Author: 9ve8c

CriticON is a playful system that turns everyday exposure to information into moments of critical thinking, using humor, interaction, and AI to help young people question, verify, and resist misinformation in digital environments.

Define the problem/need you are solving or addressing with your project. How does it address the Open Call criteria, such as environmental impact, social engagement, circularity, user experience, resource efficiency, and community-driven solutions?

Young people navigate a digital environment where information is constant, fast, and emotionally charged. Platforms reward immediacy and engagement over accuracy, enabling misinformation to spread effortlessly. Despite being digitally native, many lack accessible ways to question what they consume in real time. Verifying information requires friction — switching platforms, investing time, and risking social tension — so doubt rarely leads to action.
CriticON addresses this behavioral gap by intervening at the exact moment misinformation spreads: when users decide to believe, share, or ignore content. It transforms this instant into an opportunity for critical thinking through playful, accessible interactions.
The project aligns with humane and ethical applications of technology by using AI to promote transparency, agency, and informed decision-making. It also functions as a design-led educational tool, fostering awareness, responsibility, and a cultural shift toward more critical and conscious digital behaviors.

Please describe your project, reflecting on the concept, inspiration, materials, technical aspects, methods and process(es).

The project was developed following a Double Diamond approach, combining research, definition, and iterative design. We conducted initial research to identify key insights around misinformation behaviors, mapping stakeholders and analyzing barriers using frameworks such as COM-B and the Behavior Change Wheel. This led to the creation of user personas and the identification of a critical gap: the moment between doubt and action. From this, we ideated and evaluated multiple concepts, refining them through tools like value proposition canvases, user journeys, and strategic analysis. CriticON emerged as an experimental system that transforms verification into an interactive, lightweight, and repeatable experience. It operates through two core dynamics: a rapid “True or Fake” challenge that trains instinctive judgment, and a verification tool that analyzes shared content and returns contextualized feedback. By combining humor, cultural references, and AI-assisted responses, CriticON creates a conversational experience that encourages critical thinking as a habit, not an exception

What do you think makes your project innovative compared to the existing efforts and ideas in the field it addresses?

CriticON shifts the focus from information tools to behavior design. Rather than improving access to verified content, it intervenes in how people engage with information in real time, embedding critical thinking directly into everyday digital interactions and reducing the friction that prevents action.
The project approaches AI as a transparent, assistive layer that supports human judgment without replacing it, prioritizing agency, clarity, and interpretability over automation.
Its innovation also lies in reframing critical thinking as something social and desirable. By combining humor, gamification, and culturally familiar formats, CriticON makes verification visible and shareable.
Finally, its modular and platform-agnostic nature allows it to adapt across educational, civic, and digital contexts. As an evolving prototype, it continuously tests how design can shape more reflective, responsible, and conscious digital behaviors at scale.

Does it impact or reflect young people need(s) and how?

CriticON directly responds to the realities young people face in digital environments, where information is constant, fast, and often overwhelming. While they are highly connected, they lack tools that fit seamlessly into their habits and allow them to question information without interrupting their experience.
The project addresses this need by integrating critical thinking into familiar formats—short interactions, gamified dynamics, and conversational feedback—making it feel natural rather than effortful. It recognizes that for young users, behavior is shaped not only by knowledge but by context, speed, and social dynamics.
By making verification quick, accessible, and even shareable, CriticON supports young people in developing confidence, autonomy, and a more active role in how they engage with information. It transforms critical thinking from an abstract skill into a lived, everyday practice.

“Da Grigio A Verde” is a bold campaign promoting the green transformation of Bolzano’s Piani district, one of Italy’s hottest cities—a story of brave people fighting for a better future.


Define the problem/need you are solving or addressing with your project. How does it address the Open Call criteria, such as environmental impact, social engagement, circularity, user experience, resource efficiency, and community-driven solutions?

