Welcome back, Rowan!
We were quite impressed when she interned with us as a Communication and Multimedia Design student in 2014. Still young but already very mature in her visual design and skilled moreover in front-end development. We immediately offered her a part-time job as a digital designer. After graduation, she continued to develop her skills at the highest level at a design agency for four years until she returned "home" this spring. Meet product designer Rowan Blokdijk!
Why did you choose Unc Inc?
Unc Inc was not unknown territory for me; I had the pleasure of completing my internship here 5 years ago. The cool assignments and freedom I got as a starting designer made my internship a success. I also found the club of people very pleasant; Unc Inc started as a close group of friends of freelancers and they managed to keep that atmosphere. When Floris (de Langen, general and creative director, ed.) and I got in touch again, I did not have to think long. Unc Inc had made great strides in the meantime and started to focus even more on mission-driven projects; a great vision that I am happy to be a part of.
What is your first, um, second impression?
From the very first day, I felt right at home. The atmosphere is like it used to be! In the short time that I have now started working at Unc Inc again, I have already experienced many fun, sociable moments; from 'special lunches' to Friday afternoon drinks that became Friday night drinks. As a designer I experience a lot of freedom and responsibility. I really enjoy working in a fixed team. That sense of togetherness; together with 'my' developers and project manager Jolijn (Koppenol, say "Hello"!) we rapidly launch new projects or build on existing products. I find that incredibly cool!
What are you going to work on in the coming time?
In our production team we work for regular clients such as HVC, National Museum of World Cultures(Tropenmuseum, the Afrika Museum and Museum Volkenkunde) and De Regenboog Groep, alternating with 'separate' projects.
For HVC (a sustainable waste and energy company), we are continuously improving the online service and 'nudging' residents to separate their waste better so it can be reused. A great challenge as a designer!
Another project we are currently working on is Onder de Pannen; a project of De Regenboog Groep. Onder de Pannen gives homeless people a home again by matching people who have a room 'left over' with people looking for shelter. A successful initiative that is now being rolled out nationwide. Our task was to create an inviting website for it.
Equally fun is the work for start-ups. For example, we are developing a platform to improve communication around sustainability projects for apartment buildings. Those projects are complex and long-term and lead to many questions from homeowners. The communication platform should become a kind of digital project manager to whom you can turn with all your questions and who will ensure that you get clear answers quickly. This should ensure that the decision-making and implementation, the lead time of the projects, is significantly shortened. This is important because hundreds of thousands of homes still need to be made more sustainable in order to achieve the climate goals.
In short; plenty to do! So I'll move on again soon ;-)
Like Rowan, do you want to work on digital products with positive impact?
In a young and friendly team, we work on meaningful projects. But whatever we create is always an intense interplay of individuals. That's why we look beyond the list of professional skills to your human qualities and help you develop both. Curious?