About me

Hi, I am Helma van Rijn. I’m a researcher and designer, and interested in how to understand and design for the needs of users, especially when they are ‘difficult-to-reach’.

At ID-StudioLab, I conducted my PhD-research. In my dissertation entitled ‘Meaningful Encounters’, I explored how designers learn from encounters with children with autism and their caregivers. Contact with these users serves as information and inspiration for the design process.

My background is in Industrial Design (TU Delft). During my master ‘Design for Interaction’ I worked on a joint research project with KAIST on applying contextmapping techniques in East Asia. In 2007 I graduated cum laude on LINKX, an interactive toy that helps children with autism learn new words. In 2008 I designed and developed de Klessebessers, a leisure game for people with dementia.

Currently, LINKX is a social startup. Visit http://LINKX-app.com to learn more about that!