I think that design can bring meaning to innovations, create stories, new ideas, spark inspiration and, it should make the world a little bit better. 

I believe in the power of ‘making’, and creativity. As a designer, I can bring a unique view to many fields that tend to be stuck in their ways. Through making and doing, I can bring fast results and proof of out-of-the-box ideas.

I think the field of shape change is valuable because it brings an incredibly wide range of enriching tools; Tools for aesthetic interaction, dynamically assistive devices, and functional solutions.

• Functional: think of origami for the NASA solar panel, which had to be small when lounged into space and expand widely when in space.

• Assistive: Soft robotics for prosthetics and the ability to handle fragile objects.

• Rich interaction: expressive devices using the language of multiple senses. Being able to evoke explorative behaviours, subtle interactions and novel experiences.

I am inspired by people like Neri Oxman, Hiroshi Ishii and Lining Yao. These are people working in the science/engineering field but have made their work design-focused. With that, they have created a bridge between designers and engineers, working together to make science more socially relevant and open-minded and design more intelligent and rich. Neri Oxman and Lining Yao also consider designing for more-than-human’s, creating shape-change with nature for nature, using multiple disciplines like designers, artists, engineers and scientists in their team.

Designers have the skills and opportunity to bring together a wide field of knowledge and expertise. Multidisciplinarity is vital for a good design but also for pushing knowledge further and getting it to where this knowledge is needed.

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To me, one of the most valuable things I can do as a designer is help explore new ways to improve the way we design our world and make cohering theories more concrete with design, using; samples, prototypes, tests and visualizations. Another thing that I can do is find innovations that have the potential to do good, develop them further and push them to the places that can make use of them. It is important to note that innovation should not just be pushed because we can. We need to consider its ethics, if there is an actual need for it, or if we can use it purely for inspiration. Innovation also does not need to be high-tech; it can be simple, natural and/or low-tech.