Delightful & elegant online experiences §

I am an interface designer and HTML/CSS expert. I design interactive people-centered products and consult on designing for the Web. I translate brand strategies and user needs into elegant and enjoyable experiences. My specialty is to deliver clear design solutions and to simplify complex user interfaces. Passionate about typography on the Web I focus on creating comfortable online reading environments.

Since 1997 I have been designing interactive products, having gained an intimate knowledge of the Web as a medium and design canvas. Starting out a graphic web designer, I soon started translating my designs in HTML and CSS in order to get an intimate understanding of the possibilities and challenges and to understand how browsers work and keeping up with the constant flux of the Web. It allows me to investigate the material honesty of the Web’s building materials and to work with its grain.

After working for several design studios I founded my own studio in 2004. I work within product teams and as a ‘one-man design-team’ and have a proven track record with clients including Reed Elsevier, Wolters Kluwer, Randstad, Rabobank, the University of Amsterdam, Kennisnet and the Dutch Ministry of Education and Science.

Over the past couple of years, I have specialized in designing ‘living’ style guides, design systems, UI/UX pattern libraries and Web typography.

Designing in the browser, using code as design language §

My design process is guided by a product and its content. Web’s native content structure and hierarchy language HTML, accompanied by its CSS styling language, paper and pencil are my primary design tools.

Designing with web standards §

‘Designing in the browser’ allows me to deliver accessible, resilient and responsive designs from the get-go, striking a balance between aesthetics, performance, and usability. Writing clean and semantic, web standards-based HTML and pairing it with performant CSS ensures designs are not only accessible but are also optimized for search engines by default. It treats accessibility and performance as premier design issues and major contributors to a user’s experience.

Past-proof and future-friendly §

Designing in the actual medium and canvas allows to progressively enhance a solid product foundation, and layering the latest cutting-edge stuff yet providing support across all mediums, platforms, and browsers.

From establishing brand identity, visual direction and experience, this iterative approach allows validating assumptions and test ideas early and throughout a project’s roadmap. It makes for informed decisions along the way, illustrates implications of design choices and allows testing with users quickly.

View some of my recent work, get in touch with me or connect with me on LinkedIn.