I am Nikki Veldhuis, born on the 9th of march 1986. I have grown up in the little village of Grevenbicht, which is located in the most southern part of the Netherlands (near to Maastricht). Since my early youth I am interested in electronic devices, I always wanted to know how things work and how it’s made. My parents mostly found me behind the old Commodore 64, playing games or poking my fingers in the video recorder. My interest for computers and devices always stayed with me.
After graduating from my high school at Trevianum Sittard, I chose to study Multimedia Design at the Graphic Lyceum of Eindhoven (“de Eindhovense School” in Dutch). In this period I learned to gain a professional work ethic and specialized myself in all aspects of design. After successfully finishing this education in three years, I went to the Utrecht School of Arts, to participate at the study Interaction Design. Developing systems which are user centered is the most important aspect in design, but I think this part is way to much undervalued in today’s design process. My personal interest goes to developing physical interactive applications. This area has always fascinated me and I’m hoping to find a good job in this direction.
In my spare time I keep in touch of the latest gadgets and technical innovations. Next to that I play some games, I like to travel and love to be in the open air. Of course I also enjoy a beer and a good conversion in the pub once in a while.
Why this blog?
This blog started as a way to keep track of my experiences in Sweden. To goal was to document my process and that I could use it as a reference point in the future. Of course, I also started this blog to keep my friends and family up to date how I was doing in Sweden.
After my time in Sweden, the graduation year at the HKU began. The final stage of the study is an individual graduation project. With this blog I document my process of this project. My goal in the project is to specialize myself in embodied interaction, whereby I want to apply natural and gestural interaction within the television experience. In this blog you can find my thoughts, inspiration and milestones during the process.
