Behind the desk
I couldn't choose. Luckily.
My father is an artist, so making things was completely normal at home. Museums and exhibitions were part of that too. When it was time to choose what to study, my options went in every possible direction. I was interested in too many things and no course seemed to bring them all together.
Communication & Multimedia Design came closest. Creative, broad and with enough room to figure out where I would eventually land.
I took the gamble. It paid off.
Design clicked immediately. The technical side interested me too, although at first it mostly intimidated me. When you're just starting out, code has a slightly Matrix-like quality. Then I discovered that development is really one big puzzle: try something, get stuck, work out why and keep going until it works.
It turned out to be another kind of creativity.
With design, I work out how something should look, feel and connect with the people using it. That's also where my interest in psychology comes in. Development then challenges me not only to think it through, but to make it work.
At WT Interactive, I worked as a creative developer. At Bikkelhart, my focus shifted towards UX/UI design. Both roles already brought design and technology together. Now those two sides meet in Donna Works.
My curiosity doesn't stop at design and code. I graduated cum laude with a research project on responsible AI use within digital agencies. A topic that is becoming increasingly relevant as AI takes on a larger role in our work.
Opening an AI tool is easy. Knowing when to use it, how to use it well and when to close it again is another matter.
