About me 💁🏼♀️
“I am Leona, a design researcher graduated from Design for Interaction at the TU Delft. I aim to discover human journeys, including their needs and hidden wishes to translate this into products, services and experiences. Therefor, it might be obvious that I adore the term ‘human centred design‘.
I would describe myself as an enthusiastic team player with a sharp focus on the bigger picture. Work hard, play hard and laugh even louder, is my way to go, made possible by my (sometimes obsessively) use of todo-lists.”
Education 🎓
Sep 2016 - May 2019
Msc Design for Interaction - TU Delft
Graduated Cum Laude : Average grade 8,3
Sep 2016 - Jan 2017
Minor European project semester - Valencia
Average grade 9,0
Sep 2013 - Jun 2016
Bsc Industrial Design Engineering - TU Delft
Graduated Cum Laude : Average grade 8,2
ProfesSional skills ✨
Software programs
Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Sketch, InVision, Solidworks
Research methods
Context mapping, usability studies, diary studies, interviewing
Design methods
Sketching, wire-framing, prototyping, creative facili
Languages
Dutch: Native proficiency
English: Professional working proficiency
Spanish: Limited working proficiency
Contact 🤙🏼
- hello@leonavanderlinden.com
- (+31) 6 312 877 58
- Linkedin profile
Experience 💼
Feb 2021 - Now
Design Researcher - Valsplat
At Valsplat, I make part of an enthusiastic team of people who aim to make digital worth people’s precious time.
My responsibility as a design researcher is to make sure that both concept and design resonate with the users goals and needs. We uncover what people say, think, and feel. We observe how people live, work, and play. To create digital things that have positive impact on real life.
May 2020 - Now
Freelance Designer - Studio Leona
With this studio, I am enabled to help people with their design dreams in a more professional manner. From logo’s to sunglasscords, from creative sessions till live visual note-taker. Contact me with your challenge and together we will design the solution that fulfils your needs.
Nov 2019 - Nov 2020
Service Designer - WARP
At WARP, I was part of the Strategic/Service design team. With this team we approached projects by combining user’s needs, market reality and technology into well grounded customer experiences and service propositions.
We validated propositions by testing with real users, and keeping a bird’s eye view during the entire process to make sure everything not only lines up with the user’s goals, but also the goals as a business.
Oct 2018 - May 2019
Graduation Thesis - HumanVUI
Commissioned by the TU Delft and Valsplat, I have investigated the field of Voice assistant design. During this research study I created a toolkit to help fellow designers/companies in the creation of meaningful voice interactions.
Feb 2018 - Jun 2018
Design research intern - Valsplat
Learning by doing – being an intern at a Dutch design consultancy with a love for digital and passion for people. During this internship I performed usability tests, deep-dive interviews, design sprints, creative sessions and diary studies. The results of these studies were analysed by us and reported back to the clients in the shape of insight-overviews, next steps and workshops.
Jul 2018
10 day case trip - Brazil
A study business trip to five different Brazilian companies: ITAU, Mondelez, Klabin, OLX and Tigre. Together with 20 fellow design students we aimed solving their cases by running small design teams by ourselves. This made us responsible for the planning, execution and presentation of our own design projects.
Sep 2017 - Jun 2018
Student representative - DFI
Making a contribution to the education as given at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering in TU Delft by giving advice from a student perspective. This includes being part of the committee: i.d-education, attending by-weekly meetings with the board of professors and writing the annual education report.
Sep 2016 - Apr 2017
Committee member -IDE business fair
Together with a committee of 8 people I organised the IDE Business Fair of 2016. On this fair hosted at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, design students can make their first contact with 45 companies to find internships/job opportunities. I was responsible for all our expenses to be able to create a memorable 2-day fair.
Mar 2015 - Nov 2016
Co-creater -Personal Leadership Book
Writing, creating and designing the challenge-part of the book: ‘Studenten hebben dorst’ Published in 2017. In these challenges I captured personal leadership theory and translated this into interactive exercises.