This project is a social and media campaign that fights for the implementation of a greening project in the Piani district in Bolzano, one of the hottest Italian cities, where only 1% of the total area is covered by public green spaces. Co-created with the association Ambiente e Salute, residents, students, professors, activists, and politicians. Together we fight for:

1. Creating green infrastructure.

2. Developing a water management and irrigation system.

3. Enhancing biodiversity.

4. Improving sports fields and playgrounds.

5. Upgrading accessibility, mobility, and safety.

My campaign promotes the project among local residents and focuses on showcasing its creators—residents concerned about the future. Even though the project was approved by the city council and we have secured 350,000 euros for its implementation, the municipality is delaying it and attempting to change its key objectives. That is why the project needs strong public recognition.

Please describe your project, reflecting on the concept, inspiration, materials, technical aspects, methods and process(es).

To make the campaign stand out, I used a bold fluorescent green and a brave visual style that immediately caught attention. Data visualizations—such as a project flag and graphs highlighting supporters and its long history—made the grassroots nature clear and accessible.
Ironic posters and artistic interventions exposed the absurdities of urban life, while an open exhibition at the project site brought the campaign closer to the public. Social media, a press conference, TV interviews, and a local newspaper article helped spread the message across the region.
Thanks to interventions in public space, the first points of the project were already marked and improved inhabitants’ safety. Ultimately, the campaign focused on a positive vision of the future, leaving people with hope and a compelling idea of a better city that truly serves its citizens.

What do you think makes your project innovative compared to the existing efforts and ideas in the field it addresses?

The campaign is bold, highly visible, and asserts a strong presence in public space. It creatively uses that space by identifying its problems and possibilities for improvement. It employs a variety of techniques—often unconventional for social campaigns—making it fresh and distinctive.
My role was to facilitate collaboration between visionary citizens and a rigid municipal structure, a connection often overlooked in similar initiatives.
The project shows that determination, commitment, and continuous effort can lead to real results. It proves that fighting for what we care about matters—because when we care deeply enough, others will join and support us.

Does it impact or reflect young people need(s) and how?

This project was largely created by young people. The initial vision for transforming the space came from the Ambiente e Salute association, which includes older members; however, thanks to the project’s partnership with the university and over two years of student work, it has reached this stage.
Young people live with growing fear about the future. The climate is changing, and predictions suggest the crisis will be far more severe than we can estimate. Climate anxiety is a daily reality. I know this because I carry it with me—sometimes sinking into gloomy visions of a meaningless future. That is why we must act: start locally, put pressure on authorities, and care for our cities. Young people understand this and are responding actively.
The bold, fluorescent campaign also has a modern, youthful character that appeals to younger audiences.

A field guide to Wonderland.
Or, in other words: A cross medial approach to build resilience & resistance against modern Propaganda on Social Media.

Define the problem/need you are solving or addressing with your project. How does it address the Open Call criteria, such as environmental impact, social engagement, circularity, user experience, resource efficiency, and community-driven solutions?

I‘m sure you can feel it too. Unsteadiness, discontent, distrust. We find ourselves in times of crisis. It comes at no surprise that we are now especially vulnerable to fall for “white rabbits“ which lure us into their rabbit holes by promising security, idyll and the one-and-only solution for all problems – ideologies too tempting to ignore. It is what many believe has perished with the Nazi Regime nearly a hundred years ago.
The reality is, propaganda is as existent as ever. All that has changed are its tonality, aesthetics, the media. Not that this change was by chance. It simply adapted to stay concealed. The Social Media Logic and recent developments of AI are contributing to spread manipulative content faster, more convincing and more gripping than ever before.

Please describe your project, reflecting on the concept, inspiration, materials, technical aspects, methods and process(es).

