Identity
24 years old, Eindhoven
Identity
Having a passion for something you do, is the most wonderful thing in my opinion. People do not have always the tools or knowledge to pursue their passion. I always shared my skills and knowledge with others in order for them, but also for me, to grow. With the right tools and help, we can bring people together and let them flourish. Being valuable for people is my drive and their passion is my inspiration.
Design
I want to create products that evoke social interaction and stimulate creativity by the use of the product. A product is more than a solution to a functional need and can bound people together. I use the power of communities to embrace these qualities in a product. By communities, innovation can be co-created, since all users can explore the potential
themselves and thus create true value.
Communities
Becoming Dutch Champion in juggling at the age of 15 has shown me what hard work and dedication can do. But juggling has brought me much more than just a hobby since it is the reason I started designing in the first place. The juggling community embraced me and
has taught me more than just tricks, such as how to organize conventions together, act as role model, teach others and experience the community lifecycle. This has inspired me to do create the possibility for others to experiences the same.
Crowdsourcing
My design career has started on a crowdsourcing platform for graphic designs. It allowed me to improve my logo design skills, learn from others who made designs for the same client and provided the potential to get my designs in “the real world“ for which I would get paid. I used the platform ontwerpenvoorgeld.nl which is now one of collaborating platforms for my FMP (rebranded as crowd.site ). When winning two competitions closely after each other, I started to set-up my own business and started looking for clients in my own network. The platform allowed me to validate my skills and gave me the confidence to start for myself.
Vision
I believe in the power of communities. Over the years, communities have proven to be able to raise money for what they believe in (Patreon, Kickstarter), create software by collaborating (Ubuntu, Firefox) and even run an entire business (Giffgaff).
Personally, I have grown up in the juggling community. We share our knowledge, stimulate creativity and give opportunities for people to grow by organizing our own conventions and activities. Shared passion brings people together and they stimulate each other to get the best out of yourself. It results in innovation by more people exploring the possibilities of a shared passion.
Seeing the potential in the creation of communities and using my own experiences, I want to use the power of communities in different fields to transform society. Professionals in the field are often called community builders. As a designer, I go beyond the building of a community and also shape their value by the creation of better tools, hence I use the term community design.
Future of work
Imagine a world where work becomes a choice instead of a necessity. Crowdsourcing offers everyone with an internet connection to perform work online. Furthermore, you are in control of what kind of work you do and for who. In one day you could work for multiple companies and only perform the specific tasks you like. When I talk to other students, they often don’t know what they want to do after. I believe that the only way to find out your passion, is by trying different things. Crowdsourcing thus offers the ideal way to try a lot of different things for real clients, without having to make a big investment such as soliciting for a specific job and be at that company for over a year to find out it was “not your thing”. Especially my generation of millennials including myself, would like to work on a project-bases to have enough diversity and ability to grow, instead of being stuck with the same company your entire live. Therefore I am passionate to make crowdsourcing more accessible to a wider public.