Restaurant Gys approached me with a fairly simple question: can you fix some overlapping website buttons customers use to make table reservations?
After a couple of drinks (non-alcoholic of course!) and a strategy session, we found a more interesting problem: a lot of guests assume the restaurant is a lunchroom. While Gys does serve lunch, they open at 10:00 and close at 21:30. I like to eat lunch at random times, but that's definitely not lunchtime in my book. Gijs Werschkull, owner of the restaurant, agreed with me that we should explore the problem further.
I came up with a concept: in the morning the crew is ready to pour you a coffee to-go. In the afternoon there is plenty of space to work or relax with friends. Time for a drink after work? Eating out with the whole family? Gys is there for you, at any time of day.
When proposing the concept as a question, the crew is able to explore answers inside the restaurant: how might we let guests come into contact with different experiences throughout the day?
We set out to answer that question through a renewed identity, visual language, website, print and social media assets.
Gys
Identity
Prototyping
Iconography
Visual design
Visual language
Interaction design
UX copy
Social media assets
Concept
UX strategy
Brand strategy
Content strategy
Project management
Digital strategy consultation
Gift cards by Sjoerd van Leeuwen
Beer label
Collection cards
Menu w/ Nick Lutgerhorst
Nick Lutgerhorst for some help with the logo
2020 - ongoing — We make better decisions together.
2022 – All day, err day.
2021 — A serious game about conspiracy thinking and online misinformation.
2021 — Vegan Burger Fun, delivered.
2019 — Take a chill pill. Or follow proper yoga classes. I’d go for the second option.
2017 — Finding structure in a festival line-up comprised of 264 films.
I'm Martijn, a digital designer from Utrecht (NL) with around 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.
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
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. ☻
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
Interaction design
Digital branding
Visual design
Concept development
Project management
Design education
Usability testing
Design Thinking
Design systems
Workshopping
User research
Iconography
Prototyping
UX writing
Kanban
Scrum
Agile
GTD
Final Cut Pro X
Affinity’s suite
Adobe’s suite
Keynote
Sketch
Things
Notion
Figma
Miro
Jira
Office (with a face like this: 😤)
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
Eurico Sá Fernandes and Jori Regter
Nikita Kuijpers. She shot the photo of me giving a talk.