A team of colourful perspectives
The Yellowchess team is a complementary mix of experts. We are diverse in backgrounds, approach, experiences, education and skills. and unique perspectives and design skills. What unites us is our enthusiasm, eagerness to keep improving and the motivation to design a better tomorrow.
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PIONEERING
COLLABORATIVE
DESIGN
Ferdy Gilsing, seasoned designer with over 20 years of experience directing transition programs across various domains, cultures, and global brands. Ferdy has held leadership positions in world-class design organizations at BMW Group, Royal Philips and Mars Inc. With a hybrid background in design and strategy, Ferdy is expert in bringing people together in a spirit of creative collaboration to address complex system challenges and create new partnership ecosystems.
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ACHIEVER
ENERGIZER
BRIDGE-BUILDER
Imke Harms has a background in Industrial Design Engineering and over 15 years of experience in leading innovation projects and programs. She has a natural talent to understand and bridge different disciplines and insights and is passionate to create sustainable and meaningful solutions out of it. Her creative and analytical problem-solving skills form a powerful combination to do so. Imke always seeks for collaboration and inspires others with her openness, drive and enthusiasm. Working on social challenges brings her skills back to her heart.
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SOCIAL
CONCEPT
DESIGNER
Sam Verberne, designer with a background in Trend & Concepting, translates social challenges into meaningful solutions. She easily immerses herself into the context of a challenge connecting with people to understand their needs and motivations. Her hands-on approach and ability to not do 'exactly what everyone else does, but the complete opposite', results into transformative ideas. Combined with her sense of aesthetics and ability to make ideas tangible, Sam is eager to design a better tomorrow.
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EXPLORING
CONNECTING
CHANGEMAKER
Daan Heijsters is a curious and strategic designer with a background in Industrial Design and a deep trust in the creative process. He thrives on complex challenges, diving in with both analytical precision and heaps of imagination. Known as “a man with a plan,” Daan explores bold future visions and translates them into clear strategies, structured processes, and tangible first steps. He connects people, insights and domains to shape refreshing concepts and truly innovative solutions. With the power of storytelling, Daan inspires teams and stakeholders to move forward together, towards a shared and meaningful goal.
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CURIOUS
ARTISTIC
FORECASTER
With a degree in concept development and trend research, Jenske brings the future to life through imagination and sharp analysis. With her creative approach, collaborative spirit and rich trend database, she encourages others to get out of entrenched structures. Her deep sense of empathy allows her to truly understand people and see the world through their perspective. By blending her analytical thinking with her great imagination, she contributes to building a better future.
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DREAMER
SUSTAINABILITY
STORYTELLER
Mariël van den Oever has a background in Branding, Graphic Design and Food Innovation. Her search for ways to make impact and accelerate innovation led her to Yellowchess. She now knows that innovation does not come naturally, all kinds of aspects have to fall exactly into place before change is possible. There has to be trust, risks have to be taken and it will hurt. Mariël is very interested in people and stories and likes to work from content.
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STRATEGIC
FUTURISTIC
RESEARCHER
Claudia Lieshout has a background at the Design Academy and is a strategic futurist and design researcher with a focus on health, care and well-being. After more than 20 years of experience in leading trend research programmes at Philips Design, she now guides several organisations in futurism and innovation, from strategy to implementation, deploying methods such as Design Thinking. As a ‘core contributor’, Claudia works with team at Yellowchess to bring longer-term thinking to projects that make an impact.
RESEARCHER
CONNECTING
INSIGHTER
Hilde Schram has a background in trend and future studies, concept development and strategic communication. Driven by a curiosity about social change and complex systems, she gathers a wealth of insights and data, which she analyses with great precision. She excels at providing an overview; she is our rock amidst the creative chaos. Forging new connections, bringing together different perspectives and an iterative yet results-oriented way of working form the basis of her approach. In this way, she works to bring about impactful change, both internally and externally.
VISUAL APPROACH
ANALYTICAL
SOCIAL DESIGNER
Ilse Faber has a background in Industrial Design and a mission to make society more empathetic. Using conversation tools, she enjoys engaging with people on a genuine level, and then tackles the strategic challenge of how the system can ensure people feel heard. For every phase of a project, she has a method or theory with which she establishes a well-founded social design process. Her visual style runs through all her work: from mapping insights from the target group to communicating concepts in a way that everyone understands. Within the social sector, she feels most at home in healthcare and welfare, particularly when dealing with controversial issues.
We believe people are driving breakthroughs
Yellowchess is growing!
Lead Innovation Designer
Social issues require more than just a good idea. They call for new perspectives, strong collaboration and the ability to drive change. Are you an experienced designer who can provide direction for social breakthrough initiatives? If so, we’d love to meet you.
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