Connecting detainees with government officials for better reintegration

de mensa is a service concept for the municipality office canteen as a meeting point for collaboration and human understanding between government officials and detainees, supported by a smart app and a skilled chef.

The course Design Driven Innovation is the third practical assignment of the Bachelor of Industrial Design at Delft University of Technology. Students apply the Vision In Product design methodology in a design project for a social organisation. Within the domain ‘debt & penalty, central to society’, RESCALED asks for a future vision and concept product. The client is an international network in the prison sector that advocates for small-scale detention homes offering services and activities integrated into society for inmates and citizens.

With three fellow students, I formulated the goal of “connecting detainees with the government in order to generate more effective integration policy”. Just as the gap between ‘high’ employer and ‘low’ employee narrows through repeated and refreshing coffee breaks or office drinks, the distance between government officials and detainees should also be reduced through a design intervention.

Read the report for a full overview of the design project which outlines and illustrates all the creative choices.