Spotlight: Deep Life Design
Students of ILS learn their profession in real life. That is why International Lifestyle Studies works together with companies from the Netherlands and abroad. In the first two years of the programme, these companies act as project owners. In their third year, students can also approach them for their internships. On Join ILS, these companies introduce themselves on a regulary basis.
Company name Deep Life Design
Representative Twan Verdonck
Has collaborated with ILS since 2019
Sector Health
What kind of company is Deep Life Design?
"Deep Life Design is a small startup that started in January 2019. The goal is to help people design their very best lives. That very best life has to do with balanced living. People are very busy with work, achieving things and take too little time to stand still. For each other, their hobby or other relaxing activities. Deep Life Design looks at how you design a balanced life. We do this by applying the methodology of product design to life itself. I got inspired by Stanford University who has ‘Life Design’ as a subject for students to support shaping their career steps. But your career is one thing I thought. Your social contacts, health and finances are just as important. The scope of focus can be broadened. The idea of Deep Life Design started in my life two years ago when I was too busy myself and needed more balance. I started experimenting on myself, then on my wife, friends, family and then on people I did not know in the first place. That's how it started to grow. Now I have an online portal with ten exercises and a book that is on it’s way.”
What is your relationship with ILS?
"I know a teacher from ILS, Paul Geerts, who was a few years ago a journalist for the local newspaper Eindhovens Dagblad. He then wrote a big article about a project of mine, cuddles I made for mentally handicapped people, that ended up at the MoMA in New York. When I came up with Deep Life Design I contacted Paul again. I wanted to make an article with him about the imbalance in society and how Deep Life Design can contribute to get some of the balance back. When Paul heard this, he said it could be interesting for ILS. So we kept in touch. At one point he said that maybe I could become a commission party for freshman students. Eventually several students made a concept analysis/reinforcement for Deep Life Design."
What is the added value of this type of collaboration?
"It's a lot of fun to work with young people. I let the ILS students loose on the online platform I developed and a richness of ideas, initiatives and diversity came out of it. I found it interesting because these students are Lifestyle Professionals to be, so I was curious to see their perspective. The feedback I got from the students was very valuable. These students are not only personally involved but also very substantively.”
What do you like about ILS?
"I like the enthusiasm here. You notice that in both the teachers and the students. Students are very enthusiastic and involved. They ask good questions, the reports they make are strong, the content they post looks good. It shows enthusiasm and passion. It is definitely not a dull group of students. I would really like to be a commissioning party again and besides that I see other nice ways of working together.”
