Turn The Page #67 Choices

COVERSTORY Option paralysis INTERVIEW Jasper van Kuijk FEATURE Would you go to mars?

67 | February 2019

At the time of writing we are ten weeks into the new academic year. The last quarter has gone by in a flash and when reminiscing I realise how much has happened at ID. Ten weeks ago, eight driven ID members stepped into the board room with a challenge ahead of them: running Delft’s largest study association together. Over the past time we have faced countless challenges, both on a professional and personal level. Along the way we have made many mistakes but that is simply a way to progress, as long as you learn from them. About a month ago, most of ID’s committees started to form and we have had the pleasure to already enjoy some of their efforts, like this issue of Turn The Page and the events you can find on the ID Pages of this magazine. Now that the board and the committees have finally settled, it is time to put the knowledge we have gained to good use and create what you can only find at ID: the most creative activities with the most enjoyable people! See you in ID Kafee.

Siward Vloemans, Chairman ID

TA B L E O F 18 Feature ETHICAL CODING

20 08 Coverstory OPTION PARALYSIS

12 Design everywhere ZAHA HADID

14 Versus HEAD VERUS HEART

16 BEST PICTURE

Feature THE ‘REAL-LIFE’ BUBBLE

22 Story Behind HAPPY SOCKS

25 Feature HARRIS TO THE RESCUE

37 ID PAGES

CONTE NTS 30

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Feature INFLUENCE OF DAILY CHOICES

B.A.B.E.

32 Inspiring GOOD INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

34 Interview JASPER VAN KUIJK

40 Feature GENERATIVE DESIGN

42 Feature “HI ALEXA,

44 Feature

BANKSY

46 Feature WOULD YOU GO TO MARS?

48 Interview CREATING LITTLE MOMENTS OF FRICTION

50 GADGETS

EDITORIAL

Wies van Wetten Chairman

IJsbert Bekooy Secretary

Douwe Hardon Treasurer

Gabi Verstappen Lay-out

Lidewij Muurling Editor in Chief

Timothy Puglia Acquisition

Zola Zwerver External Affairs

RomĂŠe Postma Publicity

Siward Vloemans Qualitate Qua

#67 C H O I C E S 6

February 2019 | turn the page

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL The first decision we, as the new Turn The Page committee, had to make was settling on a theme. We agreed that choices represent the work we do at the IDE faculty and in daily life.

At IDE we know perfectly well how to make choices. It is the core of every design project. You are constantly confronted with making choices.

What is the best concept? What is the cheapest solution? And so on.

These are choices you have to make actively, which have a bigger impact than what to have for dinner. I can speak for myself when I say that these decisions feel quite personal and I think that it is safe to say that more designers will recognize themselves in this statement.

Sometimes, the “kill-your-darlingprinciple” helps in making decisions in your design process. Applying this can be difficult, since (like the name of the principle suggests) an idea can feel like your darling.

Choices are personal and define who you are. In general, people who choose to study Business Administration have a different personality than, for instance, people who study art. But is it just your choices that define you, or also the choices of the people around you? Your environment actually has a pretty big impact on the choices you make. You may recall when selecting what to study, you probably got lost in the number of choices you had.

Who were there to help you making that choice? They probably had a big impact on what you eventually chose to study. Getting lost in a big number

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of choices does not only apply on the big choices in life. Even in small things, like getting a cup of coffee from Starbucks, option paralysis is just around the corner. This does not mean that there is only one right choice, you can also combine things.

Like Jasper van Kuijk did in his career.

He is not only a teacher at the IDE faculty but also a column writer for De Volkskrant and he is in theaters with his latest show “Janus”.

Since forever, people have been pushing at the borders. Not only in job matters, but also in exploring the universe around us. It was a great achievement when Lance Armstrong was the first human being to set foot on the moon. Will we experience the first person who lands on Mars?

And why should we look into the options of going to Mars? With the world getting more digital, artificial intelligence is gaining ground.

How will this be implemented in society? Can we still make choices with our hearts? For example, with autonomous cars, what happens when a crash is inevitable? These are choices that designers and IT professionals these days are facing. Jobs are being taken over from humans by these autonomous robots. For instance, this text is checked by a grammar robot, but a creative like designing or writing cannot be replaced by autonomous robots. Right? These are some of the themes that will be covered in this edition of Turn The Page.

I hope you enjoy this first edition of the new committee. 3

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COVER STORY

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February 2019 | turn the page

COVER STORY

O P T I O N PA R A LY S I S Choices, they are ubiquitous throughout life. In fact, having too many might be the quintessential so-called ‘first world problem’ in western civilisation. It is a problem where the brain becomes oversaturated when too many available options are presented to a consumer. This over-saturation manifests itself in a psychological state of mind called ‘option paralysis’. Having too many options poses a physiological conundrum which we as individuals experience, for the most part unconsciously, day in day out. But is this what we want? Better yet, is this what we need?

by Timothy Puglia

The use of a modern microwave is undoubtedly a relatable example to illustrate option paralysis.

