Suus
van
Gogh
“As a human-centered designer, I strive towards a more inclusive society by creating health and wellbeing related products that empower people in their daily lives.”
Professional Identity
Values as inclusivity, equity, and respect have always been very important to me. Wherever I go, I try to make everyone feel included and comfortable. These values lead to my believe that everyone deserves equal opportunities in life, regardless of their ability or environment, which is what drives me most as a designer. Everyone has different capabilities, and design should support those differences. Inclusivity became the core value of my professional identity and drives my decisions throughout the design process. I create health and wellbeing related products and systems that empower people in their daily lives. To create meaningful designs, I design not only for people but also with people through a participatory design approach.
I am an empathic, human-centered designer with a focus on the early stages of the design process: identifying users’ needs and shaping concepts. I embed myself in the user’s context through field research methods like ethnography and observational research to uncover underlying needs of the users. I combine this with quantitative data gathering through probes to complement qualitative insights and better understand behavioural patterns. To effectively communicate concepts to stakeholders, I use graphic design skills like illustrations and quick prototypes through e.g. 3D modelling. This allows me to gather feedback, iterate quickly, and ensure alignment in the team.
Engaging closely with users, experts, and stakeholders sparks my creativity. I believe in co-creation and continuous user involvement to ensure that designs align with underlying values and needs. While my technical skills are still developing, I am actively working on strengthen my ability to implement emerging technologies, such as AI, in a meaningful way. By knowing what is possible, I can create realistic concepts of adaptable designs tailored towards each individual, rather than the average user.
In group settings, I am a structured and professional worker who maintains the overview. I ensure everything fits together both conceptually and visually. I see myself as a result-driven team player who values a positive and collaborative atmosphere. By bringing an enthusiastic and caring mindset to the team, I strive to create an open, supportive space where everyone feels encouraged and engaged.
Vision
I envision a future where design contributes to building a more inclusive society. I strive to empower people through health and wellbeing related products that support everyday life. To achieve this, I focus on equity-focused designs. Each person is different and therefore needs different resources and opportunities to realize an equal society [1].
Too often, products and services are designed for an “average” user. However, people differ in abilities, values, circumstances, and needs. Therefore, I believe designs should be adaptable and personalizable, enabling individuals to receive support that fits their specific situation. Also, as people change over time, designs should be able to adapt with the person. Furthermore, person-centered care should be used to restore dignity and autonomy [2]. In healthcare, people are often approached through their diagnosis, limitations, and care needs. I believe designs should instead focus on the person behind these labels, and support what matters to them in everyday life.
Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), offer opportunities to support this shift toward more personalization. AI can contribute to tailoring experiences, predicting needs, and creating a more patient-centered healthcare [3]. I view AI as a tool rather than a goal in itself. I believe that technologies should only be implemented when they provide meaningful value to users. At the same time, as these technologies are becoming more powerful, we as designers should remain critical of how to use them. AI could be a risk to inclusivity because of algorithmic bias and information gaps [4]. Using participant-centered development could limit those risks [4]. AI should therefore not replace human intuition and decision making, but support designers in realizing personalized care in a human-centered way.
I believe the future of design lies in balancing technological innovation with human-centered design. By embedding ourselves in people’s contexts and designing together with stakeholders, we can create systems that adapt to individuals rather than forcing individuals to adapt to systems. We should use their experiences as expert knowledge and use it as the foundation to design products that truly matter. Through my work, I aim to contribute to a more inclusive society in which people feel understood, supported and empowered in everyday life, regardless of their abilities.
[1] Lawrence, K. (2022). Digital Health Equity. In Digital Health (pp. 121–130). https://doi.org/10.36255/exon-publications-digital-health-health-equity
[2] Berntsen, G. R., Yaron, S., Chetty, M., Canfield, C., Ako-Egbe, L., Phan, P., Curran, C., & Castro, I. (2021). Person-centered care (PCC): the people’s perspective. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 33(Supplement_2), ii23–ii26. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzab052
[3] Zeb, S., FNU, N., Abbasi, N., & Fahad, M. (2024). AI in Healthcare: Revolutionizing Diagnosis and Therapy. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Sciences and Arts, 3(3), 118–128. https://doi.org/10.47709/ijmdsa.v3i3.4546
[4] Norori, N., Hu, Q., Aellen, F. M., Faraci, F. D., & Tzovara, A. (2021). Addressing bias in big data and AI for health care: A call for open science. In Patterns (Vol. 2, Issue 10). Cell Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2021.100347
Suus van Gogh