Sim Kaart — About

About me

After dropping out of the Royal Academy of Art in 2012, I decided to initiate my own educational program: Voortuin Magazine. This is, off course, a magazine, but it presented all kinds of problems I later learned any project would face.

While getting a good feel for how to handle the visual part of designing the magazine, I noticed something was lacking: readers. I suddenly had to ask myself questions like: why would anyone read this? What is it that resonates with them? And who are these folks?

While I initially failed at coming up with answers to these questions (yes, it's hard), I did become used to asking them. Every project that requires some form of communication needs to answer these questions first.

Once you’ve figured out what it is you’re doing, for whom and why those people would give a damn, you can start focussing your efforts on connecting to the right audience.

That’s how I ended up creating and strengthening brands through design. ‘Cause I know how hard it is to get people to listen. And I know how good it feels when they actually do.

Public things

Computer Arts Magazine (2019) and VPRO Magazine (2014) both printed some of the weird things we've created with Voortuin. I talked about Independent publishing on a podcast with Stack in early 2017. They handed us an award for best art direction a year prior. And this famous person tweeted something I said at a conference in Munich.

Collaborations

If you’re a creator and like my style: shoot me a message. I’d love to see what you’re working on. I have a habit of scheduling time for side projects. While I love to do everything myself, I’m very aware that it’s often better to leverage each other’s skills, styles and audiences. So let’s chat and see what happens.

Selected clients

Secret Shuffle
Chef’Special
Mind the People
VPRO
Rabobank
Mailpoet
Patronaat
Parksessies
Timboektoe
The Irrational Library
Yolk
Gemeente Den Haag