Introduction
Hello there! Fear not of the vast amounts of words below. I merely wish to get in touch. But I can imagine the threshold can sometimes be a little bit too high for comfort. So I want to be open, and provide you with all the nitty-gritty to make sure we find common ground. And thus, a reason for setting up a connection.
If all of this does not interest you, and you are merely gunning for some gossip, skip to the header of your choice below.
About Me
The Short Version
I am a creative and super-curious designer. My focus is on a more radical type of innovation and strategy, looking forward to new opportunities on the horizon. My work has a way of serving food for thought.
When practicing my work I am very driven and self-motivated.
I enjoy working in multi-disciplinary teams, being a fast and critical learner.
I have a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Industrial Design from the University of Technology Eindhoven. Here I developed a broad set of knowledge and skills, culminating over the fields of product design, graphic design, interaction and experience design, mechanical productions, and finally futuristic strategies.
One of my traits is diving into the deep end of the pool. Challenges are there to enrich your knowledge, skills, and experience, and I enjoy taking them head on. They tend to result in a more worthwhile experience.
And I am a perfectionist, in all its facets. I obsess about the details so you don’t have to. Just take a look at my business card.
Ultimately I believe my work holds a certain holistic quality. Although people don’t always see the difference, they do perceive the difference.
History
Background
In the early years there has always been some creative and skillful influence from both my parents. I’d like to think they contributed for a large part to my earlier motivations and choices in life.
Education
The pre-university education created the little spark needed to pursue my creative and design aspirations at the Department of Industrial Design, situated at the University of Technology Eindhoven (TU/e).
During my time at ID I honed my skills and tastes, ultimately resulting in my first experience of starting with a fascinating technology. My Bachelor graduation project: Ferrofluid.
Eventually, the combined experience of five years at ID resulted in my Master graduation project: fluDOC. A project where I started with bioluminescent bacteria and ended up with a innovative tool to diagnose influenza and more complicated pandemics.
Post-Education
After my education the second phase of teaching began. Part of my time was spent working at the Ministerie van Nieuwe Dingen (Ministry of New Things). Here I spent my time creating breakthrough innovations through multidisciplinary design projects.
The other part of my time is spent working as a freelance creative product designer of extensive trades for a wide range of clients.
In January 2012 I embarked on a new adventure to Milan and am currently working somewhere in between industrial and interaction design at frog, a global innovation firm.
Interests
Yesterday
For me it is important to remember what used to grab my interest. Especially in knowing why it stopped becoming so darn interesting in the first place.
I used to enjoy skateboarding. Due to injuries, I now marvel in its complexity of motion. This comes back when working with interfaces, thinking about the movements and gestures.
I used to take pleasure in playing with PCs. Now I use Apples. I won’t try to convince you, you’ll figure it out sooner or later.
Today
The things that keep me occupied today need only be enlisted under the categories “creativity” and “design.” These two are frequently explored, in an ever growing sense.
The foundation and philosophical backbone in much of my work stems from our ever-changing environment. I spend a lot of time reading about present-day technologies and upcoming developments. This helps me connect the dots for my future concepts.
Another preference of mine is minimalism. For all the complexity and chaos that is thrown at us every day, I enjoy the serenity of simple.
Lastly, a current passion of mine is exploring the do’s and don’ts of custom motorcycle fabrication. Preferably pre-1970 Harley Davidsons.
Tomorrow
One of those things I one day will do is build my own car. I am aware of the gigantic set of skills and machinery required, but I am convinced this is somehow inevitable.
Another considers the roof over my head. I am no architect, but for some reason it seems I need something from my own hands to become the nest I wish to reside in.
And finally I seek something bigger, something that will last. I have given it a lot of thought, yet the detailed concept has eluded me for some time now. Check back later for more, I would say.
Links
For those of you looking for a more summarized version of the above, I have prepared a more downloadable option: my resume. You can download it, in .pdf format, here.
Although I can sometimes be an analog guy in a digital world, LinkedIn is one of those exceptions. Collecting business cards is not a hobby of mine, so I keep track of my connections by adding them on LinkedIn. If asking me about my life through email is not your thing, you can always spy on me with LinkedIn.
Despite the fact that I prefer live connections over digital ones and try to avoid being too connected, I practice Twitter. For its wide range of push-notified inspiration and in being a vent for my creative spam, I use it on a daily basis. If for some peculiar reason you are interested in my expressions of 140 characters, you can follow me on Twitter.
Lately I’m moving all of my content from offline to online. I believe that the habit of storing everything on local drives won’t pay off on the long rong. So for all my current growing inspiration, I’m using Pinterest. Check it out if you want to figure out where my inspiring interests are aimed at.
Recommendations
Koert van Mensvoort
Part-time Assistant Professor, TU/e – 29/10/2010
“Jan has his head in the clouds, his hands in the mud, and his feet on the ground. The man is of practical and down to earth, as well as experimental and explorative. A very rare combination one seldom finds in one person. While coaching his master graduation I became impressed with his ability to dive in the deep end of the pool, come up with experimental ideas and materialize them into skillful prototypes. No surprise Jan graduated with excellence. Soon after, I hired Jan to work on product prototypes for the Nano Supermarket exhibition. Unsurprisingly, he made an important contribution. Hence, if you are working on a visionary idea and need help from someone to think along and turn it into a reality: Jan is your man.”
Joris van Gelder
Founder, Ministerie van Nieuwe Dingen – 27/09/2011
“Jan joined MvND as creative designer. He contributed in a wide range of client project that varied from consulting multinational cooperations on their innovation tactics to finding new markets for high tech startups. Jan also played an important part in internal projects, e.g. he took the lead in creating a new and more interactive website. In all of these projects Jan showed bold creativity, technological know how, and a keen eye for detail. I highly recommend Jan as a problem solver, opportunity creator, designer, and colleague.“
