Children with disabilities (CwD) experience many barriers decreasing their quality of life and hindering their development. Child therapists support CwD and parents of children with disabilities (PCwD) to participate in daily activities. However, the child therapists indicated to be missing the practical tools to also facilitate inclusive outdoor play. For this reason, the HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (HU) set up the Samen spelen project. The Samen spelen project found that PCwD and parents of children with typical development (PCwTD) play a role in the barriers CwD experience as there is a knowledge gap between them. This thesis was set up in collaboration with the HU to further explore the knowledge gap and the role increased parental contact can play in decreasing the barriers CwD experience.
It was found that PCwTD rarely come into contact with CwD and therefore lack the knowledge and skills to treat CwD properly and teach children with typical development (CwTD) about CwD. Additionally, mainly the differences between CwTD and CwD are perceived, preventing the normalisation of CwD.
Based on these findings, the design vision is formulated. The vision focuses on stimulating direct contact between CwD, PCwD, CwTD and PCwTD by guiding the parents to provide input for inclusive play. Followed by stimulating PCwD to help PCwTD correct the children during inclusive play and highlighting the similarities between the children.
Based on this vision, de Voelvlek is designed. The Voelvlek consists of a sensory rug, abstractly shaped balls called ‘monstertjes’ and play cards. The monstertjes are dynamic objects that stimulate spontaneous interaction between PCwD and PCwTD and stimulate bystanders to join the play. The parents can mix and match the play cards to facilitate inclusive play ideas for their children. By discussing the common interests of the children for the play, PCwTD learn about the similarities between CwD and CwTD. When the children are playing the PCwTD can continue this learning process through observation and the questions on the play cards. The play cards use different kinds of questions to stimulate parental interaction and help PCwTD reflect on their behaviour towards CwD and PCwTD.

A majority of people with dementia live at home. Most people living alone experience problems with wayfinding due to symptoms of their disease, like memory impairment, spatial disorientation, and loss of planning abilities. These problems can cause them to reduce their outside travel range or even stop going on independent outdoor visits altogether. The inability to go outside for errands significantly impacts a person's ability to live independently and can contribute to their institutionalization. This problem is challenging since the ability to go outside and maintain your everyday life is seen as a primary need for people with dementia. Furthermore, being outside is found to improve sleep patterns, slow cognitive decline, and reduce agitation in people with dementia.

Current solutions that help people with dementia in the outdoor environment focus on tracking the person with dementia to warrant their safety. In these products, the person with dementia is a passive user dependent on the person who can see where they are. Navigation devices developed to enable people with dementia to find their direction are all designed for research purposes. Furthermore, these devices give too little context information and are not adaptable to different needs and requirements.

Therefore, this project aims to design a wayfinding device that supports people with early to middle-stage dementia to maintain an active lifestyle by enabling them to navigate to frequent and infrequently visited outdoor places. Safe, independent, & with confidence. The primary target group for using the device is people with dementia. However, the needs and requirements of their informal caregivers were also considered.

Workshops, walks, and interviews showed the struggles people with dementia encounter while they go outside. Moreover, these research activities showed the importance of landmarks for people with dementia while wayfinding. Challenges like complex memory-based navigation steps were also revealed during these activities. Therefore, a personalizable landmark base navigation strategy was used as the basis for the final design.

The final wayfinding device uses NFC cards to activate navigation routes on the smartphone. The person with dementia can carry these navigation cards with them and only has to insert them in a card holder on the back of their phone case to start the navigation system. The navigation system will then guide the person with dementia to their destination by showing a yellow arrow on top of footage from their surroundings using Augmented Reality Navigation. The caregiver's involvement is essential in setting up the navigation system since they must help their loved one by loading the correct route on the navigation card and highlighting personal landmarks.

Multiple tests led to optimizing the interaction between the person with dementia and the navigation app. This resulted in a wayfinding device that supports people with dementia through intuitive navigation cues to visit places independently. This wayfinding device helps people with dementia regain charge over their active lifestyle.

