Thomas trusts the process

During his education at Umeå Institute of Design Thomas Müller started investigating why haptic technology – like vibratons used in game controls – isn't used more frequently in everyday life. Now he runs the startup company Hapticlabs.
ImageHapticlabs

“Why don't our office chairs vibrate when we get an email?”, says Thomas Müller.

That was one of the questions Thomas asked himself during his thesis work at the APD-programme in Umeå, when he started to investigate why haptic technology -  such as vibrations used in gaming controllers - isn’t used more frequently in everyday life.

After his studies in Umeå, Thomas worked both as design manager at another startup and as creative technologist at the university in Dresden, though he quite quickly began to build his own company - Hapticlabs.

Life in the startup industry

The startup facilitates the design process for others who want to develop products using haptic technology. Traditionally, this process requires expert knowledge ranging from software development and electronics to psychology and design, which can be a high barrier for people to enter this space.

“How can we showcase the advantages of haptics and make it easy to understand? We offer a platform to facilitate the design and prototyping process, a “Garageband” for haptic technology basically”, says Thomas Müller.

The team behind Hapticlabs is international and spread out over several continents. Thomas’ colleagues are based in Munich, Pakistan, Bern and Nigeria and the main part of the work happens online. Still today, a lot of the initial physical prototyping process happens in Thomas' own apartment.

What keeps Thomas excited for haptics is the ability to explore. Haptics is still a quite novel technology and there are lots of new areas to discover that can benefit our daily lives, he explains.

“The diversity is really exciting to me, we work with consumer products, mission critical applications or companies wanting to express their brand identity through haptics. New challenges and opportunities occur constantly”, he says.

Even though Thomas’ work isn’t exactly what he studied for, industrial design, he can draw from the design process when solving challenges to of running a business, he explains. His highlight is when he can tinker with physical prototypes.

Thomas explains different paths a designer could choose, to create futuristic concepts, dive deep into engineering, focus on user research or craft physical shapes. For Thomas it was the combination of them.

“I don’t think I’m the alumni with the most traditional design job”, says Thomas. 

To trust the process

To study the APD-programme in Umeå was for Thomas a unique experience he hasn’t seen anywhere else.

“What really stuck with me was the environment itself. In the studio where we worked everyone had their own space, but you could always peek over your peers’ shoulder and learn something from them, which was super inspiring. I haven’t seen such an atmosphere at any other places and it made the whole class grow together.”

Thomas Müller's startup Hapticlabs facilitates the design process for others who want to develop products using haptic technology. 

ImageAlexander Simchen

One of the big strengths of the APD-programme, according to Thomas, is how you learn to use the design process to solve complex problems. It’s not just about making something function well or great looking, but to come up with meaningful solutions , tell an easy to understand story  and tie everything together.

Another thing Thomas carries with him from his studies in Umeå, until this day, is a piece of advice he got from his advisor and programme director Thomas Degn during his thesis work: “to trust the process”, to analyze the problem, talk with the users, validate and iterate. In that way something meaningful will come out in the end.

“Often, as a designer, you’ll have a more scoped project, but the programme really prepared me for the “vagueness” that occurs when working with foreign topics”, says Thomas.

Failure is valuable

In the future Thomas hopes to be able to spend more time on actual design work while running his own startup.

What would you say to someone interested in studying the Master’s programme in Advanced Product Design in Umeå?

“Make the best of your time by moving yourself out of your comfort zone. The programme offers you lots of opportunities, such as an amazing workshop and extremely talented people. Ask yourself why you’re doing things in a certain way, flip it around and take the chance to learn something new.”

“But also, once again, to trust the process, explore things and take nothing too seriously! Later on when you’re working, the client has to be satisfied and there might be something actually at stake, when studying you can fail as much as you want. There’s so much value in that.”

What happens after this interview?

“I’m going back to work, we have an upcoming release with Hapticlabs that I am excited to share with our users.”

Read more about the Master's programme in Advanced Product Design

Interview: Olle Eriksson