Just a bit about me.
IDENTITY 👨🏻💻
My name is Joris Lodewijks and with a focus on user-centred design, I design products by analysing gathered data from the user's environment and digital ecosystem. I create high-fidelity software and hardware prototypes to validate my designs in lab and field test settings to be able to test intended use but also give space for emergent functionality to surface. I embrace this emergent functionality and provide space for it to live inside my designs.
My expertise lies in creating powerful virtual prototypes fast, especially when it comes to creating connected systems. With a focus on the Internet of Things and connected systems designs, I create online tools and powerful hardware devices to create a data-rich environment to validate my designs, which can be integrated without too much hassle in an already existing environment and even learn from it.
I see myself as a designer who is not afraid to dive into the deep and learn a new skill. I am able to work in close relations with an engineering team without falling behind in knowledge. When it comes to creating prototypes, I will use tools to my advantage to quickly create high-quality products. While my expertise lies in creating digital solutions, I see myself as a jack-of-all-trades who can understand and provide in a lot of different areas of expertise and is not afraid to spend time to come up to speed in less-explored topics. I thrive when working as a supporter and can build on the work of others quickly. I love having a balance between exploration and exploitation, where I can create something new and focus on the details at the same time.
Years of Tech Focus
Years experience
Dedicated to Learning
VISION 🔭
Design for Support
For me, design is a tool to be able to find solutions to users' difficulties and challenges within a home and work environment. I aim to make our daily lives a smoother experience by linking our day-to-day life with state-of-the-art technologies that can assist us with everyday tasks. I want to provide products for users that aim at reducing the everyday stress of life and do not add to an already growing pile of 'tech' or 'bloatware' in the home, like is happening now with voice assistants or remotes. New technology products need to be aware of the ecosystem they live in and be able to transform themselves to adapt to the needs of their user and work together with other devices with which they share the digital ecosystem. Why create new interactions if we can attach actions to already existing interactions?
Data & Connections
There is so much information available in the world, but society is now just diving into how to make value using this information in an aggregated form. With artificial intelligence, like ChatGPT, now more intelligent than ever, society has gotten a taste of the power of insights gained from mass information. As a designer, I want to make use of the sheer amount of information available and what we can gather from user environments to create optimal value.
Data and information are better perceived when felt or heard as part of a rich interaction scheme rather than being read from a chart. A great example is haptic interfaces which are led by a digital-context initiative. By bringing data and information into the physical world and the everyday life of the user, I want my designs to provide for a living-data environment, where data and information are not held private but live in full transparency, and only work towards creating value for the user without too complex or unnecessary features. In this space, I think it's important to stray away from notifications, dings, pings and similar attention-seeking methods, but lay a bigger focus on multi-modal interaction schemes which feel intuitive and seek emotional attachment instead of taking concentration away.
Emergent Tech for Adaptive Design
Due to the complex and ever-changing world around us, I find it important to design for the future. Designs that will be able to adapt themselves based on how they are being used. By learning from the past and integrating current trends, designs will be better prepared for the future, where smart products feel like an extension of human life and not as a mediator. Experimenting with the latest technologies and using them to create novel concepts will act as a springboard towards radical innovation and out-of-the-box designs which can have true value.
Designer First
I am a designer first. I am able to create high-fidelity prototypes fast and validate my designs in a lab and field test setting.
Developer Second
I am a developer second. I am able to create high-quality code and have a strong understanding of the underlying technologies. With high-fidelity prototypes, I am able to test my design concepts with high value results.
Skills
Experience
TBD @Netlight
Q1 2024 - Present | Technology ConsultantFor after my master's degree, I've been hired at Netlight as a technology consultant. I will start here in March 2024. Netlight provides genuine consulting services for leaders in the digital industry...
For after my master's degree, I've been hired at Netlight as a technology consultant. I will start here in March 2024. Netlight provides genuine consulting services for leaders in the digital industry. The combination of competence, creativity and business sense is what makes Netlight stand out as a service provider, and are also the characteristics of each individual Netlighter.
Photon LED Mapper @Hypar Collective
Q2 2023 - Present | Lead Software EngineerFounded in 2019, Hypar Collective is a non-profit that focuses on creating and exhibition interactive light art installations internationally. Hypar is a collective of 11 designers and engineers that ...
Founded in 2019, Hypar Collective is a non-profit that focuses on creating and exhibition interactive light art installations internationally. Hypar is a collective of 11 designers and engineers that has evolved from a student team at the TU/e to an independent organization. They aim to create and display 3 to 4 installations per year.
The team consists of 11 people and is very multi-disciplinary. To continue innovation and support more complex and more modular installations, Hypar Collective decided to create a new software suite for creating light art installations and accompanying shows that uses a grouping and templating system to make user experience more streamlined.
Here, Joris took the lead of a small multi-disciplinary team focusing on creating this software. Joris was responsible for the global and technical design of the product. The front-end application was implemented using TypeScript, Electron and React. As a result of Joris’ sprint management, an MVP could quickly be realized while maintaining a maintainable and well-structured product.
HyparDrive Pixel Mapper @Hypar Collective
Q4 2019 - Q2 2023 | Lead Software EngineerFounded in 2019, Hypar Collective is a non-profit that focuses on creating and exhibition interactive light art installations internationally. Hypar is a collective of 11 designers and engineers that ...
Founded in 2019, Hypar Collective is a non-profit that focuses on creating and exhibition interactive light art installations internationally. Hypar is a collective of 11 designers and engineers that has evolved from a student team at the TU/e to an independent organization. They aim to create and display 3 to 4 installations per year.
