Joost Van der Made
If you make the space
more personal, in
whatever way you can,
that generates the highest
level of appreciation
Joost Van der Made, NS
company, as partners on the project, rather
than design agencies that already operate
in the rail industry.
Three core needs
Part of the objective was to address aspects
that generate passenger dissatisfaction.
“There’s been a lot of customer research over
In its research, NS found that
“If you want an experience rated
Personal spaces
He explains that people feel appreciated when
spaces are comfortable and cosy. “If you make
the space more personal, in whatever way
you can, that generates the highest level of
appreciation – when passengers feel included,
part of the ecosystem. Then you can get to a
high seven in satisfaction.”
To achieve more, Van der Made says
designers must create a sense of freedom by
offering choice. “People experience freedom
when they are allowed to spend time where
they want to, and sleep, work or relax when
they want to,” he explains. “You want to make
it inspirational and exciting and help customers
to discover their space. Then you get the
highest level of customer experience.”
One example of this approach in the design
is the bar seating, which makes the most of the
LEFT: The Train
of the Future
design prioritizes
giving lots of
seating options
BELOW: The firstclass
section
ANNUAL SHOWCASE 2019 Railway Interiors International 33
Images: Mecanoo Architects
GETTING TO KNOW JOOST
Joost Van der Made graduated from Delft University
of Technology in 1993 as an industrial design engineer,
and began his career at Phillips, working on product
and service combinations; a job somewhere between
product management and design. There, he developed
the foundations of his ‘deliberate design’ methodology.
He then went to Ericsson in Sweden, just as mobile
phones were becoming popular consumer products,
and worked on portfolio planning and product
management. In 2006, Van der Made returned to the
Netherlands and became responsible for TomTom
navigation devices. There, he says, user experience
design overrode aesthetics: “It was not so much about
how nice the device looked, but how good the traffic
information was.”
From there Van der Made moved to Nokia and then
to Frog Design. “I had a desire to go back to my roots
and back to design,” he says. “It’s not just about having
a brilliant idea, but really convincing the company you
and strategic marketing for
businesses abroad and then for the
domestic market; concept design
innovation,” concludes
Van der Made.
the past 20 years,” says Van der Made. “You
can assume that passengers want a train
that arrives on time and is clean. If you
really dive deep, there is a need to be
in control, but you don’t win hearts and
minds by only offering this feeling.”
passengers have three core needs:
to be in control; to feel appreciated;
and to experience freedom.
eight or more out of ten, you need to
address all three needs and the real
difference is made by addressing the
need to feel appreciated and the need to
experience freedom,” says Van der Made.
work with that design can drive the business.”
He later became head of innovation
at Ziggo Internet, before ultimately taking
on the same position at rail operator
NS. “I started off heading innovation