“Everybody knows enough about propaganda to dislike it, but few know enough to know what it is that propaganda actually does“, says Cory Wimberly.
To recognise the dangers early enough, we need to understand the mechanisms. That is why I designed a guide. It lifts the rosy veil of ideological promises. Inspired by the methology of “Prebunking“, readers learn about five common manipulation techniques and how to recognize them through a process of premonition, explanation and encountering examples. However, propaganda is not rational. It‘s toying with emotions. Thus, I approached the problem by making knowledge tangible through metaphors, namely the famous adventures of Alice in Wonderland but also popcultural references. The informative layer of the leaflet extends into the digital realm – just as propaganda did – by Augmented Reality.

What do you think makes your project innovative compared to the existing efforts and ideas in the field it addresses?

A common way to fight disinformation is by debunking the lies and factoids told by propagandists. However, various problems occur if we rely only on trying to redo the damage. Recent study suggests to expand the approach by including prevention: Prebunking. The goal is to preemptively build resilience and resistance against manipulative content. My main concern was how to translate the findings into a project, which would feel trustworthy and invites to properly engage with the topic, while also acknowledging today‘s accelerated consumption habits. The result is crossmedial: I translated the concept of a political pamphlet into a modern zine, combining analogue and digital by including AR-Elements. That way I could go beyond the expectations we have when consuming print products.

Does it impact or reflect young people need(s) and how?

One major aspect of developing the concept and visual language of the project was understanding where and how young people encounter propaganda. Studies suggest today‘s main touchpoint to be Instagram for my target group, which by it‘s design and logic seems to aggravate dynamics which allow manipulative rhethoric to flourish. Content floods us fast and unsorted. My project responds with the contrast of editorial clarity and structure, consciously enhanced by pop cultural references and memes, absurdity and humour. The AR contents add the possibility of working with motion and sound, to create more accurate links to what we encounter daily in “posts“ and “reels“. My goal is to craft an intuitive access, to empower young people. Because with the necessary tools, we can spot rabbit holes before the fall.

“Doka” is the Dutch word for the photographic darkroom, “donkere kamer”. This research project aims to provide sustainable alternatives to the harmful chemical process of darkroom photography.

Define the problem/need you are solving or addressing with your project. How does it address the Open Call criteria, such as environmental impact, social engagement, circularity, user experience, resource efficiency, and community-driven solutions?

Traditional developing and fixing processes in film photography rely on toxic chemicals like hydroquinone, metol and ammonium thiosulfate, and their disposal poses a major ecological risk. Growing up in Naples, where toxic waste dumping is a critical issue, I felt compelled to seek alternatives that wouldn’t contribute further to environmental harm. During my Tech Fellowship at Rijksakademie, I researched and developed new techniques that replace hazardous chemicals with natural and biodegradable substitutes. I identified ascorbic acid (vitamin C) as a safe developing agent and formulated an eco-friendly developer with sodium ascorbate and natural phenols from blueberries, coffee or cocoa powder, which allowed for effective film processing without traditional toxic developers. Similarly, I substituted the stop bath with a simple solution of rainwater and vinegar and experimented with a salt-based fixer, using sustainable accelerants like sulfenic acid from onions and MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) to speed up the process.

Please describe your project, reflecting on the concept, inspiration, materials, technical aspects, methods and process(es).

An estimated 11.6 million tonnes of toxic waste is buried or burned beneath vegetable fields, in quarries or on open land in the area around Naples, Italy, my hometown. Highly toxic industrial waste such as dioxin, arsenic, and even radioactive material can be found in the area. It is important to be aware of what these chemicals do to the environment over time, and be eco-smart about the best method of disposal. Most municipalities do not allow the disposal of any photographic waste into septic systems because it can adversely affect sources of underground drinking water and aquatic life. Yet most photographers dispose of their chemicals down the drain. I am developing recipes and guidelines to share with a wider community, hoping to inspire others to pursue environmentally conscious approaches to art and chemical-based processes, while also laying the groundwork for sustainable practices in creative industries.

What do you think makes your project innovative compared to the existing efforts and ideas in the field it addresses?

