Before joining Namahn in the spring of 2001, Koen worked as a high school teacher and in a publishing house as an editor and web master for an educational web site.
I first heard about Namahn from someone who knew the type of culture I liked to work in and praised Namahn's working environment. I went to their web site and applied.
My experience at Namahn lies mainly in interaction design, information architecture and web-related projects.
Lately, I have been focusing a lot on design projects: from doing field studies and producing conceptual designs, to writing detailed specifications, doing usability tests and leading expert reviews... When it comes to designing and building usable, accessible and standard-compliant web sites in XHTML and CSS, I’m the expert at Namahn.
Having two wonderful children! They surprise me every day, and it is a delight to see them grow up and discover new things.
On another level, I am grateful for the year I spent in the United States as an exchange student. It was the year that opened my eyes to the world. I would also add my evolution in my previous job from editor to web master, which involved mastering the technical aspects of site and design issues. That opportunity uncovered talents I didn't know I had.
You don't need much to be happy. I simply try to stay healthy, have a few good friends, enjoy my job, cherish my relationship with my girlfriend and raise our two little sons Max and Kobe as best as I can. 2002 was a difficult year for us. My girlfriend spent nearly two months of her pregnancy in hospital, and later on we lost Wies, the twin brother of Max. He died at the age of 5 weeks. Such an event helps you put things into perspective and be modest in your expectations and dreams.
What I love the most are the hiking and bike trips I do regularly in and around Brussels. My girlfriend and I used to travel abroad a lot, but with two young kids around, it simply is too much hassle.
Yes, I sing in a choir. We usually get together every other week to sing Renaissance and Baroque music. I used to play the guitar a lot, though I haven't really had the time to do so in the past two years.