I graduated in 2007 as a PhD in Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art and currently run my own user research company STBY
with Geke van Dijk. I have a background in cultural studies and the
internet industry, and have always been fascinated by how people use
media and technology.
My work in the internet industry showed me that the erratic, elusive aspects of everyday life that make everyone a different individual have a strong influence on how people use technology but are hardly taken up in the research done to inform design processes. Nevertheless, these idiosyncratic details of everyday life are very inspiring to designers. These observations motivated me to do PhD research with the aim to develop a new research method that informs and inspires design processes by looking at the rich fabric of everyday life. Design documentaries is the method that results from this research.
For my research I co-operated with industry and academia, for instance Equator (UK), HP labs (UK), France Telecom/Orange (F), Goldsmiths College (UK), Intel (US), Intelligent Textiles (UK), The Open University (UK) and Philips Medical Systems (US).
My research was supervised by professor Bill Gaver at Goldsmiths College (Interaction Research), professor Stella Bruzzi at Warwick University (Film and Television studies) and professor Tony Dunne at the RCA (Design Interactions).
The research was partly funded by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) via Equator, a six-year Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration between more than 60 researchers that focuses on the integration of physical and digital interaction and how this may enhance the quality of everyday life. Additional funding was provided by Philips Medical Systems North America and STBY.
You can contact me at bas@stby.eu.
