mind but can be used for IKEA co-workers from all departments since they all have their own experiential expertise. The platform is then used throughout the co-worker’s entire time at IKEA as it helps them to document their professional growth. Ändamål centers its features around the co-worker’s needs of autonomy, mastery and purpose. Co-workers are encouraged to choose their own development path at IKEA (autonomy) and by offering learning content that specifically aligns with their (team’s) goals, Ändamål makes every IKEA learning moment time well spent. The additional personal development tools that enable co-workers to document their learning goals and visualize their growth, prompt their need for intellectual challenge (mastery), thus creating time well invested. To create the feeling of purpose and togetherness, Ändamål’s digital communities connect IKEA co-workers to colleagues with shared interests, goals, or experiences, but also facilitates active omni-channel feedback loops between CBF and co-workers. Ändamål essentially removes the disconnect in communication and collaboration between CBF and IKEA co-workers in a way that puts the co-workers’ needs first and makes both stakeholders equal partners in their relationship.

Our world is changing rapidly in various ways, forcing organizations to engage in continuous change to stay relevant. Therefore, it has become an essential capability of organizations to engage in and attempt to manage change to remain successful and sustain their existence (Stouten, Rousseau & de Cremer, 2018; Coughlan, Suri & Canales, 2007). Due to the increasingly fast-changing market demands, organizations recognize the need for a more outside-in approach in order to increase their resilience. This is why the customer-centric approach gained popularity (Ambaram, 2013). In order to become customer-centric, organizations need to enhance their customers’ experiences. As service design offers the means to improve customer experience, service design has become a capability that many organizations attempt to acquire (Ostrom et al., 2015).Initial assignmentA few years ago, Koos developed their service design maturity model: a model that describes different growth phases an organization can go through while trying to embed service design within their organizations, and the elements that affect this process. In order to realize the ambition of becoming a more strategic partner that guides organizations through customer-centric transformations, Koos feels having a solid maturity model could serve as a backbone. The expectation was that the model could both serve in order to predict in what way an organization should change, but also to “sell“ the transformation proposition. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis assignment was to validate and improve Koos’ maturity model, and identify how the model could be servitized by Koos. Reframed assignmentHowever, initial exploration through interviews with experts and Koos’ designers, combined with findings from literature, pointed out that the key stakeholders may have made the assumption that a maturity scan is what they need in order to concretize their transformation offer. However, Koos’ service designers and interviewed experts pointed out a more fundamental problem: the feeling that Koos might be missing skills that are essential in order to be able to help organizations transform. On top of that, literature research made clear that creating maturity models that accurately indicate how an organization might need to transform, or indicating how “mature“ an organization is, is impossible since every organization is different and requires a unique approach. Therefore, the new problem statement, formulated as a question, became:What does Koos need to do differently in order to enable organizations to become more customer-centric through service design, in order to form a more strategic, long-term collaboration with clients?Opportunity gapto focus more on exploring the organizational context elements to understand clients’ as-is situation, instead of trying to assess the context elements to indicate a maturity level. In that way, they can secure better implementation and thus enable clients to become slightly more customer-centric project by project. This will help Koos to concretize their transformation proposition in three ways:First, exploring the as-is state of the organizational context will enable Koos to improve chances of implementation, and thus make a more transformative impact. Secondly, having the as-is state made explicit will also enable Koos to express the transformative impact of service design to clients after a project has been implemented. Thirdly, more experience with implementation and organizational change on project scale will give Koos the expertise, the organizational sensitivity and credibility needed to serve as transformation consultants in the future.Organizational context framework and MiroBased on findings from 4 case studies compared with findings from literature and a co-reflection session with 24 of Koos’ employees, it was decided to design a framework that would explain which organizational context elements service designers should take into account in order to secure better implementation, and when and how they should embed exploration of these context elements into their double diamond design approach. This resulted in the Organizational Context Framework as shown in figure 1. The framework shows how designers should adress implementation from day one, by performing 3 different actions regarding the organizational context: exploring, aligning and anchoring. In order to enact the framework, the Organizational Context Reflection Miro has been designer. This Miroboard serves as a living document, in which the design team goes through a weekly reflection of all three organizational context actions. In that way, continuous alignment between the organizational context and the project approach is being stimulated, so that the project outcomes and required changes can be anchored and implemented within the organization succesfully. Change process KoosThe most important outcome of this project is not the organizational context framework or the reflection Miro, but rather the fact that this project set a change process in motion at Koos internally. Through the findings of this project, it has become apparent that Koos’ service designers need to extern their skill set and start approaching their projects in a more impact-minded, flexible manner. The framework and the Miroboard serve as artefacts that stimulate this change, but pointing out the blindspot Koos had, and starting the change process required to solve it is bigger and more important, and should make lasting impact long after this project ended.