Niels Groen
Senior User Experience (lead) Designer
- Website
- http://engee.nl
- niels@engee.nl
- Mobile
- +31 (0)65 069 5255
- Logo
I'm a Senior (and lead) User Experience and Service Designer, located near Amsterdam, with more than 20 years experience with development of digital products. In my early years, I also held technical roles, which gives me a broad perspective on projects and ensures a good connection with the production team. I've also got extensive experience with teaching, and graduated on game-based learning, also called serious gaming.
My focus is always on the end user, without losing sight of the client's business interests. That's why I always start with insight, research and stakeholder interviews. I look for the root cause of the problem and possible solutions or areas for improvement. I then sketch ideas that evolve into wireframes and prototypes, and eventually into the final design, suitable and feasible for development. Throughout this agile process, validation and testing are essential elements. I am a strong advocate of prototyping to validate ideas with users
In addition to my own entrepreneurial ventures (Vesper, MyKea, The App Academy), I have worked for (among others) NN, ING, Philips, Adidas, FOX Sports, PLUS, Heineken, Adyen, LiGA, Albert Heijn, KLM, Vodafone, Dordrechts Museum, Prins Claus Fonds, TNT Pakketdienst, BuZa and Tropen Museum. In addition, I worked for agencies such as TBWA, Media Monks, Fabrique, ETCETERA, Code D'Azur, We Can Be Heroes, and Digital Natives
My goal for the next years is to work only on projects that make an impact. They should solve a real problem without harming the environment. Sustainability, clean energy, healthcare and education are some of the topics I care about.
2002–present
Freelance UX designer for:
2014–2017
Because of a serious shortage of iOS developers we started a privately owned training company located in Amsterdam. We intend to fill a void in the education for App Development by teaching fulltime iOS and Android courses which cover all aspects of developing native mobile apps.
2010–2011
Don't we all just love and hate Ikea at the same time?! Mykea is a website to make your Ikea furniture more beautiful, unique and personal by customizing it with amazing designs.
2009–2011
As a founder of Vesper I was responsible for the daily operations and the products we were making for our clients. Taking care of the technical side of the projects and to lead the designers and developers (often overseas) as well as advising the customers on solutions. Customers of vesper include (among others) PostNL, Dordrechts Museum, Prins Claus Fonds, 2alljobs, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Agis, Bloomville..
2008–2009
My task was to start the new interactive department within a print oriented design agency with an ambition to grow into the interactive field. We've created websites and other interactive products for (among others) ING, KLM, Kennemer Lyceum, Wareco en Immidio
2004–2008
At Flash[club] I started as a Flash AS2 programmer and soon got involved in managing projects and AS3 programming for clients like ABN AMRO (Wereldwijd rendement 3D globe), FC Twente's TaalTreffers (Game based learning system), Sony's walkman, Nuon job site, Postbank demo's, multiple games (like Bertolli and Blueband) and virals like Vodafone, FBTO, NS and Prodent.
2002
Teaching HTML to firstyear students "Media and Cultuur" at the University of Amsterdam (UvA).
UvA site
2000-2004
Supervisor for the Multimedia course: teaching, assisting students with their projects and creating and marking their exams. Also responsible for maintaining the OSX network (gigabit, 3Tb storage server) and creating and maintaining the websites for sae.nl and sae.edu
1997-2002
Repairing and solving soft- and hardware problems for clients at Paradigit Computers in Utrecht.
Paradigit
2002–2006
2000–2001
1998–2000
1995–1998
1987–1994