Master Data-driven Design

Hello everyone!
My name is Alessandro and I come from Milano.
I have a degree in Interior Design and have experience in the design field for five years, in different sectors, such as exhibit, retail and visual design.

I chose this programme because I was looking for a hands-on and engaging master's degree in the design field. In particular, a master that could combine technique and creativity in a modern context, with a direct and functional approach.
I like being able to study the reality which surrounds us through a dated point of view, designing services based on the user's interest and true need.

I have been living in Utrecht since February 2019, after moving directly from Italy, I worked in the retail sector for several months and in September I started this master to specialise myself in a context that is inherent but parallel to my background.
Despite the particular period of pandemic that we are all sadly experiencing, I am very satisfied with the whole educational process, so far.

Utrecht is one of the reasons why I moved here in the Netherlands almost two years ago. It is an amazing, multi-ethnic and modern city. Quality of life is high and the urban context is challenging and always enjoyable. By the way, weather and food, leave something to be desired.

I have been working as a web developer for about 4-5 years before starting this programme. Throughout the years, I realized what matters to me the most is how the user experience is on the websites I build. I really want to learn more about designing experience and build a career of it. This programme suits me because it covers all the important aspects going further in designing a user experience: technology, human and concept. What I like the most is that each lesson given has a connection to the others. Therefore, I feel like I learn about everything in 360 degree, instead of each individual subject. From the first block, I really like the final project for Fundamentals of Data Science. Not only we have to create a dashboard, but we also have to connect the dashboard to the other 2 courses, New Media Psychology and Philosophy of Digital Society. This really shows the 360 degree learning I mentioned earlier. I would definitely recommend this study programme!

Since we have divided offline lessons as well, it was relatively easy to make friends. I might not know everybody from the other group, but with my group we are pretty close with each other. When we are not at school we are also helping each other through Ms. Teams.

Besides being one of the nicest city in The Netherlands, I chose to study in Utrecht because it’s reachable from where I live. I’ve lived in The Netherlands for the last 9 years already. The Netherlands is very multicultural and I got to meet a lot of interesting people from different backgrounds. Except for the weather, I really like living here.

Hi, I’m Tycho Konings, an alumnus who was part of the first year of the Data-driven Design Master in 2018-2019. 
 
All my life, I’ve lived near Utrecht and since 2019 in the city itself. I graduated from the Bachelor Communication and Multimedia Design in 2017. I did a lot of job interviews but lacked in experience and a specialization. During my bachelor, this master was already mentioned. Because of an interest in IT, Big Data, and personal factors, I decided to wait a year to start on the DDD master. My experience with coding was quite low, but I already did some coding in other languages than Python. Because of that I already had some advantage in the basics, and how to read and write code. During the master I learned a lot about Big Data, Ethics in data, AI, Big Tech companies, Blockchain, Data Quality and Visualisation, Cookies, Propaganda and how data is influencing our daily life. So really, there’s a lot of interesting subjects during this Master, which makes it more interesting and also preps you with a ton of important Data skills. 
 
The Python course, part of DDD, gave me the basic skills needed to improve to the point where I now give my own starters Python courses. Based on the gained skill, I did my final research on supporting my disabled brother, by using eye-tracking so he could move his computer mouse with his eyes. By collecting cursor data (movements, time and pixels) I coded a Python Machine Learning script. This calculated the possibility that my brother would want to click somewhere on his computer. If this possibility was higher than 90%, the computer would click for him. This helped him a lot, since clicking and mouse moving is a big task for him. Now he could use this energy for his entertainment. 
 
After this project and Master, I did some job interviews and it was clear that the master influenced a lot on that part, highlighting the positive influence this decision has had on my life. I chose KZA which is a QA testing company. Here, I did a masterclass in software testing. I am learning a lot on different IT parts and thanks to my Master, this all came relatively easy to me. Since KZA is not a data company, I don't use it in my job. But, as Python is an interesting language that is applicable to a broad field, I’m giving the mentioned Python course at KZA. Twice a year, to everyone who is interested. In the future I want to do more with Big Data and Machine Learning since the Master has given me a lot of interesting basics on this. My advice is to definitely attend this master when you are interested. It gives you a lot of opportunities and new insights of this data world!