T&R

B&E

U&S

C&A

MD
&C

Math, data & computing

"Design is about dealing with complex and often, in an academic sense, messy realities. To get a grip on such complexity, designers analyze, structure, simulate, and validate solutions using data analysis and models. They have a well-established base in mathematics, data analytics and logic, and identify and communicate important aspects of their design using data representations and models. They can achieve observations across individuals, time or space and can identify emerging patterns (in large data sets) using statistical methods. They implement data structures and algorithms into designed products and services using data processing and computing."

- TU/e, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, n.d.

My development

Throughout my bachelor's degree, I have made significant progress in the domain of data and computing, which were, unlike mathematics, not extensively covered in high school. Courses like Physics and Calculus helped me refresh my memory on high school topics and develop a deeper understanding of them. My goal was to effectively communicate and collaborate with engineers by grasping the basic principles of these subjects. Getting familiar with programming languages such as Processing, Arduino, and Python not only enhanced my ability to communicate with engineers but also enhanced my skills in collecting, analysing and communicating data to ensure that design decisions are grounded through insights collected through user empathising and involvement.

Through courses like Creative Programming and Creative Electronics, I gained proficiency in using programming language, forming the foundation for setting up user studies that involved quantitative data, enhanced by the course Making Sense of Sensors. This knowledge complemented my understanding of methods for generating knowledge and findings (e.g., cleaning data sets, performing tests) and making communicative representations of numeric data, addressed in the course Data Analytics. However, in design processes, qualitative data, rather than quantitative data, often plays a vital role in informing design decisions. Therefore, it has been of great value to be faced with ways of collecting and processing this type of data in the course User Centered Design, introducing techniques like affinity diagrams. Despite feeling confident in my acquired competencies, I am eager to explore further how technology can be utilized to explore and analyse quantitative data.