After completing my B3.1 semester, I look back and I can observe a trajectory of development between my first and second year compared to my current self, both in hard skills, soft skills, collaboration as a teammate and strengthening of my Professional Identity and Vision. However, what has stayed consistent in my brain is the belief of ‘learning by doing’.  

For my B3.1 semester, I chose to do an internship at a national company, more specifically Bestronics Development, which specializes in smart products and IoT systems. Choosing a technical company was inspiring; being surrounded by engineers daily encouraged me to listen, observe, and learn insights into various engineering fields. The exceptionally supportive dynamic within my project team characterized by their constant constructive feedback pushed me to question design choices and facilitated my smooth transition into professional life. I was able to ‘learn through observation’ and was constantly inspired and motivated to understand what each employee was working on.  

This immersion taught me the maturity of working in a professional setting: managing strict deadlines, maintaining disciplined team communication, and upholding higher standards for my own work ethic. While I entered with ambitious SMART goals, I realized the practical complexity of achieving them all. Specifically, the high efficiency demands of the industry paused my technical development in MD&C as I was somewhat unguided at times. 

Throughout this semester I was able to narrow my vision and intended professional identity; I aim to design household interiors, adding layers of complexity by making products both smart and highly visual, embracing technology to maximize user connectedness and comfort within the house. I clearly want to continue making, building and prototyping, and also playing with digital creative and technical software's to do so. I am committed and determined to work and develop in all five expertise areas, but I intend to be more competent specifically at the intersection of Creativity & Aesthetics and Technology & Realization. My goal is to combine strong artistic skills with emerging technologies to create sleek, elegant smart products.  

Regarding my design research process development, I encountered a specialized industrial process at Bestronics that I successfully synthesized with the Reflective Transformative Design Process (RTDP) framework. By blending industrial linearity with the RTDP’s emphasis on iterative, vision-driven transformations, I developed and approached a design project with this hybrid methodology for my Final Bachelor Project (FBP). This approach allows me to maintain a professional structure while ensuring that my design choices remain reflective and always iterative.  

In terms of organization and planning, I have further refined my naturally structured approach. While I recognize that my communication with TU/e could have been more consistent during this period, I have made significant efforts in documenting and recording. For instance, using an internship logger to track my daily actions and reflections has transformed what used to be a chaotic design flow into a transparent, controlled process. This high level of documentation is a practice I highly value and will carry forward to ensure clarity in all future projects.