Avid reader and doer, thriving on learning new things and driven by curiosity.
Hi! I’m Michael, a Dutch product designer based in Tokyo and I am driven by solving complex problems and turning these into simple and easy-to-use solutions.
Currently, I'm working for JapanTravel as a lead designer since April 2016. Previously, I worked at Cream - a digital agency in Lausanne, Switzerland and Tokyo, Japan - designing and improving their digital training platform and worked on a range of digital products for various industries.
Working in various startups and industries aided me in becoming an expert in my craft, enabling me to create better products through holistic design. I aim to create products that improve people’s daily lives by making them accessible, intuitive and delightful.
Besides work, I love to kickstart my early mornings with a quality cup of coffee. On the weekends you can find me at a cafe reading and relaxing while listening to jazzhop or discovering new places. I also like to socialize and frequent local UX meet-ups to meet other designers from Tokyo’s international design community.
Let’s chat over some coffee. — Michael
Experience
-
Lead Designer, Japan Travel
April 2016 - Present, TokyoLed design and developed the Japan Travel UGC platform, in addition to 50+ landing pages and websites for companies, local governments and major global brands.
- Increased organic traffic by 662% and customer engagement by 269% through user flow optimizations and creating accessible (WCAG 2.0 compliant) and high-performance user-interfaces for local government destination website.
- Led Japan Travel’s core product redesign and increased conversion rate by 253% through optimizing navigation and implementing modern UX patterns.
- Increased monthly bookings by 400% through redesigning the website of Izumigo.
- Raised customer satisfaction rates by aligning team vision and introducing design impact measurement through outcome focused and evidence based design strategies.
- Significantly improved cross-functional collaboration and rapid iteration by introducing and implementing lean and agile methodologies.
-
Product Designer, Cream
September 2014 - September 2015, TokyoDesigned multiple projects for a wide range of industries and major global brands.
- Increased user engagement with product redesign and gamification of BrandAcademy, Cream’s primary SaaS training and engagement platform.
- Contributed to profits through research and interactive design concepts for successful proposals and presentations.
- Created and designed informational assets such as infographics and instruction videos for various brands within BrandAcademy.
-
Front End Engineer Intern, Ravonet - Appstore Amsterdam
March 2013 - May 2013, AmsterdamDeveloped CRM templates and websites for clients using HTML, SCSS, Javascript and PHP.
- Expanded client’s product portfolios through design and development of modular email templates.
- Introduced and implemented responsive design for client websites.
- Maintained positive customer feedback loops and relations by facilitating final product hand-offs and providing hands-on training for professional CRM usage.
-
Marketing and Communications Intern, TMG - Groupdeal
June 2012 - September 2012, AmsterdamManaged and created commercial stories in addition to providing sales and customer support.
- Increased monthly sales through copywriting commercial stories for a variety of products on the online deal marketplace.
- Contributed to sales by editing and composing creative product photos.
- Maintained high customer satisfaction rates through pre-sale and post-sale inquiry support.
Education
-
Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
August 2011 - April 2015, AmsterdamBachelor of Communication and Multimedia Design GPA 3.94/4.0
Recognition
-
CSSDA
2022 — Special Kudos, Innovation, UI, UX -
Golden Dot Awards
2015 — Nominated for best project of the year