After the GLOW Eindhoven 2019 event, Hypar Collective sought a way to easily create and run light art shows for their Hypar installation. As Hypar Collective was testing new interaction methods on their installations, their focus lied on modularity in interaction and logic. To prevent custom solutions for every installation, Hypar Collective wanted to create a software suite, which was able to digitally create installations using their cube light fixtures and be able to act as a pixel mapper for them.
Joris was tasked to create a standalone software suite based on an earlier proof-of-feasibility prototype he had built in Unity. Joris took the lead of a small team to design and implement a solution that could grow together with the business model Hypar Collective had set for itself. The solution consisted of an art installation, pixel-mapper dashboard, and show-runner front-end and was built with Electron.js and React.js. The more performant back-end pixel-mapper service built with .NET. Joris’ actions resulted in a product that could be built upon in the time Hypar Collective was still seeking its goals.
byFlow Studio @byFlow
Q3 2020 - Q3 2023 | Software EngineerbyFlow is a start-up based on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven focusing on innovations in the food printing industry. Their current focus lies in building a fast and reliable chocolate printer capabl...
byFlow is a start-up based on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven focusing on innovations in the food printing industry. Their current focus lies in building a fast and reliable chocolate printer capable of creating high quality prints without the user needing the technical know-how of 3D printing or the tempering of chocolate. The team was split up into mechanical engineering, embedded development, and software development, each focusing on their own self-directed projects. As the management style was very ‘hands-off’, each team was responsible for its own project management, which Joris took responsibility for.
byFlow saw that their clients were chefs and pâtissiers who weren’t proficient with 3D modelling software and sought to develop a web application that guides them through the process of creating a 3D model optimized for chocolate printing.
Within the software development team, Joris was part of a smaller two-person team focusing on creating accompanying software products for the printer. Joris worked as a full-stack developer on a web application to allow chefs and pâtissiers to easily create 3D models by uploading images or text. The web app was created with the Django framework, JavaScript, and Python. Due to Joris’ work, the team was able to work independently from the rest of the start-up while maintaining similar pacing and the agile working structure to continuously integrate new features.
DAS.IO @Bureau Moeilijke Dingen
Q3 2019 - Q1 2020 | Full-Stack EngineerBureau Moeilijke Dingen (Bureau Difficult Things, BMD) is an Eindhoven based start-up that focuses on solving societal and technological problems of any nature. BMD tackles project of any scope includ...
Bureau Moeilijke Dingen (Bureau Difficult Things, BMD) is an Eindhoven based start-up that focuses on solving societal and technological problems of any nature. BMD tackles project of any scope including both software and hardware development, user journey design and business model consultancy.
Joris worked at BMD focusing on designing and developing a modular interface tool for tangible interaction tables for an undisclosed existing system. The system projects data of IoT devices and their connections based on objects placed on a physical table. While details of the project can’t be shared here, I’m always willing to elaborate more on the project in person.
Joris was responsible for his own project management, design methodologies, and development. The projection system was created using Unity and C#/.NET and used MQTT as the message service in the IoT environment. The embedded solution was based on the STM microcontroller and was implemented using C++. The development of the PCB was done in Eagle.
Hypar Light Pavilion @Team IGNITE
Q4 2018 - Q4 2019 | Lead Software EngineerTeam IGNITE, the predecessor of Hypar Collective, was a student team consisting of 30 people focusing on the creation and exposition of interactive light art installations. Similar to the current goal...
Team IGNITE, the predecessor of Hypar Collective, was a student team consisting of 30 people focusing on the creation and exposition of interactive light art installations. Similar to the current goal of Hypar Collective, Team IGNITE focused on design and developing modular light art installations.
For the Eindhoven GLOW event of 2019, the team focused on creating “Hypar”. A large light pavilion consisting of 160 aluminium cubes with integrated LED strips. Previously, smaller installations were run using regular 2D pixel-mappers, however this wasn’t possible with their new installation.
Joris joined the team as he saw a solution and was responsible for the design and development of a 3D pixel mapper prototype specifically for this large interactive light installation. Here, Joris worked with Unity and C#/.NET to create an MVP. As a result, the team was able to control larger light installations than initially planned and could increase the scope of their ambitions. The core concepts of this prototype were later used to create a more general version of the software.
RoboWars 2018 & 2019 @RoboWars Committee TU/e
Q4 2018 - Q3 2019 | Stakeholder Management & Event PromotionThe Eindhoven University of Technology, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc and MSc progr...
The Eindhoven University of Technology, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc and MSc programs and around 1350 students were enrolled in its PhD and PDEng programs.
The Robowars committee was responsible for the planning and execution of a robowars style event for all students in Eindhoven where students got resources, training and help creating their own fighter robots.
Joris was part of a small team of five people and was responsible for external communications with stakeholders, gathering sponsors and the managing of locations. In another edition, he was also part of a small team of six people and was individually responsible for the creation and management of promotional material that included posters, flyers, a website, and social media accounts. The website was created using HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Bootstrap.
Education
Master - Industrial Design
2022-2024 | Eindhoven, University of Technology (TU/e)Worked on a master's project on reinforcement learning, developing a reinforcement learning strategy for interior design support using feng shui principles.
Bachelor - Industrial Design
2017-2022 | Eindhoven, University of Technology (TU/e)Relevant courses included Designing Interactive Systems, Designing User Research, and Designing User Experiences. Finished final bachelor's project on designing a visual programming tool for smart home solutions.