Rogier Barendregt — Usethetics, usable aesthetics, standards-based design and typography

Hi there, and thanks for stopping by…! I am Rogier Barendregt, a web designer and user-experience consultant residing in Amsterdam specialised in online visual communications and identities. I design standards-based websites and elegant experiences with a focus on content and beautiful typography.

Ideation & user-centred design thinking

Sites that I design are people-centred and browser & platform independent. Rather than to only decorate I thoroughly analyse your content and the needs of your target group.

I connect users to your products and services by using critical and objective thinking. Discovery, generation of ideas and responding to and creatively solving complex problems provide guidance to clients and help accomplish product goals.

A multidisciplinary approach to designing for the web & speaking fluent front-end

I have fulfilled roles with names such as aesthetician, experience creator, visual designer, creative technologist, user-interface designer, beautification engineer, user experience designer, creative coder, web design consultant and front-end developer.

The best experience can be obtained only by being equal parts designer and engineer. Some of the most important design decisions happen in front-end code.

The technical knowledge of a medium is vital to its design. It is essential to understand the underlying technology’s constraints, and importantly, its capabilities…

Content dictates design and communicates with purpose

…Similarly, content guides a design and is the reason why people come to your website. Content and design are not independent.

When necessary I rely on a vast network of collaborators and dedicated people from other disciplines in order to establish a well-balanced content strategy and product vision. This way, relevant information can be communicated clearly and easily while simultaneously providing bad-ass graphic design to complement the overall experience.

Typography communicates with efficiency & beauty

Good typography aids readability and is the core of great design. Being the main conveyor of content, type is the biggest part of a user-interface. Text is an awesome thing; not only is it functional, it has form as well.

Text should both look exceptionally beautiful and be comfortable to read.

Handcrafting quality design for the Web, with the raw materials of the Web

Besides an in-depth knowledge of graphic design principles and user-centered design methods I have a solid background in front-end development. I handcraft well structured, semantic HTML5 markup and performance optimised CSS.

Embracing the continually shifting and evolving web I design future-friendly yet past-proof websites.

Designing using the web-browser as a ‘live’ canvas

By default my deliverables for your product are browser–based and appropriate for each device, allowing you to see and feel the functioning product in all its interactive glory. Avoiding static, unrealistic mock-ups or Photoshop comps will allow both you and me to see and test the actual content in its final form right from the start.

For my designs I use progressive enhancement and responsive design philosophies. This allows me to address the ever-changing landscape of browsers and devices. It makes it easier to judge how well a design performs regardless of screen dimensions or device capability. Thanks to this method, my designs gather for tablet, laptop, desktop, smart or feature phone, hack; even TV set, fridges and gaming console.

An intelligent, modern process approach: Concept — Strategy — Creation — Beautification — Simplification

Working from strategy and concept all the way through development means that the proposed design can be tested continuously, iterated upon and refined. Problems that may be encountered can be reacted upon early in the process and therefor avoided. Furthermore, keeping the finger on each aspect of the design process allows for a focused and simplified experience. It also helps me think about users’ interactions with, and their journeys through your product or service.

The benefits of designing with web standards

Standards conforming to the W3C and WHATWG reduce bandwidth, bloat and loading times. They make sites easy to maintain and promote accessibility, search engine optimisation and good coding practices.

Using web standards means websites will be accessible to people regardless of their browsing platform, device or ability.

Universal and inclusive web design

Many accessibility issues are essentially usability issues. By addressing them websites become universally usable to the largest possible audience including users with disabilities. I consider accessibility to essentially be usability+.

Writing accessible code not only helps making content make sense to humans but is optimised for search engines as well; it will allow for perfect indexing by search engines. Win-win; humans: 1, robots: 1.

More about yours truly

I work for a broad range of clients from small creative businesses to global companies with large traffic and ‘big data’ websites.

The last ten years I have been working as a freelance contractor, both in team environments and as a ‘One-man design team.’ Before that I worked as an in-house designer, for studios and agencies. During that period I taught interactive design classes.

In my spare time I’d like to hang out with my awesome daughter Silver Anaïs and my girlfriend Cat, the coolest girl in the world. I am an avid purveyor of knick–knacks, a connoisseur of fine kitsch and collect exceptional colours. At the end of each day I aim to be enriched. I love luchador aesthetics, traveling light, thinking while strolling, beautiful craftsmanship and getting lost. I have a fascination for video stills of old monster movies, how we move through space and the time in between different states.

Some beautiful words in Dutch I like are ‘Deining’ and ‘Thermiek.’ Call me boring, but my favourite character is the Ampersand, I also happen to have a secret affinity with Gill Sans. Pending job opportunities, I might move to Singapore or Copenhagen. Someday I hope to run my own brand of tequila. One of my guilty pleasures are televised cooking contests. Sometimes I have a dark and twisted sense of humour…

You can find me jabbering and ranting on Twitter, connect with me on LinkedIn or see my virtual wunderkammer on Pinterest.

Get in touch with me…!

In case you want to send me stuff via snail-mail, this would be the address to send it to (but please no unsolicited dead trees):

Rogier Barendregt
Usethetics
Postbus 15764
Amsterdam
1001 NG
The Netherlands