Associate Professor
E-mail: marije.de.haas@umu.se
More: floda31.com/marije
Background
I am from the Netherlands where I grew up and obtained my
Bachelor degree in Graphic Design at Willem de Kooning Academy in
Rotterdam. Shortly after I moved to London, UK, to continue my
studies at Central St. Martins where I received my Master degree in
Communication Design (cum laude).
I stayed in London for 15 years or so where I started a
design agency named Bullet
with some friends, with clients ranging from small arts based
clients to huge corporate giants such as Nike, where we launched
their now hugely successful action sports brand, and, for example
Cape Farewell, an organisation raising awareness about climate
change through art and science.
From 2010 onwards I moved to the north of Sweden where I
have been running an innovation lab; Floda 31, a place for specialists from various
disciplines to meet, collaborate and create. Here we worked with
institutions such as Super/Collider, Umeå University and had many
individual arts residencies. Floda31 also has been doing commercial
work with clients such as the Design Research Society (DRS),
Converse and Nike.
I have been lecturing in design at Umeå Institute of
Design (UID) since 2012. Besides teaching and F31 I am also part of
a small initiative, Foundation 5, set up by some friends and
myself, for innovation in emergency medicine. We have received
funding to develop a training tool to perform the REBOA
(Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta)
technique in accidents. Foundation 5 is currently using design to
try to help out in the Covid-19 pandemic, collaborating with the
National Health Service (UK), TU Delft, U-Create and other
stakeholders. This collaboration is a good example of
combining research and applied practices to a real-world problem.
This pandemic itself, although terrible, is highlighting many areas
that need to be addressed, and opening up for making lasting
change
What I do at UID
I contribute to design education in various programmes
from a communication perspective. This can mean graphic design,
information design, concept design, speculative design and so on. I
am part of the design research community where I have worked with
speculative design and what it may contribute to difficult ethical
issues. Currently I am collaborating with some colleagues in
developing a guide for Hybrid teaching in response to the current
pandemic.
Teaching
My main areas of teaching are in design concept and
communication. At UID, I mainly teach on the BFA programme, the IxD
programme, Industrial Design Intensive, and on single subject
courses.
Research
I finished my PhD in Design Research at Loughborough
University in the UK in 2020, focusing on how design can help
solve ethical dilemmas. I mainly used speculative design to create
artefacts and stories to create 'applied thought experiments'. I
investigated how this way of working could support conversations
about euthanasia in dementia. This approach of using speculative
design is a useful way to investigate design for change and
highlight (unintended) consequences.
Talk to me about
How design can help expose complexity.
Pictolution, one of a series of prints designed bij Marije,
available at the Bildmuseet art shop