While most coffee-based developers are film-specific, my research focuses on a universal recipe compatible with any black-and-white brand and a massive sensitivity range (ISO 12–3200). I am currently refining this formula to offer a cheap, accessible alternative that I plan to both commercialize and share freely online. The analogue revival is undeniable; over the last decade, Kodak resumed production and ILFORD’s revenues doubled. However, many “eco-friendly” chemicals currently on the market are merely greenwashed products that remain environmentally harmful. My goal is to provide a truly sustainable solution that honours the craft. I hope this movement eventually inspires other chemical-heavy industries, like ceramics and painting, to adopt authentic, sustainable alternatives at a commercial level.

Does it impact or reflect young people need(s) and how?

This project taps directly into the “Analog Renaissance” led by Gen Z and Millennials, who are increasingly seeking tactile, slow processes to counter their digital-heavy life. Young people are highly sensitive to greenwashing. My recipe offers a transparent, DIY alternative to “eco-labeled” industrial toxins, aligning with their environmental values. Additionally, by keeping the recipe cheap and open-source, I lower the financial barrier to entry, making high-quality film development inclusive rather than elitist.
The project transforms a high-tech hobby into a grounding, kitchen-based ritual, turning a “black box” chemical process into something tangible and safe, satisfying a deep-seated need to reconnect with natural, non-digital cycles.

EcoRush is a cooperative didactic game designed to build environmental awareness in children through play, showing them how everyday actions affect nature while developing cognitive, social, and creative skills.

Define the problem/need you are solving or addressing with your project. How does it address the Open Call criteria, such as environmental impact, social engagement, circularity, user experience, resource efficiency, and community-driven solutions?

EcoRush addresses the growing disconnect between children and environmental responsibility. As ecological crises intensify, early education must embed ecological thinking, yet most tools rely on passive instruction rather than playful, embodied learning.
The game responds directly to the Open Call criteria. It delivers environmental impact through mechanics where rewards and penalties are tied to ecological actions, helping children understand consequences through experience. Social engagement is fostered through cooperative play requiring teamwork to restore a shared natural landscape. The user experience is innovative: children do not just learn about nature, they actively protect it, making decisions with immediate, visible effects on their shared world. Resource efficiency is achieved through thoughtful design that reduces material use while preserving educational value. Community-driven solutions are central: no one wins alone. Players must collaborate as the Guardians of soil, air, forest, and river to restore balance together.

Please describe your project, reflecting on the concept, inspiration, materials, technical aspects, methods and process(es).

EcoRush centers on a circular board symbolizing the planet and the interconnection of all ecosystems, populated with modular elements including trees, factories, recycling stations, solar panels, and oil spills. The landscape visually reflects the state of the world, shifting as players make decisions. Four Guardian characters represent soil, air, forest, and river, each carrying a distinct ecological role.
The game was developed through direct testing with children across multiple prototype iterations, with cardboard and foam models used to refine scale, element proportions, and gameplay mechanics before moving to digital 3D modeling. Material choices were guided by durability, tactile quality, and ecological responsibility. The final system combines structural components with smaller detailed pieces, creating a rich sensory experience. Rewards and penalties are tied directly to ecological actions, making cause and effect immediately legible to young players.

What do you think makes your project innovative compared to the existing efforts and ideas in the field it addresses?

Most eco-educational toys are either passive or competitive, framing environmental protection as individual achievement. EcoRush differs in three meaningful ways.
First, it is structurally collective: the game ends only when all four Guardians complete their tasks together, modeling real ecological interdependence rather than simplifying it.
Second, its world-building system is dynamic. Polluted factories sit alongside solar panels, oil spills alongside recycling stations, creating a landscape that visibly degrades or recovers based on player choices, making environmental consequences tangible for young children.
Third, the Guardian characters foster identification over competition: each child embodies a specific ecological role, grounding abstract concepts in personal responsibility. This combination of collective mechanics, visual storytelling, and role embodiment, validated through multiple rounds of child user testing, has no direct equivalent in the current market.

