Delft Design Approach: Product Design Fundamentals

Annemiek van Boeijen serves as Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at TU Delft's Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, where she specializes in culture-sensitive design approaches and methods. After graduating in 1990 with a focus on carbon fiber racing wheelchair design, she spent a decade working on international development projects in social design, eco-design, and sustainability before joining academia in 2000. Her research focuses on understanding the role of culture in design processes, leading to her 2015 PhD thesis "Crossing Cultural Chasms - towards a culture-conscious approach to design." As initiator and co-editor of the widely-recognized Delft Design Guide (translated into Chinese and Japanese) and author of "Culture Sensitive Design - A guide to culture in practice," she has significantly influenced design education and practice. Her current work includes developing tools like Cultura to support culture-sensitive design approaches, running the double-blended course Culture Sensitive Design Thinking, and participating in the DoCS4Design project for PhD education across six design schools. Her contributions to open education, including the development of professional education courses and the Delft Design Guide, earned her the 2023 Open Education Ambassador Award, while her international influence extends through lectures and workshops worldwide.

Jaap Daalhuizen currently serves as Associate Professor at TU Delft's Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering and Director of the Bachelor Program in Industrial Design Engineering, returning to Delft after several years at the Technical University of Denmark. After completing his MSc in Industrial and Product Design and PhD in Design Methodology from TU Delft in 2014, he has established himself as a leading figure in design methodology research and education. His work spans design methodology, innovation processes, and design cognition, with particular focus on how methods function as mental tools for designers. As co-editor of the influential Delft Design Guide, which has been translated into Chinese and Japanese, he has significantly shaped design education worldwide. His educational innovation was recognized with the 2022 DTU Teaching and Learning Prize for his groundbreaking approach to teaching innovation in engineering. His research examines the role of design methods in education and practice, behavioral design, and the development of designer-centered methodologies. Through his roles in academia and collaboration with industry, he continues to advance understanding of design-driven innovation while developing new approaches to design education and methodology.