Essentially, a microwave boils down to just three components: a microwave generator called the magnetron, a turntable and a strong metal box. The magnetron converts electricity from the power outlet into high-powered radio waves which are then blasted into your food. The reason why your food sits on a rotating turntable is because the period of the produced radio wave is around 12 centimetre. Meaning that, if your food stays stationary, only portions of your food, where a radio wave peak is present, will be heated.

The third component is a strong metal box which is used to contain the electromagnetic radiation.

No wonder why they were called ‘future ovens’ back in the day when microwaves became a commodity.

A hungry user is basically only able to set two factors: the power of the magnetron, typically defined in wattage, and the duration. So why is it that the vast majority of microwaves look like you can control a nuclear power reactor?

They have so, so many different buttons, features, programs and

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settings up to the point where the user feels inclined to look for a manual before something goes horribly wrong. Surely, having a mere two buttons, one for duration and one for power, will result in the same heated lasagne you made a couple of days ago?

WESTERN DOGMA In general, all western industrial societies are built on the same premise of individual freedom. Over the past few decades, the western industrial dogma has evolved into the following thought process: the more choice people have, the more freedom they have and the more freedom they have the more welfare they have. In other words, when people feel they control the complete freedom over who they are, what they buy and who they want to become, only then may the individual attain the desired level of welfare without various governing factors influencing us. This feeling has become so incredibly embedded in our lives to the extent that this is what we have come to believe is true and what defines, partly, our societies. No one would think to challenge or distance themselves from this indisputable

mindset as it would seem unethical to do so. However, there is an unknown side of the western dogma luring to cause harm.

PRE-PURCHASE The first part of the problem lies in the analysis phase. Strangely enough, this already has been described in Aesop’s Fable “The Fox and the Cat” around 600 BC. A time you would not immediately associate with option paralysis.

The fable is about a fox and a cat discussing how many dodges they have. While the cat has only one dodge; the fox boasts about many.

When the human hunters arrive and their hounds start charging, the cat quickly climbs a tree using the only dodge available. Meanwhile, the fox is caught in the action pondering which dodge to use and is eaten by the hounds. The lesson to be learnt here is: “better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon.” This lesson can be translated into what we experience every time when too many options are presented. d

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COVER STORY

An overload of options causes the brain to go haywire. When eventually all the neurotransmitters in your brain become oversaturated you enter a state of paralysis, possibly rendering you unable to come to a decision.

This could be quite dangerous especially in critical situations where immediate action is required.

In the worst case, this may result in a black-out resulting in a far worse scenario than you would have been in had you made a, potentially, sub-optimal decision. This is why in professions where split-second action is required, such as police officers, rescue teams and military personnel, they are trained to the absolute maximum up to the point where their actions become part of their autonomous system. While these professions are examples of extreme scenarios, less critical versions happen in small doses in everyone’s ordinary life as well.

Multiple times a day we are posed by many different choices from which we unconsciously start to feel discomfort. Only we are not trained to handle them.

POST-PURCHASE Let’s say that an individual has come to a point in life where that person can afford to buy a new car. The first decision to make is choosing a preferred car manufacturer. Already, there are 14 major car conglomerates to choose from and they all own different subsidiary car brands. Volkswagen Group, for example, owns Seat, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti and (obviously) Volkswagen. Within a brand such as Mercedes-Benz there are astonishingly 17 different series to choose from and for each series, there are usually more than a handful of different models. When you think you have chosen the car

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that is best suited for your needs, the sales representative will most likely ask you (if your brain has not gone into complete haywire yet ) to fill out the options list such as a preference for a custom paint-job, installation of a glass-roof, type of upholstery and many more features.

Not to mention the iteration process you go through every time regarding price.

The second part of the problem is after the decision is made. When you find your ultimate dream car against all odds, it increases the expectations drastically. With so many options to choose from, this car better suit your needs to near perfection. Only after finally making your dream purchase you will come to the realisation that, arguably, there could have been a better choice out there in the selection of hundreds, likely thousands, of different car models.

This realisation will result in a hypothetical alternative which compels you to deplore your original decision and subsequently to subtract this negative feeling from the satisfaction of your actual purchase, even though your purchase might be the most optimal decision. This negative subtraction could very well outweigh the potential positive excitement of your newly acquired car to the point where you start to feel repulsive of your decision.