Does it impact or reflect young people need(s) and how?

EcoRush is designed around the developmental needs of children aged 6 and above, drawing on Piaget’s cognitive stages, fine motor skill research, and socio-emotional growth theory.
At this age, children are transitioning from egocentric toward cooperative reasoning. Gameplay supports this directly: it requires turn-taking, communication, strategic thinking, and emotional regulation when outcomes are negative. Tactile miniature elements strengthen fine motor skills; illustrated character cards support language development and narrative thinking; the ecological task system builds environmental literacy through lived experience.
Young people are the generation that will bear the full weight of today’s environmental decisions. EcoRush meets them at their developmental level with honest, age-appropriate content, not fear, but agency. Children learn that small actions carry weight and that real change happens through cooperation. These are not abstract lessons. They are practiced through play.

A handmade raft navigates along the Rhine-River, transforming river travel into a platform for shared knowledge, dialogue and alternative measurement.

Define the problem/need you are solving or addressing with your project. How does it address the Open Call criteria, such as environmental impact, social engagement, circularity, user experience, resource efficiency, and community-driven solutions?

Decisions about rivers are often made by distant institutions that manage them through technical standards, data platforms, and clearly defined borders of responsibility. Environmental protection, engineering, and energy production operate in parallel systems, rarely sharing knowledge or perspectives.
At the same time, crucial information about water flows remains inaccessible. For example, hydropower operators in upstream regions do not publish reservoir levels or flow data, which leaves downstream regions in a state of uncertainty regarding future water availability.
Historically, rivers were interpreted differently. Timber rafters had to understand currents, landscapes and seasonal changes through direct observation and exchange. This situational knowledge has largely disappeared.
Today, the Rhine-River is largely used as an industrial material, but is rarely understood as a shared ecosystem that can also be depleted. There is a need to bridge this gap by creating opportunities for institutions and communities to exchange knowledge and rethink collective responsibility across landscapes.

Please describe your project, reflecting on the concept, inspiration, materials, technical aspects, methods and process(es).

A handmade raft becomes a mobile measuring station that floats on the Rhine as an unconventional research instrument. This structure encourages direct engagement with the river landscapes and with the people, ecologies and institutions that form around the river. Rooted in pre-industrial rafting, the project reflects on how industrial standards have shaped our relationship with rivers. At each station, conversations with scientists, ethnologists and engineers will provide site-specific insights into missing parameters, which will later be translated into visual and spatial interventions. Instead of transporting goods, the raft carries stories, knowledge and alternative ways of knowing. Each documentary episode addresses gaps in recorded history, while archival publications compare standards and values along the Rhine, bringing knowledge back to institutions and crossing rigid borders of responsibility. The evolving design process transforms the raft into a platform for exchange, turning the river into a shared space of connection.

What do you think makes your project innovative compared to the existing efforts and ideas in the field it addresses?

Research is often conducted from a top view—identifying problems and attempting to intervene from the outside. Much like the sequence of your questions: Problem > Project > Innovation > Impact. For me, it was important to become an actor within the system, standing alongside the institutions and stakeholders along the Rhine.
Every conversation, research step, journey, and intervention happens through the object. The timber history and the building of a raft become the entry point for exchange.
Historically, rafts were highly adapted to each river course and current. In a similar way, the object—and myself as its navigator—remain adaptable in form and language, translating internal or specialised knowledge into accessible entry points.
The project challenges how we enter a river system: where access begins, through which tools, and who is allowed to participate in understanding it.

Does it impact or reflect young people need(s) and how?

