Nice to meet you! My name is Bas Lenssen and I am a recently graduated master student. I have completed a bachelor in industrial design and a master in strategic product design.

Innovation, design, marketing, branding, and new product development are the cornerstones of my education, and have been the main areas in which I have been conducting projects and assignments for the past 5 years.

By having obtained my bachelor industrial I understand the basics of product design for consumers. This includes mastering of the design process within a team orientation. Furthermore I have acquired a number of skills which are desirable in product development, such as a visual language, creativity tools, and consumer research tools which provide consumer insights on a basic level. After finishing this bachelor, the observation that in many companies design is taking a more prominent role, led me to choose the master strategic product design as a follow up for my bachelor education.

Design is a term which is used very broadly. I do not consider design as a term to merely imply the aesthetic application. Within modern companies design is applied to multiple facets of a product; the experience, the brand, and the translations of the brand into the physical attributes of the product. Design is occupying a more prominent role in innovation strategies, marketing development programs etc. Design is making a move from the creative profession into the realm of integrated (strategic) business processes. That means that design is becoming smart.. and that it is not just about making something aesthetically pleasing...

Once recognized this I think it is interesting to see that some companies appear to be very successful with harnessing this power of design, while others fail entirely. Curiosity has driven me to learn more about this strategic application of design and more specifically addressing the question: how can companies make the utmost use of design?

 

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