Ever since I was a child, I’ve had great admiration for people who make the world a more interesting place. From great story tellers like George Lucas and J.R.R. Tolkien, to musicians like the Beatles and illustrators like Walt Disney and Hergé. People who simply make beautiful things.
The love for creating ‘something’ eventually lead to designing and building my first websites, back in high school. First in plain HTML, later with WordPress. This fascination with the internet is what motivated me to switch careers – after graduating as a Master of Science in Spatial Planning – and start working as a freelance illustrator and Web designer, slash web developer.
After doing this for several years, both freelance and as a web designer for a publishing group, I started looking for a work environment with more like minded people. A place where you can learn from, and inspire, one another. At Yoast, working as a UX designer and WordPress developer, I definitely found that place!
I love spending my spare time with my wife and son and my friends and family; watching TV series and movies, sketching, reading, playing tennis and unwinding on our little, wooden sailing boat.
Design sameness Inspiration is at the heart of design. When we – as designers – try to solve a problem we tend to look at what others do. We are often tempted to copy what other companies or websites are doing. This because of their authority: “I’m following Material Design to the letter because Google […]
Read: "Open source design: claiming ownership over design conventions"