Young people will face the ecological consequences of river systems, yet they are rarely part of current discussions. Flößern challenges this “not yet.” It shows that one does not need to be a scientist or engineer to begin engaging with rivers, and how a simple object can become a tool for community building and interdisciplinary exchange.
As more young people move to cities, they become consumers of distant landscapes without perceiving the infrastructures that sustain them. Rivers reveal these hidden connections. Timber once travelled from Alpine forests to Dutch cities, enabling urban growth. Today, these relationships persist but remain invisible.
By retracing these routes and translating them into publications, conversations, and spatial encounters, the project reconnects urban generations with the landscapes, communities, and infrastructures they depend on. It highlights how decisions in one region—such as climate change in the Alps or restricted environmental data—directly affect ecosystems and communities downstream.

Forecast typeface embodies the consequences of man-made climate change. It illustrates the problems posed by extreme weather events such as floods and droughts.

Define the problem/need you are solving or addressing with your project. How does it address the Open Call criteria, such as environmental impact, social engagement, circularity, user experience, resource efficiency, and community-driven solutions?

The purpose of my typeface is to raise awareness of the growing problem of climate change. It is an issue that affects everyone around the world.

Please describe your project, reflecting on the concept, inspiration, materials, technical aspects, methods and process(es).

Forecast is a variable typeface. It is made up of four masters. Flash Flood, Flood, Moderate Weather and Flash Drought. Moderate Weather illustrates a balanced climate, while the other masters depict the destruction caused by an unbalanced climate.

What do you think makes your project innovative compared to the existing efforts and ideas in the field it addresses?

Showing climate change in the form of a typeface is not a common occurrence. Even though a lot of design uses typography. So it’s my approach to highlight the problem through typography, which can be used to strengthen a design’s message.

Does it impact or reflect young people need(s) and how?

Extreme weather has already destroyed many livelihoods around the world. The more climate change continues, the more destruction there will be. It’s something we’ll have to deal with sooner or later.

A future-oriented design project exploring sixteen plausible human–nature relations in Lombok toward 2045, translating societal goals into an educational program now active across ten primary schools, and continuing to grow beyond the graduation project itself.

Define the problem/need you are solving or addressing with your project. How does it address the Open Call criteria, such as environmental impact, social engagement, circularity, user experience, resource efficiency, and community-driven solutions?

Across Lombok, human–nature relations are shifting, shaped by forces operating at different levels of agency: community life, knowledge systems, institutional governance, and global market pressures. The way people relate to nature varies fundamentally, from nature as sacred, to an interdependent system, uncontrollable, or something to be controlled. Existing systems struggle to navigate this plurality.

This project addresses this through a community-driven futures framework, developed with local stakeholders, NGOs, and policymakers, making it socially engaged and culturally grounded by design. By integrating the outcome into an existing curriculum rather than building parallel systems, it is resource-efficient and scalable. The educational approach builds long-term ecological awareness, contributing to environmental impact beyond the project itself. The workshop format and lesson modules prioritize accessibility and participation, ensuring the solution is usable and meaningful in its local context.

Please describe your project, reflecting on the concept, inspiration, materials, technical aspects, methods and process(es).

Human–Nature 2045 is a graduation project guided by the Vision in Design methodology, mapping sixteen plausible human–nature relations toward 2045 and translating these into societal goals. The resulting framework was applied at Coral Connect as a conversation and coalition-forming tool among NGOs, policymakers, and conservation actors.

Four societal goals became the pillars of a modular educational concept, integrated within the existing curriculum in Lombok. Each pillar was materialised as a distinct lesson module with its own learning objectives rooted in the framework. One uses a map-based game with nature change cards, teaching children to navigate natural disasters through discussion-based learning. Others take the form of a website, storycards and a diary used in a natural context, and a design workshop addressing a local natural problem to foster agency.

Together they demonstrate how future-oriented societal goals can be translated into varied, contextually grounded learning experiences for the next generation.

What do you think makes your project innovative compared to the existing efforts and ideas in the field it addresses?

This project received a perfect 10 for its graduation assessment, a rare distinction within the MSc Design for Interaction program at TU Delft, reflecting the originality and rigor of its approach.

