Kaila Vreeken

|GA VERDER NAAR START / ADVANCE TO ‘GO’|

Perspectives on refugee integration in the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, every municipality has it's own responsibility for the integration of newcomers - refugees with a residence permit. The municipality of Eindhoven asked Buro Kato to think along in an effective integration procedure.

We however, turned the question around. How do newcomers experience their integration procedure and what is it like to be new in Eindhoven?

Through user-centered context research we placed numbers in perspective and spoke to Syrians and Eritreans about finding their way in Dutch society.

Researched findings were presented during the Dutch Design Week (2017) in Eindhoven. Visitors were invited to pick up a phone and listen to what newcomers had to say about their 'advance to go' ticket and the struggles starting from scratch brings with it.

|BUURTPRAATJES | NEIGHBOURHOOD TALKS|

Dutch neighbourhoods play a crucial role in integration.

Besides operating on own initiative of the newcomer, current integration policies mostly focus on the ‘hard side’ of integration: learning Dutch, taking care of required registrations, obtaining (social) housing and entering the labour market or suitable education (VluchtelingenWerk, 2014). Next to this, Dutch integration policies focus on turning newcomers into ‘Dutch’. The more a newcomer acts Dutch, the more he is accepted (Boog, 2014) (Frissen, 2011).

However, interventions that would help consolidate newcomers’ relationships in the neighbourhoods and cities where they settle, the ‘soft side’ of integration, leading to their inclusion in national society as a whole, are equally important.

This so-called ‘bridging social capital’ provides a sense of rootedness and wider social inclusion. Without such strategies refugees will remain socially excluded in some fundamental ways even if integrated in the labour market in a meaningful way and after gaining full citizenship rights (Korac, 2003) (Strang & Ager, 2010).

In order to facilitate the 'soft side' of integration, Buurtpraatjes was designed. 

|USER RESEARCH IN COLOMBIAN SLUMS|

Improving the experience of high frequency stores for the BoP in Bogotá, Colombia.

In Colombia the Tiendas (High Frequency Stores) have a very important place in society. The Tienda is especially of value for people with a low income who get paid on a daily basis. Tiendas offer products in smaller amounts, this is very important for people who have a low income and get paid on a daily basis. They do not have the ability to buy a big amount of one type of product. Besides its functional value, the Tienda has a big cultural value as well. These stores are the pillar of a neighborhood and the owner (Tenderos) is an important person in the neighborhood where the Tienda is located.

During a full two week workshop, fieldwork was conducted to come up with a concept to enhance the buying experience in order to give a sustainable boost to the Tiendas of Bogotá.

GiANT; Global Design for Social Innovation Design. Workshop in collaboration with EAFIT, Universidad de Los Andes, Solutions Group & TU Delft | 2014

| A CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE ON DUTCH ASYLUM POLICIES: REDESIGNING CITIZENSHIP FOR A CULTURAL INCLUSIVE SOCIETY |

It is time for a new vision on integration in the Netherlands.

Integration has for too long been seen as a problem that needs to be solved. But what if immigrants are seen as assets to the country, and the Netherlands could excel in dealing with cultural diversity?

My MSc. graduation research and design project (Msc. Design for Interaction, TU Delft) focused on the impact of the European ‘refugeecrisis’ on the Dutch society and zoomed in on the concerns of its policymakers, citizens and asylum seekers; refugees that have applied for asylum in the Netherlands. Using the Social ImplicationDesign (SID) method developed by Tromp (2013) a new vision on integration in the Netherlands for 2030 is formulated. This vision implies a change of behaviour in relating to migrants in the country. 

| FACILITATING CREATIVE SESSIONS |

Through co-creation, I guide people through a creative process

|BUILDING TRUST FOR COLOMBIAN CAR INSURANCES|

Sura is a big player within the insurance industry in Latin America. During an internship at INSITUM, Colombia I worked on a project about car insurances for them.

Car insurances are not that common in Colombia. Apparently a lot of Colombians don’t have a lot of trust in them, because they have the feeling the car insurance is ‘not on their side’. This is an insight that the design-researchers on this project gained through context and user-research. The outcome of the project was a proposal for a new product-service design for Sura, named ‘SURAcontigo’, literary meaning ‘SURAwithyou’. A part of the service was an app. I designed the user scenario in the form of a commic book andv the wireframe and flowchart of this app.

| LET'S TALK ABOUT IT |

Surprising coffee stimulant supporting a truly good conversation.

Research shows that young people between 18-25 years can have trouble with asking and talking to friends about difficult topics (such as the death of a parent).

The ‘Let’s talk about it’ coffee experience stimulates this target group to have a deep conversation about these (difficult) topics.

By ordering a ‘Let’s talk about it’  coffee in a cafe, a special pair of cups is given. The shape of the cups symbolise conversation balloons and encourage the users to literally embrace the conversation. Within the cups a text is written which becomes more and more visible when drinking from it. Through a tactile  experience the user can feel the text in his hand palm while holding the cup.

| Houtje Touwtje | 

As designer duo Houtje Touwtje, Hanneke Stenfert & Kaila Vreeken design and make their own contemporary laser-cut jewellery. The designs are characterized by a contrast between the use of natural materials and geometric shapes. Most of the designs are made of wood.

The name Houtje Touwtje stands for home-made and simple, clearly reflected in the jewellery with its clean lines and simple shapes.

The current collection is sold online and in several pop-up stores around the country. Furthermore Houtje Touwtje sells at creative markets in Utrecht and Delft.

[email protected]

| TONY'S CHOCOLONELY SMAAKMAKER |

chocolicious brand awareness for a fairtrade business

The Smaakmaker informs people about the raison d’être of Tony’s Chocolonely: Its unique cooperation with cocoa farmers in Ghana and Ivorty Coast. Being in a cafe, people can order the Smaakmaker from the menu as a new, two-person treat. Users can decorate chocolate nibs with ‘crazy’ flavour combinations, meanwhile looking at the witty, informative postcards. The chocolates are attached to the postcards so that people will be invited to read these.

|SWIRL VASE|

| Lighting design |

| CITYHUB AMSTERDAM |

interior design for Amsterdams’ urban travellers

In 2013 Cityhub opened it's doors in Amsterdam. Cityhub is a modern hostel concept for urban travellers.

During my internship at Studio Überdutch I was responsible for the design of the lighting plan, the interactive whiteboard wall and the Skailine.