The work referred to throughout this section. Hover any card for the full backgrounder.
How my five expertise areas developed across my bachelor, internship and Final Bachelor Project.
Viewing Year 1.
Earlier in my studies, I viewed aesthetics as secondary to functionality. This changed through the Aesthetics of Interaction course, where I created a sensory awakening kit and learned how form, texture, sequencing and visual language can guide behaviour without explicit instruction. I began to see aesthetics not as decoration, but as a tool for communication, reassurance and understanding.
Video of our Sensory Awakening Kit
This perspective influenced later projects, including my Multidisciplinary Project involving portable plasma technology, where aesthetic expression was essential for communicating safety and trust. During my internship at Philips Hue, I developed a deeper appreciation for aesthetic coherence at a system level. Observing Hue’s consistency across products, packaging, apps and marketing showed me how aesthetics support usability, brand trust and long-term product ecosystems.
Creativity and Aesthetics developed strongly during HoldOn because one of my FBP goals was to use visual and interaction design to reduce anxiety, support comprehension and communicate seriousness without fear-mongering. Since HoldOn deals with scam calls, its communication could not feel alarming, clinical or patronising. It needed to feel calm, trustworthy and domestic, while still being serious enough to protect users from harm.
One of the clearest developments was understanding language as part of the protection. Scam calls often work by increasing urgency, pressure and confusion, so HoldOn needed to do the opposite. The AI receptionist had to slow the interaction down, reduce pressure and give the user enough information to make a calm decision.
This linked to my goal of testing how tone, pacing, hierarchy and affordances influence trust and understanding. Findings showed that many users preferred short, direct explanations, but not everyone wanted the same level of detail. This influenced the onboarding flow, where users could choose whether they preferred concise or more considered spoken explanations.
The HoldOn brand identity also became part of the concept. The name reflects the central interaction: creating a pause before the user is exposed to the full pressure of the call. The visual identity used a calm palette, rounded interface elements, generous spacing and accessible typography to make the system feel approachable and trustworthy.
HoldOn brand identity overview
