Hi, I’m marnix.

About me

Name: Marnix Valentijn Puijker
Gender: Male
Age: 26
Nationality: Dutch
Currently residing in: Utrecht, The Netherlands
College degree: BA in Interaction Design (acquired in 2012)
Languages spoken fluently: Dutch, English
Less proficient languages: German, French, Spanish

Characteristics:

• Hard worker


• Perfectionist


• Curious


• Observant


• Calm


• Thinker


• Logical


• Self aware


• Creative


• Eager


• Likes collaboration


• Social


• Openminded

Challenged by:

• Needs a good amount of variety in his work.


• Isn’t always able to generate super ideas under extreme time pressure by himself.


• Always expects others to give good arguments when making decisions.

My work process:

1. Client communication, get a clear description of the task at hand.


2. Problem analysis, getting familiar with the environment the product is used in and interviewing users and stakeholders.


3. Create documents to communicate requirements for the product among the team.


4. Conceptual thinking / lateral thinking methods to generate concepts and ideas.


5. Synthesis of ideas, bottom-up approach where a main structure or model gets enhanced by well chosen features.


6. Rapid prototyping through the use of Axure (or other software) or paper prototypes.


7. Acquire feedback and document this.


8. Adjust the prototype, document changes made and measure improvements made.


9. Repeat steps 5,6 & 7 till the prototype is adequately thought through.


10. Finalize the prototype.


11. Create an annotated document that the developers and visual designers can use for further development.


12. Start a-b version testing with products created by the visual designers and developers, take the results and start fine tuning the product.


13. Final presentation to stakeholders/client


14. Celebration of success.


15. Maintenance / Product improvement / New features

My education & previous experiences:

2012 – Bachelor of arts in Interaction Design

2010 – Master’s Program: “Design for Digital Cultures”

2009 – Company: De Monsters

2007 – Utrecht School of the Arts: Interaction Design

2005 – Avans: Communication & Multimedia Design

Extra courses:

Codecademy.com’s Javascript tracks

I have expertise in:

• Problem analysis & user/stakeholder interviews


• Client pitching & presentations


• Prototype creation


• Creating team communication documents (flowcharts/wireframes/personas/storyboards/sketches/research results/presentations)


• Conceptual thinking through various methods


• Data visualization


• Project management (familiar with work environments that follow a waterfall model or SCRUM & AGILE model)


• Creating pixel perfect visual interfaces for both desktop & mobile in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator


• Applying cognitive psychology and perception theory


• Applying ergonomics on product design


• Narration & storywriting


• Front end development (HTML5 / CSS3 / JQuery / Javascript)


• Back end development (PHP /MySQL)

Experience goals:

• I wish to feel valuable to others.


• I wish to keep learning.


• I wish to not have to worry about money like I am right now ever again.


• I wish to make new friends.


• I wish to be creative on a daily basis

End goals:

• I wish to create things of meaning to others.


• I wish to start new traditions with colleagues, friends and family.


• I wish to be proud of what I make.


• I wish to become a known designer.


• I wish to solve at least one big social problem through design thinking as a gift back to the world.


• I wish to speak 5 languages fluently.

Life Goals:

• Become the greatest husband and father.


• Provide happiness to others.


• See more of the world.

My personal pain points and frustrations:

• I would like to improve my programming skills as I would like to be proficient beyond just prototype creation.


• Injured my spine 8 years ago and need a good chair and desk to not be in pain.


• As I’m a junior, I still find it difficult to estimate how much time something really takes to complete.

Favorite things:

• Achieving something/working


• Daydreaming


• Observing the world around me


• The feeling of sonder


• Learning strange words like sonder


• Learning something new in general


• Finding eccentricities


• Developing ideas


• Snowboarding


• Stories in any form


• Listening to music


• Petrichor


• Being woken by the sunlight


• Fresh mountain air and a thick layer of fresh snowfall

Interests:

• Technological developments, because well science is awesome!


• Mathematics and complex theories that are explained well


• Astronomy and how we are a part of the galaxy and this planet.


• Psychology to understand why we do things.


• Philosophy that challenges me to think about things.

Activities:

• Plays basketball once per week


• Goes to the gym 3 x evenings per week


• Watches movies & TV series on a regular basis to relax


• Goes snowboarding every year


• Hobbyist cook that appreciates good food