2. “A world of inspiration” is a sentence with a lot of meaning for me and for this portfolio. I found
inspiration in working, studying and traveling in different parts of this world. This portfolio is a brief
representation of the work I did in those times.
Working, studying and traveling in different countries
moved me to see things different. Diversity is one of the
main inspirators for creativity and I found this in different
international experiences.
MSc. Erik AC Hesseling
Oude Delft 119
2611 BE Delft
The Netherlands
e.a.c.hesseling@gmail.com
0031-612568116
“A world of inspiration”
3. For CEDNA I worked on 3 different projects. In the first place they asked me to look into their pro-
motion strategy for their restaurant. Second they wanted assistance on the development of 2 new
projects; a candle and soap production project and a travel agency for sustainable tourism.
CEDNA is a Non Governmental Organisation working with
people in the marginal rural areas of Cusco. They promote
comprehensive and sustainable development, in order to
improve quality of life in the community.
The candle and soap production project and the travel agency were combined in a service and sys-
tem design which is graphically presented on the bottom of this page. The project started with mar-
ket research in Cusco and continued with writing a businessplan and presenting this to the Board of
Directors in the Netherlands. The project will begin in two years.
As a result of looking into CEDNA’s promotion strategy new and more effective materials were de-
veloped and new activities were organised in order to promote the restaurant. The new promotion
strategy aims at enhancing the experience of eating in a socially responsable restaurant.
Quick facts:
July 2010 - September 2010
For CEDNA (El Centro para
el Desarollo del Nino y el
adolescente) in Cusco, Peru
A service system design including
candle and soap production and
a travel agency.
Development of promotional
material and strategies for the
CEDNA restaurant
Working language: Spanish
Development organisation in Peru
commercial and promotional consultancy
4. Dutch design in Italy
graduation research at the Dutch embassy in Rome
This research was the final project of my Master Strategic Product Design at the Technical University
in Delft and aimed at the development of recommendations to Dutch designers and the Dutch go-
vernment concerning design activities and perspectives on the design market in Italy.
27 interviews with prominent designers and design critics
together with academical research formed the basis of 9
fundamental recommendations.
The research was performed in 4 sectors in which Italy has an important status. The automotive de-
sign sector, the yacht design sector, the furniture sector and the house hold appliances design sector.
In order to be able to formulate recommendations 27 interviews were conducted. These interviews,
together with the theory of Roberto Verganti about Design driven innovation, formed the basis of the
theoretical framework. Design driven innovation is a different way of innovation management which
is performed by Italian design oriented companies like Alessi and Artemide. On the bottom of this
page the ground principles of the theory is graphically represented.
Quick facts:
August 2009 - April 2010
At the Dutch Embassy in Rome
A research on the opportunities
for Dutch designers on the
Italian design market.
27 interviews with well-known
and prominent designers and
design critics
Publication in Connecting the
Dots.
Working language: Italian
5. At the in the Netherlands famous umbrella company I performed a research internship of 3 months
at the Marketing and Sales Department.
The choice of where to sell is based on branding, buyer po-
tencial and the availability of distribution channels.
The objective of the assignment was to find international supply and demand chains in different
countries. There were a couple of strategically interesting countries and England was one of them.
Senz just started with selling their umbrellas in England using the findings of the research I did for
this internship.
In addition to the research on sales channels I also organized creative sessions for new product
development and marketing ideas. As a result of a creative session I developed a viral movie called
“Senz and the City” as a parody on “SEX and the city”. This viral was posted on different design and
management oriented blogs and had around 75.000 hits in one week.
Quick facats:
April 2009 - June 2009
Internship at the Marketing and
Sales Department
Research on the supply and
demand chains
Creative sessions for creative
and marketing input
A viral movie with over 75.000
hits in one week
Distribution channels in England
internship at Senz umbrellas
6. For this project I worked together in a multidisciplinary team of 7 students on the organization of a
design-oriented business fair. The Fair, called IOB, was held in the central hall of the Faculty of Indus-
trial Design Engineering in Delft. My position in the team was the one of Chairman.
The IOB is the biggest annual industrial design oriented
business fair in the Netherlands with 1200 visitors in 2
days.
Design studios and design-oriented companies presented themselves to other companies and to
students during the 2 days. The fair had 46 participating companies. These companies mostly rented
a stand for 2 days. This fair was special because it was organised 7 times before but this was the first
edition the fair was held for 2 days. An additional target was to have more international companies.
This resulted in the participation of a couple of inspiring international operating participants: Frog de-
sign, T-mobile, NPK, Microsoft, Ivanka and many more. The stands in which the companies had the
opportunity to present themselves had a special design. They were made out of cardboard. A quite
unconventional material for a business fair but very inspiring concerning the special focus on design.
Quick facts:
March 2008 - November 2008
Team with 8 people and 3
supporting commities
46 design related companies
A budget of 25.000 Euro
In the central hall of the Faculty
of Industrial Design Engineering
in Delft.
International Design Fair
organization of the IOB 2008
7. This is one of the projects which I did for my Masters programme at the Technical University in Delft
at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. The course was called New Product Commercializa-
tion.
Smartcap produces a unique kind of sports helmet. It is
soft but at the moment of impact the soft material turns
hard and protects the head like a hard shell. How to posi-
tion and brand this unique concept?
After thorough internal and external analysis of the company and the product category the unique-
ness of the product got confirmed. This resulted in a short-term and a long-term strategy. Because
of the relative small brand awareness and limited financial posibilities a co-brand with another ski-
ing brand was recommended. In this way Smartcap could make use of the promotion channels of
the other brand and the partner could make use of the expertise of Smartcap. For the long term the
most important recommendation was to explore new markets such as: watersports like waterskiing,
windsurfing, wakeboarding etc. and general sports like rugby and other contact sports.
Quick facts:
Masters project at the Technical
University in Delft
Strategical positioning of a new
kind of protection helmet
Team with 4 Strategic Product
Design students
Provided solution: co-brand with
strategic partner and explore
new markets
Sports helmet for in the Alps
Masters project at the Technical University Delft
8. Taxi payments in New York
fast, easy and safe
This project was a Bachelors project at the TU Delft. The assignment was to design a handheld pay-
ment device for a specific context. The design had to fit the context well and had to contain some
special features concerning this context.
Paying a taxi is more easy and more fun than ever before.
By inserting a payment card and navigating with the plus
and the minus button the payment is completed in the
wink of an eye.
The chip-pay is provided with a clamp which positions the device close to the taxi client. In this way
the use of the device is more easy for the client and it is more likely to give a tip. Tipping is easy
because the only thing the client has to do is to insert his credit card and navigate with the plus and
minus button. When the desired amount is reached the ok button should be pushed and the transac-
tion is done.
The housing comes in the colour “taxi yellow”. But it is possible to change the colour by changing the
front cover. Every taxi which uses this chip-pay has a personal security code to activate.
Quick facts:
Bachelor project at the Technical
University Delft
Handheld payment device for in
a taxi
Designed for young urban
professionals
Easy control by 3 buttons
Safe because there is no need
for cash and payments are quick
and easy