Pregnancy tests are the most used diagnostic test in the world where the market is expected to be worth $1.5 Billion. However, since its introduction to the market in 1976, it has experienced limited innovation. Despite its importance in providing crucial information about a significant life event, women continue to rely on outdated and limited options. The existing tests are often expensive or of poor quality, and their single-use nature fails to address the diverse need for sustainable practices. This gap in the market arises from a reluctance among established players to disrupt their stable revenue streams and a lack of investment in female health.
This master thesis intends to present a comprehensive investigation into enhancing the user experience of pregnancy detection and attempting to enhance its overall experience for its intended and unintended users. The project aims to address the limitations of existing single-use pregnancy tests and present an alternative option which would fit the current and future scenarios.
Given the costs associated with essential feminine hygiene products, such as sanitary pads, tampons, and other menstrual care items, as well as fertility products including contraceptives and potential expenses related to fertility treatments, women face a considerable financial burden that accumulates over time.
SureSign aims to disrupt the testing experience for women, providing them with a clear and user-friendly solution while trying to minimize the financial barrier associated with repeated testing. By offering an affordable and inclusive testing option, the product intends to empower women to make informed decisions about their reproductive journey. It envisions a future where women can test multiple times without worrying about the financial implications and sustainability impact, enabling them to confidently navigate their next steps based on accurate and reliable results.
The thesis is carried out in collaboration with Pharmista Technologies. Their role in this master thesis extends to providing initial market insights and to provide expertise in the technology behind potentially making the testing process sustainable - by making it reusable. They provide their existing knowledge about a patent sensor they develop, which in theory allows one to take multiple tests from a singular device. Their goal is to make this action of reusability take place at least 10 times.
The project is divided in two main phases: the research phase of the current scenario and subsequently a development phase for the future scenario. The research phase involves conducting user interviews to gain insights into user needs and challenges related to pregnancy tests. This phase also establishes if the requirement of reusable test actually exists. The project then delves into the embodiment phase which involves form factors related to the overall product experience. Drawing from the gathered insights, a user feedback oriented design process is employed to develop prototypes of the new pregnancy test, considering factors such as usability, accuracy, and ergonomics. The prototypes are evaluated through user testing, allowing for continuous loops of refinement.

The outcome of this master's thesis aims to not only push the field of pregnancy detection forward but also forge a significant stride towards sustainability within the femtech industry. This will be realized through the presentation of fresh perspectives aimed at enhancing the user experience, need for accuracy, and dependability of these devices. The findings will provide valuable recommendations for design refinements and the eventual market launch of this product for Pharmista. This holds the promise of uplifting the experiences of couples navigating their fertility path and women embracing sustainable approaches throughout their reproductive journey.

The goal of this Master thesis was preventing the onset of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) and technostress among computer workers through encouraging them to take more breaks at work. The project was executed in a collaboration with TU Delft and R-Go Tools and took approximately six months. RSI, CVS and technostress affect the personal as well as the professional happiness of computer workers. Among different preventions, aimed at decreasing the risk of developing these syndromes, implementing frequent breaks at work, especially macro breaks, seems to be very promising. Unfortunately, the existing anti-RSI software, aimed at facilitating breaks at work, is considered to be annoying and disturbing. Therefore, the majority of computer workers still take an insufficient number of breaks, putting themselves at a high risk of developing the aforementioned chronic diseases. The analysis of the problem included literature review, company analysis, user research and context analysis. Afterwards, different ideas addressing the problem were generated based on the formulated list of requirements. Consequently, the best ideas were developed into concepts. In the end, Break Bottle was chosen as the most suitable solution for the assigned problem. This concept is a smart bottle which encourages users to drink water, to refill the bottle and, eventually, to go to the toilet. The signals come from changes in the appearance of the object. Consequently, the users are expected to take three different macro breaks. The lights were chosen for communicating with the user. Different light sequences are supposed to trigger different responses from the user. The lights are placed inside the shell behind transparent indents. The form of the bottle enables firmer grasping and holding of the object. The grey paint and the green lights together make the bottle look either lively or lifeless depending on whether the lights are switched on or off. Moreover, the product fits well in the office environment, presenting itself both sleek and elegant. The existing anti-RSI software of R-Go Tools needs to be adjusted for controlling the bottle. The type of signal coming from the bottle depends on whether the user drinks the sufficient amount of water and takes enough breaks. A crucial part of the software is a seduction algorithm whose aim is to indirectly make users take more breaks at work. The main objective of the project has been met since the designed product facilitates taking bre¬aks at work by computer workers. The annoyance with the product is expected to be lower than with the existing anti-RSI software since the users already accept the proposed breaks. Moreover, the product facilitates taking macro breaks which increases the chance of preventing the onset of RSI, CVS and technostress. Since the bottle looks very appealing, it is foreseen that the users will be willing to interact with it. Therefore, it is expected that computer workers behaviour will change in response to the appropriate signals coming from the product.