HYPER-CUSTOMISATION Major companies are eager to comply with the earlier mentioned dogma because it enhances their public image. Who would dare to advertise against the freedom of choice? Where Mercedes-Benz offers quite a lot choice, Starbuck takes it to a whole different level.

When factoring in all the different types of coffee beans, temperature

settings, cup sizes, types of milk and shots of different combinations of flavours, Starbucks offers more than 80.000 beverage variations.

While at first hand it might seem that having this amount of choice would be liberating, it actually results in annoyance. With all the different combinations available, you are encouraged to find that highly specified cup of ‘coffee’ perfectly tailored just for you.

Nowadays, it is is quite unusual to order a regular coffee when buying at Starbucks.

A recent study from the BCBS Association found a staggering 47% and 63% increase in clinical depressions amongst millennials (ages 16 to 34) and adolescents (ages 12 to 17) respectively. While there are many factors contributing to this steep increase, option paralysis is without a doubt one of them. These generations are growing up in a society where they are constantly making choices and contemplating the (better) hypothetical alternatives. One of the contributing causes is that the responsibility of buying goods has transitioned from the seller to the buyer. If there is only one option to choose from, the buyer cannot be blamed for making the wrong decision. After all, there was no alternative. However, when that same person is confronted with far too many options, it would seem that the seller has done everything in their power to liberate the buyer with the freedom of choice. When the paralysed buyer eventually makes the decision of purchasing the sub-optimal option, the responsibility of the purchase has transitioned to the individual and it is therefore ultimately the buyer’s fault. This trend where the buyer is blamed for making the wrong decision instead of the seller, whether it is intentionally

February 2019 | turn the page

COVE R STORY

or not, is wrong by any stretch of the imagination. This transition of responsibility has started a couple of decades ago and has over time ingrained itself in western society.

“Everything was better back when everything was worse.”

IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION Do not get me wrong. To have options and being able to choose is an integral part of life. You could make the argument that having choices—not the decision itself— is a basic human right. Everyone living on this planet has a personal mission to construct their own identity and to be who they want to be. Only by giving an individual options, can true identity be found.

You would not want to be exactly like the person sitting next to you.

However, there must be a clear distinction between the justified amount of options or too many options. This somewhat reminds me of my old mathematics teacher who used to count in the following manner: “1, 2, many…”.

strategy to saturate and dominate the market or, as said before, it is just what the western dogma has evolved into. As a designer, you bare the responsibility of the psychological state of the consumer. It might be the greatest virtue to ensure low consumer stress levels by making order out of chaos. Being an industrial designer myself, I like to live by the following rule: “Perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.” Maybe you should consider this too? 3

TAKEAWAY FOR DESIGNERS It is up to the industrial designer to decide which buttons eventually end up on the microwave or how many different car models should be available for sale. Should Mercedes-Benz sell this many cars?

Probably not. Should Starbucks offer more than 80.000 beverage variations? Unequivocally not.

But this trend is happening, albeit in small quantities, all around us to the point where people are mentally affected by it. Why is it still happening then? It could very well be a companies marketing

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DESIGN EVERY WHERE

SAN LUIGI DEI FRANCESI The national church of France in Rome was built during the 16th century by an Italian architect. It is home to the first works in Caravaggio’s career and was chosen as the burial place for a number of higher prelates and members of the French community of Rome. The amount of detail resembles the wealth of the Kingdom of France at the time. 3 picture by Timothy Puglia | text by IJsbert Bekooy

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DESIGN EVERY WHERE

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ID PAGES

OKTOBERFEST During one of the last sunny afternoons of the year, the world’s largest annual beer festival returned to ID Kafee and the IDE square. Bratwurst barbeques, traditional beer steins and an unprecedented turnout made it the most successful edition to date.

DUTCH DESIGN WEEK Over 2600 designers from different backgrounds all over the world came together in Eindhoven for the 16th annual Dutch Design Week.

ActID organised an excursion with 60 curious IDE students to visit the most interesting of the impressive 120 locations.

THANKS COMMITTEES! To express their gratitude for all the hard work and devotion, the ID board organised a special night for all her committee members. After gathering for some drinks in ID Kafee, the committees competed in a pubquiz and ended up at ‘t Karrewiel for a game of bowling.

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February 2019 | turn the page

ID PAGES

Being one of the largest study associations connected to one of the most creative faculties in Delft, ID is in a position of major influence.

