Sofie Dieltjens
After five years studying Product Design & Development at Artesis Hogeschool in Antwerp, followed by a Masters in Business Communications at Ehsal Management School in Brussels, Sofie was looking for a job combining the two. “Most companies I applied to made a clear distinction between Product Design and Business Communication. I do not. So, I continued searching for a createve job in a challenging environment where I could bring both aspects together.” Which is how she joined Namahn.
What type of product design did you practice during your studies?
A memorable example was my Masters thesis on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. NFC is commonly used for conferences, electronic wallets and travel systems, like Mobib in Brussels or the Oyster card in London. I explored the possibilities of bringing NFC into education to support learning by doing. I designed a new learning environment for primary school kids, enabling them to independently explore in an interactive environment where objects tell stories. This offers an opportunity to individualise the learning process and adapt it to individual strengths and weaknesses. At Artesis, we did our own version of Dragons Den and the jury told me to go ahead and market my product. But, education is not the most innovative sector! However, I do believe NFC would bring benefits to education, and not only for kids: it could apply to other professional environments, for example, learning safety procedures in industrial plants.
Why business communications?
I’m not only interested in developing a product, but also the story around it. It is important to tell the right story to capture people’s attention. I had direct experience of this at university as part of a team at student fairs. People still don’t really understand what Product Development is and it’s a challenge to explain in a few sentences. Each time we told the story to future students, we refined and improved it. I enjoy playing with language.
How did you discover Namahn?
Namahn advertised on the Artesis website for a six-month project designing a workshop for Flanders InShape. This project is the follow-up to a roadmap designed by Namahn on making Human-Centred Design (HCD) cost effective and accessible to SMEs. I applied and got the post. Flanders InShape stimulates SMEs to think innovatively about product development and new business models. The aim of the workshop is to bring the design world closer to the real world, literally: it is conducted in a real store with real consumers. During two days, participants design a user-friendly product from scratch, collecting consumer input and insights along the way, rather like the field research Namahn has been conducting for many years.
Was this your first experience designing a workshop?
I’ve had plenty experience in the youth movement, specifically working at regional level to help new leaders. I really enjoy finding techniques to convey things in a fun and educational manner. In the youth movement, this can be about how to put together a good Sunday afternoon for kids, what you have you think about and how you should behave. But the same principles apply to HCD: involving people and improving the product in question based on their feedback. I’m looking forward to exploring this further in the domain of Service Design at Namahn.
Do you have any passions outside work?
Since I stopped being a student, I feel greater need to “create” in my spare time. This can be sewing, knitting, building furniture or restoring old furniture. I enjoy giving new life to old objects. And I really like to travel. It is easy to leave Belgium on impulse by car or train and explore new cities.
