The things I'm good at and enjoy doing
What I bring
Everything I've learned — as a designer, facilitator, coach, and technology enthusiast — I try to put to work for two things:
The human work comes first. Technology follows.
Designing processes where people find direction
My Industrial Design background taught me to see systems, to move from problem to solution through iteration and experimentation. But my real curiosity turned out to be people — what they need to feel safe, what helps them open up, how groups with different perspectives find direction together.
That shift took me from designing products to designing processes:
I approach this work as a maker. Prototyping, testing, iterating — not just with physical materials, but with conversations, session formats, and collaborative structures. The same curiosity that draws me to a workshop with wood or a 3D printer, I bring to designing how people work together.
Facilitating bottom-up change
I believe the wisdom to solve complex challenges already exists — in the people living them. My job is to create the conditions where that wisdom can surface.
That means designing processes where groups find their own direction. Not facilitating so a project leader gets their idea through, but facilitating so the community discovers what they actually want.
Currently I'm exploring this in Doesburg, working with informal community leaders to reshape local care systems. The starting point is always the same: listen first, design second.
For years I've been learning to read a room, to sense when someone isn't being heard. I don't always get it right. But that ongoing practice is what shapes everything else I do.
Why that makes AI interesting
The more I learn about what makes collaboration work, the more curious I become about what technology could do for it.
Eveline de Wal once called me "the bridge between human work and the latest technology." I like that description — and I believe that bridge starts on the human side.
AI is one of the tools I'm exploring, because I see what it can do for the conversations that matter:
Not AI that decides. AI that helps us decide together.
Sharing patterns so others can build further
What works locally can work elsewhere — if you document it well.
I'm working on ways to make successful bottom-up processes transferable. Not "copy this exactly," but "here are the patterns, adapt them to your context."
Think: an open-source library for social innovation. I call it Social GitHub — infrastructure for communities to learn from each other's experiments. Still in development, but the vision is clear: local wisdom, globally accessible. You can find the first building blocks on my Social AI workbench on Github.
What others say about me
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Joost’s unique coaching style focuses on the learning process rather than just the end result. His approach has greatly improved my reflection skills and confidence in my work.
- Rosa, Student at Industrial Design, University of Technology Eindhoven
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Joost’s method of asking ‘What have you learned?’ after each step made me realize the importance of the learning process. This shift in mindset has given me more confidence and joy in my work.
– Amna, Student at Industrial Design, University of Technology Eindhoven
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The feedback Joost gave about user testing provided me with new insights on how to do it properly and how to validate a concept effectively.
- Jula, Student at Industrial Design, University of Technology Eindhoven
Organizations I’ve collaborated with
• Education: University of Amsterdam, Eindhoven University of Technology, De Ontwikkelacademie
• Government: Municipality of Tilburg, Municipality of Venlo,
• Design: Dutch Design Foundation, Embassy of Mobility
• Community: Kamp Vuur, SOW Sustainability, Taskforce Korte Keten
• Political Volt Europa