Research Formation & Education

FOLKWANG UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS · VDID PROJECT: Research Formation & Education ORGANISATION: Folkwang University of the Arts · VDID CATEGORY: Education | Design Research | Foundation YEAR: 2010 – 2016 WHERE THE THINKING WAS FORMED Folkwang University of the Arts was founded in the Bauhaus tradition — the conviction that dissolving boundaries between disciplines produces people who think differently. Art, design, music, theater, and science under one roof. Not as parallel tracks. As a single intellectual environment where the boundaries between making, thinking, and performing were deliberately collapsed. That tradition shaped everything about how I was trained. Not as a specialist in one method. As someone who moves across domains and sees connections that specialists miss. The Bauhaus principle was never just about aesthetics. It was about producing people capable of working at the intersection of things that most institutions keep separate. Folkwang took that seriously. So did I. Six years. BA Industrial Design. And the formation that runs underneath everything I have done since. THE HASSENZAHL FORMATION But the real education was Marc Hassenzahl. One of the world's leading UX researchers. Creator of many frameworks — and instruments that made experiential quality measurable. Author of foundational texts on experience design. His core principle, the one that rewired how I think: experience first, then product. He taught me that research is not about gathering data. It is about framing questions precisely enough that the answers become actionable. Distinguish between what people say and what they do. Build for experience, not features. Understand that the quality of the question determines the value of everything that follows. My BA thesis, supervised by Hassenzahl, focused on doctor-patient communication — examining how communication systems shape healthcare outcomes. It brought my nursing background full circle. The same observation skills I had developed across four hospitals and six years of clinical work, now applied through a formal research methodology. Healthcare gave me the instinct. Hassenzahl gave me the framework. The thesis was where they fused. WHAT FOLKWANG ACTUALLY WAS The Bauhaus model was not just philosophical. It was structural. Folkwang's program was fully autonomous — no hand-holding, no predefined path. You had to make your own mark every day. The integrated curriculum ran across Folkwang, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, and TH Köln. I deliberately studied approaches at Umeå Design and FH Joanneum. Not because I was required to. Because the Bauhaus instinct — cross boundaries, absorb what other traditions know — was already operational. And Folkwang did not keep industry at arm's length. While completing my degree, I participated in university-industry collaborations with Mercedes-Benz on three separate occasions — invited back repeatedly, starting from my second semester as one of the youngest participants. Audi for design language analysis and strategy. KISKA for an intensive week on product creation from brand and user insight. These were university projects. But with real NDAs, real access to headquarters, and real deliverables. They gave me direct exposure to how major organizations think about design strategy, product development, and the gap between intended and actual user experience. I did not wait for industry to come to the university. I went and got it. That pattern — building the bridge rather than waiting for one — repeated at VDID and has repeated in every role since. WHAT STAYED Hassenzahl's influence shows up in how I approach every project. Frame the question before gathering data. Distinguish between stated and observed behavior. Build for experience, not features. Research should change how organizations see — not just what they know. The Bauhaus inheritance shows up in something harder to name. The refusal to stay inside one discipline. The instinct to connect what others keep separate. The belief that the most valuable thinking happens at intersections — between healthcare and design, between customer experience and organizational systems, between what people say and what they actually do. Folkwang gave me the language and the rigor. Healthcare gave me the stakes. The Bauhaus tradition gave me permission to move across boundaries without apology. The combination became the foundation for everything I have done since. BEYOND THE STUDIO: VDID From 2013 to 2016, I served as Student Representative for VDID — the Verband Deutscher Industrie Designer, Germany's professional association for industrial designers — at Folkwang University. I did not wait for the industry to come to the university. I went and got it. I was the bridge between VDID and Folkwang. Represented the association at the university and communicated its goals to students. Recruited new members. Visited design fairs across Germany, bringing students along and connecting them with the professional design community. Met firms at fairs and invited them to collaborate on projects with Folkwang — an early version of the industry-university partnerships that defined my education. Maintained regular contact with VDID regional leaders, delegates, and the national office in Berlin. Co-organized events at the university — lectures, Werkstattgespräche, professional development formats. Three years of building something connective. Not a product. Not a study. A functioning link between a professional community and a university. It was my first experience creating infrastructure that served a community larger than myself — the same instinct that later drove everything I built at Grau.