Martijn van de Zuidwind

A designer doing sites, apps & such

Mail
for inquiries

LinkedIn
for that connect

Work

Parta
cover of parta project

As a collective, we are able to find outcomes and solutions together. Parta facilitates informed, focused decision making to support and broaden democratic processes. It allows everyone to contribute to ideas and decisions on various topics.

I redesigned the apps over the summer in 2020 and joined the team as their first designer later that same year. We're currently iterating on the platforms through learnings of usage by organisations and participants alike.

A phone and tablet displaying different parts of the Parta interface. The phone shows two cards in a timeline, the tablet mostly shows the main navigation component.

By using a timeline as an interface concept, participants are able to monitor and interact with decision-making processes.

A cover card with branding elements, the logo and the tagline stating 'we make better decisions together'.

Brand designer Hannah van der Mijle helped us out by creating a fresh identity for an international audience. After she created the foundations, I picked up where she left off.

A two screen user flow showing that when pressing the trash icon in a card, a confirmation dialog pops up asking you to delete your written suggestion.

Together with the devs, I created a component library with which we're setting up a design system in the future (prioritise your baby steps, y'all). With that library we can quickly review every scenario and user flow we can come up with.

A multitude of components like cards, overlays, typography styles, icons and illustrations showing some diversity in the design system.

Mandatory design system image! Some cards, some typography styles, even some icons in dark blue blobs on the right.

A screenshot of a usability test: three people are visible next to an interface.

We like to know stuff for sure. Usability testing helps with that. Founder Lonneke and I tested multiple hypotheses within our first design implementation.

A raster of white icons on a dark background.

And look at that. Even more icons. We use these (and many more) to connect sometimes abstract concepts to conceptual models people may have about other digital or real life spaces. Think voting, collaborating, complexities, etcetera. My favourite is definitely 'provide us feedback'. If you can find it, you win a prize.

A couple sketches of mobile interfaces. Martijn and Nikki are visible in a small window from video conference software.

Together with interaction designer Nikki Buitendijk, I improved the connection between the interfaces and the mental models they're based on. This is a very early setup of the design.

Sjoerd and Martijn are sitting next to each other. Sjoerd has a tablet used for drawing in front of him with a range of illustrations visible on screen. Martijn has a laptop in front of him showing interfaces with illustrations in them.

Sjoerd van Leeuwen created some nifty illustrations and pictograms. Since we want to reach citizens from all walks of life, it's crucial to have the entry level be as low as it can possibly be. Visual recognition through imagery can help with that. We spent the hottest day of the year optimising colours and scannability.

Core team

Mathijs Kemp

Lonneke Dikmans

Maaike van der Gaag

Lucien van der Plaats

Ronald van Luttikhuizen

Martijn van de Zuidwind


Development

Web app + native apps all done by the team at Vennster


Design

Prototyping

Iconography

Accessibility

Visual design

Design system

Expansion of identity

Digital strategy consultation

Interaction concepts & design


Content

UX writing

Social media assets


Strategy

UX strategy

Usability testing

Information structure


Illustrations

Sjoerd van Leeuwen


Identity design

Hannah van der Mijle


Extra shout out

Tom Kölker for the naming workshop

Jimme Bakker for the identity explorations

Nikki Buitendijk for the very early interaction design sessions


Links

Platform site

Smaller bits

Eurofiber – 2021

A collection of components designed for the new Eurofiber.

Eurofiber has been a provider of industry-leading digital infrastructure since 2000. Together with the crew at iO, I redesigned their site.

An animation showing the mobile menu opening up to reveal a multitude of links to solution and product pages. At the end of the animation, the menu is closed with a button on the bottom of the phone screen to form a loop.

Eurofiber has many products, which I wanted to present elegantly. No hamburger buttons. Through the new mobile menu, users are able to quickly orient around their many offerings.

An animation showing an overly large cursor moving inside the the frame to click on a card.

I see you looking at that cursor, thinking, "it can't be that big, right?". And you're correct about that. It's fake. But the funnel supporting different sized organisations isn't.

Kapitaal — 2020

Thumbnail showing Kapitaal's homepage.

They said Helvetica, black and white. We gave them Helvetica, black and white.

Thumbnail showing the navigation for Kapitaal's website.

Through information architecture, we kept the navigation structure simple as pie. Or hamburger, in this case. Sorry, designer jokes.

Video showing a button changing labels while it moves down. First label: book table. Second label: Really. You should book. Third label: Are you gonna book a table or what? Fourth label: JEEz Louis. HOW MUCH CONVINCING DO YOU NEED?

Scrolling through pages that contain buttons makes labels act funny. Because, why not be a bit forceful about booking a screen printing table?

It is always fun to pretend to work with Ramon & Carlien.
Project with Carlien Peijsel & Ramon Goedvree. Development by Rik Frieling.

No Seat at the table — 2020

Thumbnail showing a title card explaining No Seat at the Table.

No Seat at the Table is an online platform to exchange stories of gentrification, the housing crisis and the need for spatial justice.

The original bird illustration is created by Rajab Eryigit.

Thumbnail showing the opening animation for the website.

For this site, we created some fancy shmancy intro animations and different ways to discover stories of gentrification.

Thumbnail showing a mobile map-view.

Do you see that? No hamburger menu! On a mobile screen? No way. Just. Wow!

Thumbnail showing Minem pointing at a monitor that displays the website.

I like to take the time with clients to nail down certain steps in the design process. Minem and I are going through a review here.

Project with Minem Sezgin. Development by Rik Frieling.

Eneco — 2018

Thumbnail showing multiple designs for the Eneco app.

The Eneco app enables consumers to influence their energy bill by offering data on their power usage.

A general menu in the Eneco app

During my time we utilised click data, interviews and surveys to simplify the interface and user flows. We improved the menu through a card sort.

Thumbnail showing a close up of a stepper and a feedback message.

By following the Jobs to be Done model, we focused most of the redesigned interactions around the goals users have.

Thumbnail showing part of the sprint team during a usability test.

We also realised a bigger shake-up of the app through a design sprint.

Project with Dept & Eneco.

HR Projectadvies — 2018

As an interim project manager Erik Jan helps large corporates go through organizational changes. The renewed site expresses who he is: an expert with an approach that connects people.

Thumbnail showing an illustrated character drawing a checkbox.

We rewrote and restructured Erik Jan's previous website using a priority guide. We also used the guide to build wireframes. Not that that's related to this guy.

Thumbnail showing 4 combined illustrations.

When in doubt, add more illustrations. In this case, we created some abstract ones related to typical HR practices and skills.

Nick, chilling on the a museum floor.

I couldn't find a photo of Nick and me working on this project, so here's a photo of Nick in Voorlinden.
Project with Erik Jan van Dalen. Design & development with Nick Lutgerhorst.

Info

Martijn, looking straight into the camera.
Martijn, but now he's staring at paintings.
Also Martijn.
Also, also Martijn.
Also, also, also Martijn.
Also Martijn, but still no visible face.

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.


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.