PDP – Junjie Li

Internship Philips Research/OPENLIGHT

17/02/2011 – 01/08/2011

Philips Tutor: Bram Knaapen

Department coach: Harm Van Essen

Identity

Past

In the beginning of the study the projects were based on a trial and error principal to explore the

competencies and their relation to the process. Over the time and especially during my individual

projects I started to analyze my work and design process more critical to optimize my outcome

and be able to take competencies into relation.

Since I’m a abroad student, I’ve formed my crucial attitude which helps me to oversee what

needs to be done in a project, what has not been done enough, and if I am not experienced

enough in a certain field I can talk to experts.

A Belbin teamwork test would indicate that I am a Shaper and an Implementer. I took high

expectation on team performances, most of the time I initiate the projects and ideas, I tend to be

serious when it comes to decision making. I'm not somebody who comes out inspirations from

nowhere, I like to work out a plan and stick to it. That makes me a critical and thoughtful driver in

the team roles.

During my second year of Industrial Design, I tend to realize what I want to achieve and what my

strength are. My interest of designing product has narrowed down to user studies and interaction

design. How user interact with the product and design new user experience become appealing to

me and I want to get it further. In my B22 individual project, my design shows my strength and

interest on virtual communication and interaction design.

Present

Having an intern at OPENLIGHT and Philips Research enables me to work close to the virtual

experience group in Philips and perform in-depth user-focused design process. The task of finding

latent needs from extreme situations will certainly give me opportunities to develop competency

3 and 4 which fits my goals of development for the internship. To become an expert in Interaction

Design I need to improve my skills in communication and user research. I’ll acquire some

knowledge of psychology and Ergonomics to be able to better identity needs and understand

users. In addition, I’ll continue develop my visual skills, such as sketching, programming, rending

to better design prototypes, interfaces and user experience. Some general goals I set for my

development during this internship are listed below.

Improve competency 4 social-culture awareness by integrating in the project. Work in a

muti-disciplinary team and get deep contact with potential users. Get empathy on users and

walk in their shoes.

Practice user-focused design process to integrate users from beginning to the end.

PDP – Junjie Li

Implement different methods to observe and analyze user needs. Transfer these needs into

design and provide new experience.

Improve graphical skills by sketching, or attending workshops such like Photoshop, Illustrator,

etc. Finish at least 50 graphical works during minor. Talk with experts about the

improvement.

Make good evaluation of strength and weakness, make plans for future career (preparation

for master course), and set goals for final bachelor design.

Future

To design pleasure user experience is one of my goals as a designer. Therefore, I will probably

perform a user-centered design process for my final bachelor project. Users will be involved to

the process from the beginning to the end. Playful Interaction and Experience & Emotions will

probably be my first choice of themes. At the end of bachelor I want to see myself start growing

as an interaction designer. That means, able to use appropriate technique to inspire ideas,

knowing different sensors/actuators well and able to apply them into design, able to build up

intelligent control for prototype, experienced with users, able to use a suitable way to get access

to users and analyze the result.

Learning approach

For me it is important to strive towards an excellent performance. I want to get the best out of m

y internship which means that I also will work at home on subjects and take them to work to get

feedback. I am a hardworking student with open personality so that I just will ask the people

around to give me critical feedback in order to achieve a next level of professionalism I can apply

immediately within my final bachelor, I want to stand out by excellence which means that I define

a very high goal I want to reach.

This goal I cut into little parts, which I can reach in one step. I am in the opinion that it works very

well because I have a lot of little stops where I can look backwards and reflect on the process. Th

ese little stops are no smart goals. I don't like to divide my approach into smart goals. I set these

stops flexible and I want to keep it flexible and adjustable. Flexibility doesn't mean that I change

my global goal, only the way I approach it.