Max Nielsen's Portfolio Content

I design products and systems that merge the best aspects of the physical and digital mediums. I strive to design meaningful and inclusive solutions using rich interaction methods and best practices on digital accessibility.

Studying at Simon Fraser University’s SIAT program in Vancouver has made iterative processes and user-centered design methods drive project ideas and decisions. My time at TU/e’s Industrial Design exchange program in The Netherlands introduced me to a unique learning and working environment. Their emphasis on active reflection and personal development helps me bring fresh perspectives to projects today and refinements to my design process tomorrow.

The Job

I want to pursue Service Design (preferably in the public sector), focused on making the users’ interaction of said service and the business’ processes to provide that service more effective, efficient, and enjoyable solutions.

The Qualifications

There is a range of Service Design jobs, from the technical side of data analysis of the service itself to a focus on user experience of touchpoints. I want to focus on the latter, which involves UX design, interaction design, and of course, service design experience. I will be doing user research with personas, scenarios, and interviews. It also involves some form of prototyping and creation of solutions to be able to communicate with the business. Hard skills such as prototyping software experience, subject-matter expertise, and knowledge of user-centric methods are crucial for getting started with the business. Communication, planning, problem-solving, close collaboration, and other soft skills will help achieve the projects’ goals and bring change to the business.

Verbal Language

Employers appear to seek people who can focus on small details while understanding the bigger picture at the same time. My verbal language should reflect this. In my examples, I can focus on a tiny design decision that ultimately helped the design in its bigger context. I will craft my writing on an analytical but approachable tone, mimicking what service designers do.

Visual Language

Following the with the theme of small details/bigger picture, multimedia will include both users and the project situated together in their design context while more detailed information of the design process is shown throughout the process analysis. Service design includes consistency across visuals and functionality. Therefore, a style template for my visuals is necessary to ensure a cohesive visual style across all multimedia that link it to other visual components. Internal consistency while keeping projects feeling like their standalone visual style will help sell my ability to integrate brand elements into something unique.

My visual language may also include fundamental visual principles that match the values of service design. Gestalt principles such as connectedness, common region, and common fate might make more sense over figure/ground or closure. Movement and interactions should also be considered to emphasise these principles.

My Experience

Obviously, projects specifically about providing a service to the user will be handy to showcase.

In my projects, I always try to back up my design decisions with research. I have some experience with conducting user research and research tests. I can leverage this by highlighting these interviews and resources in my project analysis.

I’ve done an exchange term in The Netherlands. I can leverage this by highlighting a successful project that contributed to specific skills and exposure to a different culture.

Projects that are both physical and digital and communicating how those two designs work in tandem will help show that I can work across mediums for businesses that have physical user touchpoints.

My Characteristics

I have an eye for small details and for questioning them against the bigger picture. I have excellent analytical problem-solving skills which are applied to everything that I do. I’m great at structured communication with presentations and reports. I want to collaborate with others to achieve a better outcome. These characteristics need to be at the forefront of how I write content about myself (design ethos statement, biography, cover letter). I can also show some of these characteristics in the projects through my process analysis and visual content.

Tagline

A shared listening experience for large student design spaces of the near future.

The system

Serendipity is a physical and digital system where students in a collaborative space can vote for their favourite type of music to be played and shared with others. It was designed to be DIY; anyone can build them and build as many as needed to fill their collaborative space. As part of a three person group, I designed and created its web interface and the system of how it selects music in a fair manner.

Three physical devices allow three individuals to vote for the “vibe” or mood of music it plays in the design space. The vibe with a majority of votes would play.

A hands-on critique session with other students and our instructors helped us discover an imbalance in voting power which hampered music discovery. The majority could constantly vote for and play one vibe while one person’s taste in a less popular vibe would never be heard. This would become increasingly apparent the more devices (and therefore votes) were apart of the system.

Instead of a democratized voting system, I found that a lottery-style system created an equal playing field for individual voters. The vibe would be drawn at random from the votes gathered. The majority vote will still have great odds, but everyone’s vote now has a shot to be chosen.

As the project progressed, it became apparent that the group’s work was unbalanced. I took on too many tasks as my knowledge of web, interaction, and system design aligned with this course’s content. My group members also stuck to their own strengths. Next time, I will focus on developing new skills while acting as a mentor for others who focus on areas that I am proficient in. This way, we can distribute the tasks more evenly and foster better outcomes for each group member.

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