I'm Martijn, a digital designer from Utrecht (NL) with 10+ years of professional experience.

While I focus on tinkering with interfaces and designing for curiosity, I appreciate being involved in branding as well. 

I like to think about friction in interaction design. 

Technology is an instrument meant to help us, which means it shouldn’t intrude when we don’t need it. By thoughtfully adding small amounts of friction to well-considered places, I believe that we can strike the right balance between maximising usability and maintaining an appropriate distance.

Another way I’d like to look at design is that it is a way of making the technology we use feel considerate, warm and natural. While this isn’t technology’s default state, I believe that we should use design to give us back some of that warmth. 

This means we should be focused on anticipating and solving a user’s problems before they ever have them. Ideally, a tool should be so intuitive and caring that we forget that it’s technology at all. It should just be there when it’s needed, and absent when it’s not.

Currently

Digital product designer at Parta – a method & platform for decision-making processes

Freelance designer – helping out friends, design studios and organisations

Guest lecturer at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences – Communication and Media Design

Previously

Lecturer at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences – Communication and Media Design's specialisation 'Human Centered Design'

Digital designer at iO

UX designer at Hike One

UX designer through secondment at SchaalX

Designer at Studio Airport

Collaboration is essential to create relevant work. In my freelance practice, I experiment with different approaches of collaboration, be it with clients, specialists in related fields and designers new to the game.

I’ve developed a strong interest in socially driven projects by being involved in ones such as restaurant Syr and Parta. It's also why I started lecturing at Communication & Multimedia Design in Utrecht. Are you working on a socially driven project? I’m always open to learn more. ☻

Some clients I worked for

University of the Arts Utrecht

Dutch Ministry of Culture, Education and Science

Into the Great Wide Open

Amsterdam Art Council

Sportbedrijf Rotterdam

Emergence Magazine

White Ribbon UK

Restaurant Syr

Zware Jongens

Greenpeace

Kapitaal

Pfizer

eBay

Main skills

Interaction design

Digital branding

Visual design

Also fine at

Concept development

Project management

Design education

Usability testing

Design Thinking

Design systems

Workshopping

User research

Iconography

Prototyping

UX writing

Kanban

Scrum

Agile

GTD

I play around in

Final Cut Pro X

Affinity’s suite

Adobe’s suite

Keynote

Sketch

Things

Notion

Figma

Miro

Jira

Office (with a face like this: 😤)

Mentions

It's Nice That – Tom Heerschop

Commarts – Tom Heerschop

Volkskrant – Syr

DUIC – Syr

NU – Syr

European Design Award – Amsterdamse Kunstraad

Honorable Mention – Amsterdamse Kunstraad

Honorable Mention – Tom Heerschop

Honorable Mention – Go Short

Honorable Mention – Inspire

DesignRush – Ruff

For inquiries

Mail me

If you’re into PDFs

Curriculum Vitae

Development by

Eurico Sá Fernandes and Jori Regter

Shout out to

Nikita Kuijpers. She shot the photo of me giving a talk.