Benjamin van Gelder
Designer
Location
Madrid, Spain
Toptal Member Since
December 2, 2019
Benjamin has worked with leading companies such as ING, BNP Paribas, Banco Santander, or McKinsey—helping his clients to innovate through design by translating people’s needs into products or services. Partly creative, partly strategic, he’s a skilled UX/UI designer who specializes in improving UX by being, at the same time, the voice of customers and clients. Benjamin was also a TEDx speaker in Madrid, talking about design thinking in education.
Benjamin is available for hire
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Work Experience
2019 - 2019
UX Researcher | Designer
Banco Santander
- Researched and improved physical and digital user experience in the bank's new concept branches.
- Designed the new product offer, including early sketches and wireframes.
- Performed a heuristic analysis of the app and design improvements.
- Researched and elaborated a new content architecture proposal for the corporate website.
- Led the interviews, focus group, and other group research activities.
- Researched and improved the digital and physical employee experience.
Technologies: UserZoom, Apple Keynote, InVision, Sketch
2018 - 2018
Service and UX Designer
Veryday | McKinsey Design
- Designed a new service for a transportation company, including research, ideation, and conceptualization.
- Designed a new product for an airline company from research and customer journey mapping to ideation.
- Performed UX research on the future role of energy companies.
- Worked on a UX and innovation session for an NGO.
- Conducted research for an health company and helped them improve their physical and digital user experience.
- Led design sprints and co-creation sessions with an automotive client.
Technologies: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, InVision, Sketch
2017 - 2018
UX Designer | Service Designer
BNP Paribas Fortis
- Designed a new notification system for web and mobile from system functioning, prototyping to design.
- Designed new product pages for clients for web and mobile from research, design to testing and decision making.
- Designed various updated after-sales emails from the customer experience to the content strategy.
- Took part in the strategy definition around open banking.
- Interviewed and tested various solutions with customers.
- Coached corporate startups from the bank innovation program to consolidate their proposals and validate their ideas.
Technologies: Research, Apple Keynote, InVision, Sketch
2014 - 2018
Co-founder | UX Designer
Cooks in Town
- Performed qualitative and qualitative research to validate the initial idea.
- Led several design sprints to solve problems and test new solutions.
- Designed the application from sketches to wireframes to final high-fidelity designs.
- Worked on the art direction and branding.
- Designed the website and created it on Squarespace.
- Performed UX testing of the application.
Technologies: Lean Startups, Design Thinking, Sketch, InVision
2017 - 2017
Strategic Designer
Bundl
- Created a corporate venture startup from scratch.
- Organized a series of design sprints to help the clients to define and prioritize.
- Prototyped UX and design solutions for different ideas.
- Tested the concepts with users and reported results.
- Designed the user experience for the final solution.
- Pitched selected ideas to the management board.
- Managed the project from start to end, including preparing activities, creating content, managing client relationships, and producing solutions.
Technologies: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Sketch
2016 - 2017
UX Designer
ING
- Designed the daily banking dashboard, including news, payments, and adding/managing beneficiaries.
- Designed a new onboarding flow for companies registration.
- Helped to implement contactless and QR code payment in the early stage of these technologies, including researching, prototyping, testing, and designing.
- Arranged a series of group and one-to-one interviews to create a solid user knowledge base for the bank.
- Organized and led a series of Google design sprints with management leaders.
- Took part in the new design system redefinition and design.
Technologies: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, InVision, Sketch
2015 - 2016
eCommerce and UX Expert
HEMA
- Analyzed and designed a new content architecture for an updated website.
- Created UX content guidelines including tone of voice, product presentation, FAQ function, and feedback system.
- Took part in the new website design proposal, from early ideas to validating assumptions and help design the final proposal.
- Led a series of design thinking and creativity sessions around the topics of promotional content, new offering, and brand to user tone of voice.
Technologies: InVision, Sketch
2015 - 2015
Design Strategist
Nomads Agency
- Designed a fan sponsorship program for a key sports brand, including performing field and desktop research, creating customer journeys and personas and designing the sponsorship program.
- Organized design thinking workshops for a jewelry company, helping them to understand the industry they are in, their customers' needs, and how to redefine their sales proposal.
- Created customer journeys for a national beverage company.
- Developed new ideas and a sales pitch for a baby food company including insights, potential solutions, and early ideas sketches.
- Created online content calendar for major brands.
Technologies: Sketch, Adobe Photoshop
Education
2014 - 2014
Post Master's Degree in Design and Innovation (Strategic Design)
IED | Istituto Europeo di Design - Madrid, Spain
2011 - 2013
Master's Degree in Marketing and Advertising
IHECS | Institut des Hautes Études des Communications Sociales - Brussels, Belgium
2008 - 2011
Bachelor's Degree in Communication
IHECS | Institut des Hautes Études des Communications Sociales - Brussels, Belgium
Certifications
JULY 2015 - PRESENT
Improving Education Through Design Thinking (TEDx Speaker)
TED
MARCH 2011 - PRESENT
Ethical Advertising
JEP Belgium
Experience
User Experience (UX) - 5 yearsUser Journey Maps - 5 yearsWireframing - 5 yearsGoogle Design Sprints - 5 yearsUser Flows - 5 yearsUser Interface (UI) - 4 yearsProduct Design - 4 yearsUser Research - 4 yearsLocation