Its innovation lies in applying Vision in Design, a methodology built for structuring complexity and articulating long-term values, in a non-Western, cross-cultural context. It is widely acknowledged that the vast majority of design is made for the wealthiest ten percent of the world. This project deliberately works against that tendency, bringing futures thinking and design methodology to a context where it is rarely applied, yet urgently needed.

Rather than proposing a single solution, the project maps a plurality of futures and societal goals, acknowledging that there is no single right relationship with nature. This systemic, values-driven approach, translated into tangible tools tested in real schools, makes it both conceptually rigorous and practically grounded.

Does it impact or reflect young people need(s) and how?

This project is fundamentally oriented toward the next generation. The educational program is designed for primary school children in Lombok, directly addressing a gap in their curriculum: a relational, future-oriented understanding of nature that connects their daily lives to the world they will inherit by 2045.

Young people in Lombok are growing up in a context of accelerating ecological change, including increased natural disasters, shifting landscapes, and uncertain futures. Yet education rarely prepares them to navigate this complexity or to see themselves as agents within it. This project responds to that need by designing learning experiences that are contextually grounded, engaging, and empowering.

More broadly, the planet and how we live on it is the defining challenge for today’s youth globally. This project contributes to building the ecological literacy and relational understanding that the next generation will need to face it.

Inocula is an open-source, locally producible field applicator for introducing fungus into invasive trees, enabling more accessible tree management through repairable design, 3D printing, and small-series production.

Define the problem/need you are solving or addressing with your project. How does it address the Open Call criteria, such as environmental impact, social engagement, circularity, user experience, resource efficiency, and community-driven solutions?

Invasive tree management is labor-intensive and still often relies on herbicides. Inocula offers a more targeted alternative by enabling the application of a species-specific fungal treatment through a dedicated field tool. It is designed for safer and more consistent use in real working conditions. The applicator is repairable, suited to local small-series production, and made so individual parts can be replaced instead of discarding the whole device. This supports resource efficiency and lowers barriers for smaller municipalities, land managers, and other trained users.

Please describe your project, reflecting on the concept, inspiration, materials, technical aspects, methods and process(es).

Inocula is a handheld applicator developed as part of my bachelor thesis in collaboration with Biohelp. The project grew from the gap between a promising biological treatment for invasive trees and the lack of a well-suited tool for applying it in the field. It combines incision, dosing, handling, and transport in one device designed around the real sequence of use. The applicator uses a sliding hammer for insertion and removal, an adjustable dosing system, a visible blade area for feedback during application, and an integrated safety cover and carrying system. It is designed for local small-series production and uses predominantly FDM-printed polypropylene parts. Repairability and clear material identification through labeling were important so the parts can be sorted into a defined recycling stream and more easily re-enter circular material flows. The project developed through iterative prototyping, testing, and refinement of construction, handling, and field workflow.

What do you think makes your project innovative compared to the existing efforts and ideas in the field it addresses?

What makes the project different is the way it responds to a very specific use case. In a niche field like this, conventional manufacturing would often be too expensive to justify a specialized tool. This project uses 3D printing for small-series production to make such a tool possible at all. It is designed to be produced locally, repaired, adapted, and improved over time. That matters because availability and maintenance are often just as important as the treatment itself. Compared to existing efforts, the project is not only about applying a specific fungus, but about making the tool behind that treatment realistic to build and use in practice.

Does it impact or reflect young people need(s) and how?

We as young people are growing up in a world shaped by climate change, ecological instability, all of which make issues like invasive species more urgent and more visible. This creates a growing need for tools and systems that help people respond to changing environmental conditions. Inocula reflects that need by supporting a more precise and locally adaptable approach to ecological maintenance. It also speaks to young designers. Many niche environmental fields lack well-designed tools, even when better methods already exist. The project aims to show, how design can contribute beyond mainstream consumer products by improving access, usability, and production in areas where small interventions can have real impact. In that sense, it reflects both the environmental challenges young people face and the opportunity to use design skills in a different and meaningful ways.