With a background in Industrial Design Engineering, the board is educated to bring renewing ideas to the table and this is apparent in daily affairs. In order to be successful, one has to be ahead of the competition by being the first to exploit opportunities. However, it is difficult to say when it is better to be the first to do something new and when to follow the crowd. Let’s dive into the world of pioneering and discover ID’s place in it.

by Siward Vloemans GALILEO AFFAIR Firstly, one has to realise pioneering can be an ungrateful thing. Early in the seventeeth century, a man known today as the father of modern science was condemned for his beliefs regardering heliocentricity. When Galileo Galilei presented his theory stating the Sun is the centre of the universe, he was met with heavy opposition from within the Catholic Church.

After publishing a defence of heliocentricity later in his life, he was sentenced to indefinite imprisonment and spent the rest

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of his life under house arrest. His genius was acknowledged years after his death, never receiving the recognition he deserved personally.

The uncertainty of pioneering can be demotivating and is perhaps the largest difficulty when facing such a decision.

NETFLIX TURNAROUND Decisions of independent individuals are rather distant from those happening at an organisation such as ID. Looking at major enterprises in the world

we gain more understanding of the importance of pioneering.

Netflix was originally an online subscription-based DVD rental store back in 1998, introducing video on demand via the internet in 2007. With declining DVD sales, Netflix experienced rapid growth until 2011 when CEO Reed Hastings decided to split user subscriptions for DVD rentals and unlimited streaming. Losing 800,000 subscribers and 77% stock value in four months, the decision appeared awful. However as of January 2018, Netflix counts 120

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ID PAGES

million subscribers with an annual revenue of €10 billion in 2017.

Today Netflix is the undisputed champion in online streaming, finally rewarding Hastings’ progressive thoughts, WHAT IT AT STAKE? The obligation a company like Netflix has to their stakeholders can be compared to the obligation ID has to their members. An organisation can’t be engaging in all sorts of risky endeavours because there is a certain liability towards the parties invested.

Investors have money at risk and members of an association might be socially or emotionally invested.

The difference here is that decisions within an association like ID have to be approved in a general members assembly, where all members of the organisation have the right to cast a vote. However, it is till the board’s responsibility to assist its members in making the right decision. One is simply easily influenced.

UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY On the topic of influence, it is interesting to take a wider view than solely the study association.

The Delft University of Technology is an incredibly complex institution with an infrastructure that only a handful of people fully understand.

It is therefore difficult for such an organisation to make certain decisions, especially if these are risky. This gives ID a unique position where, as a smaller sub-organisation, we can start initiatives the university would not and set an example if these turn out successful. At this very moment there are a dozen initiatives at ID that are promising and might one day be noticed. Consider our hardcups replacing disposable cups, our extra garbage cans to

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separate plastic waste and our relationship with the faculty.

DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS As the study association of Industrial Design Engineering, ID follows the wants and needs of a creative, progressive and innovative student. In the design field we know a theory called ‘diffusion of innovations’ that categorises consumers adopting technology. In order, they are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. These categories fit in a normal distribution and the innovators make up only 2.5% of the group. Industrial designers fit this category, meaning ID members are often the first small group to adopt new technologies. We can assume this applies to other types of innovations as well. Seeing ID’s core value is to serve the interests of its members, we should be the first to try something new.

HARD WORK PAYS OFF Studying these angles, we have learned more about ID’s place in the world of pioneering. History has proven it to be a risky endeavor, but one that can be extremely rewarding. It is definitely not the easy road and one that can be ungrateful at times. However, pioneering may result in great success and a small risk may be worth the try. Still we should realise that ID has an obligation to their members so we should not be reckless. As industrial designers, innovation is a pillar of our profession and as the study association of Industrial Design Engineering we should embrace that at all times. It will require hard work to be truly game changing and as difficult as that can be, we know that hard work always pays off. 3

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GADGE TS

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text by Lidewij Muurling | layout by Douwe Hardon

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This project is the brand’s first step to their goal of removing 5 pounds of plastic from the ocean for every product they sell. Besides the environmental mission the backpack is also just really useful with a 15 inch laptop compartment and several secret pockets for important things like your passport or credit card.

Price: $79,) www.solgaard.co

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February 2019 | turn the page

COLOPHON

Official body of ID Volume 18 / Issue 67 February 2019 Turn The page is issued four times a year.

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Quantes - Rijswijk TTP Thanks Jasper van Kuijk Lennart Laansma Henk Jan Ouderampsen Roel van Tour Subscribe/ad Members of ID receive Turn The Page free of charge. A yearly subscription costs €9,50 (4 issues).

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Send an email to turnthepage-svid@tudelft.nl Copyright The committee has strived to own the copyrights of the included texts and images.

However, if you believe you own the rights to a piece that has been used, we request you to contact us.

Nothing from this issue can be reproduced.

The committee claims the right to shorten, alter or refuse submitted pieces.

The Communication department of the IDE faculty and the Alumni Association have contributed to this Turn The Page.

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It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.