After two weeks of adventures in problem and solution spaces, I will remember my BUSI 220 experience in Amsterdam as something memorable. While I have had some experience with the design process through taking ENGI 120 / FWIS 188, the iSEED Amsterdam program helped not only reignite my previous knowledge, but it was done in new and interesting ways through all of the course’s activities. Since there are too many activities to fit into one blogpost, I would like to reflect on the most notable to me personally.
A component of the course I was looking forward to was working with university studies from Amsterdam and around the Netherlands. I was curious what kinds of characters they would be, and how we would work together on our respective projects. My group of UvA students turned out to be interesting characters, and we had good team chemistry when discussing the assignments. As mentioned in my first blog post, I was pleasantly surprised that our group was diverse in terms of countries of origin, which showed that UvA was alike to Rice in terms of having a diverse cast of students. Overall, I was very glad to meet them for the project, and I wish them the best as they move forward. A similar experience can be said for the meeting with students from the Avans School of Applied Science. With the group being students from the Netherlands, we exchanged some cultural differences on topics such as education and slang, and left us pleasantly surprised at the difference. Of course, as part of the course, we worked together on addressing a problem space through prototyping, and I found it a very productive session working in teams. We brainstormed many ideas for the prompt of finding a way to better connect students studying abroad to a culture or city, and our finalized idea was an app that adds a bit of gameplay and rewards to traveling and getting to know places. From what I observed, our team worked together very well in generating many ideas, and we managed to blend and merge them together to a concluding idea.
UvA Group!
Our problem statement poster
Thanks to the design process activities with UvA and Avans, I also managed to learn more about where in the design process I excel and where I can improve. In terms of excelling, I managed well when analyzing trends and having a team to brainstorm sessions. As I have a background experiences in research, I learned many times how to find or notice trends when it came to an identified problem or observation. As such, I’ve always found it a strong suit to notice trends that are supportive in identifying a problem space. In terms of brainstorming, things get more complicated in relation to myself. Individually, I struggle with brainstorming because I approach it with a realistic mindset, and as a result, brainstorming rules, such as deferring judgment or unrealistic constraints, are a notable barrier for me to get across. However, this barrier was not present with me when working with a group because helping bounce ideas or thoughts off each other helped facilitate more thinking. To note another challenge I had during the design process, approaching interviews was particularly intimidating. While factors such as culture and topic sensitivity played a role in the challenge, the most notable barrier was my shy nature, as I struggle to approach people at random. However, despite this challenge affecting my approach to interviews I had with people, I felt that in the two instances it was done, I did a respectable job. For our UvA field work, I learned of some heavy and insightfully comments on the mental health scene of students in the Netherlands, and was touched by some of the phrases or words used by people on how things could improve. As we continued with these interviews, I began to feel more at ease as we began to approach our interviews as a conversation, which was a good mindset to begin using. Things over at Avans was less intimidating as our travel app was something more lighthearted and engaging for those being asked about the concept, and thanks to my experience learned from my UvA field work, I felt more comfortable for this part of the process. Thanks to these experiences, I will make sure to be confident with myself when conduction field work.
UvA Science Park, our interview location
Interviewing with our Avans team in Den Bosch
In my opinion, my standout highlight of the course was the visit to Gazelle, as it was a fitting location for both our course and the nation. With Gazelle being the largest bike manufacturer, and a holder of the royal title, in the Netherlands, I thought it very fitting for our study abroad location, as we can connect back to our observations of the amount of bikes and biking culture in the Netherlands. However, a major component we took away from the visit was how design thinking is applied in a professional setting like Gazelle. Seeing what we learned in our course being applied professionally is pretty inspiring to me as it shows how important it is to learn of the design process and the skills that pertain to it. In the end, this day at Gazelle was unforgettable, from the tour of the factory to our ride through the forrest. Many thanks for Maximilian’s efforts in emailing those at Gazelle to organize the day.
Bikes on display at Gazelle
My wish for the people that embark on their own Amsterdam journey next year is that exploring a place like it and The Netherlands can ultimately help explore yourself as well. While the course is something important and does help build and test your skills, it really helps to explore Amsterdam through your own eyes as well. Outside of the course, I enjoyed my time around the city either when using my cameras or thrifting at vintage stores. It felt engaging to be exploring the cities and observing its details that I possibly would have missed if I wasn’t using my own lens at times. Even in a place that seems foreign, following yourself will take you down unforgettable paths.
Tot ziens, Amsterdam!
