About me (PI&V)

Koos Houben

Industrial Design student at TU/e

Hi, my name is Koos Houben, I am a 19 years old, second year student at Industrial Design at TU/e. I am a highly motivated and team-oriented designer with a passion for creating happy experiences. Within team environments, I balance open-mindedness with critical thinking and motivate the team to bring out the best. I am an active learner and active person, in my free time, I practice various sports and make electronic music. As an active learner, I embrace hands-on learning and spontaneous creativity, believing that every challenge is an opportunity for growth. My energy comes from inspiring those around me, fostering a positive atmosphere, and ensuring that projects not only succeed but also bring joy to others. 

Professional identity

Many things in this world inspire me, from nature to my fellow students, to different types of art and old stuff, to that song from an artist I do not know. Making others happy is what makes me happy and gives me energy and motivation. I am also inspired by hard working people, and I believe that hard work will always pay off and lead to good results. The good results and looking back on the hard work that has gone in motivates me to work even harder.

The thing that inspires me the most and what extremely fascinates me are music and festival experiences, the music, the atmosphere, the people, they will make you happy and provide unforgettable experiences. Diversity at festivals is huge and everyone can be and behave how they want, not having to think about the stress provided in their work or school life. Festivals and events are also locations were people are more likely to make new connections.

 

I consider myself an adventurous person as I like to get out of my comfort zone. Being open minded to new challenges and making new connections. Trying out diverse ways of thinking to produce original ideas.

I struggle with communicating my ideas to words. I can be a bit chaotic sometimes which makes me want to say- or do multiple things simultaneously. This might also be due to my lacking English vocabulary.

I am an active learner, doing or making something is the best way for me to learn things, so doing and trying spontaneous things will always make me gain knowledge or insights in some way. I also try to look at things from an optimistic perspective. Every time you fall you stand up and learned something. While unconsciously making something the most creative solutions can occur.

Teamwork

I am a team player who can listen very well to other people’s ideas and perspectives; with this I am very balanced between being open-minded and critical. I can be very openminded when working in a group, but sometimes I can be very critical. I prioritize firstly listening to the perspectives and thoughts of my teammates, their experiences can inspire me and ignite a spark of creativity, but I can also think realistically and give constructive
feedback when needed.

As I do not consider myself a natural leader, when I get assigned to be the leader in a group project, I am not afraid to take on this role as I am sufficient in taking initiative and dividing tasks between my team members. When I organize things, I always make sure that everything is done correctly to a certain extent. I also prefer to take minutes in a project as this makes me more aware of everything that is going on or must be done. Other roles in a team project could be assigned to me as well because I am flexible. I also motivate my team to fanatically take part in the project by bringing vibes and positivity. Having a good atmosphere in a team is key for a good team performance.

Vision

My vision centers around designing experiences that bring people together, foster connections, and create lasting memories. Whether through experiential design, social design, or event organization, I aim to craft spaces and moments that allow people to escape, engage, and interact in meaningful ways. Public events, in particular, are powerful platforms for inclusivity and shared experiences, and I want to contribute to their impact. At the same time, I believe that experience-driven design should be responsible and sustainable, using innovative approaches to minimize environmental impact while maximizing social value.

Goals

First, I want to develop knowledge in sound design, stage or event design. Festivals provide unforgettable experiences, and I want to contribute to these amazing experiences for other people. And the market for stage design is big, with festivals popping up in all places and corners of the Netherlands. I want to find an internship with an event organizing or stage designing company within the Netherlands for the third year of my bachelor (B3.1). To get to this internship I need to first create a convincing portfolio and complete CBL project 3. 

Furthermore I am looking to develop this goal within the study as well. Firstly, by joining the organization team of Conduct, a small event organized by ID students, which will give me some insights in the organization and design of an event. Secondly, within the Artifice squad I am going to develop skills which will help me develop AI systems that could help in collaboration with humans for designing stages or festival experiences, as AI is hard to ignore nowadays. This will also contribute to my development in the “Technology and Realization” expertise area. 

Moreover, I would like to get better in communicating my ideas with words, I tend to struggle with getting my thoughts to words, translating and this in combination with nerves will leave me stressed. It is not only the presenting nerves that make me unable to communicate my ideas, it is my English vocabulary that lacks. Preparation is key for giving a good presentation and calming my nerves, but most of the time, the last-minute- 4 deadlines leave less time for a good pitch preparation. Thus, I want to improve my vocabulary by reading English books, and I will take more time to prepare presentations.

For this last semester of year 2 I want to focus on the inclusion of Business and Entrepreneurship and User and society in my projects. For BE I have been learning various theories, frameworks and basic knowledge, which I want to apply in the upcoming courses to gain experience and develop myself further in BE. I also want to include an extensive user test in my project with the Artifice squad, really diving into the users want and needs and make them participate in our design research project.