Hi, I’m Wouter van der Wal

Born and living in the Netherlands. Curious about the world and constantly pushing myself to explore new domains. Educated as a modern Industrial Designer, specializing in design processes and the user experience. My personal drive makes me ideal for projects needing strategic thinking with hands-on execution. My broad experience ranges from leading teams building the future of shaving to developing interoperable personal data systems, from “simple” applications to complex multi-modal car interactions. And recently I’ve started contributing to a better functioning democracy as co-lead of a local political party.

Experience

Freelance UX Designer
forpeople, Schiphol, forX Design, BMD
2024 — 2025

Wikihouse | personal goal pursuit
Designing & Constructing my own sustainable home
2022 — 2024

Handmade
Team/UX lead
2019 — 2022

Handmade
Product/Interaction Designer
2017 — 2019

TEDx Eindhoven
Head Talk Development
2015 — 2016

frog Design (Amsterdam & Munich)
Interaction Design Intern
2014

Freelance Photographer
clients: IKEA Sweden, Rabobank NL, TU Eindhoven
2014 — 2020

Education

Industrial Design - Master of Science
2015 - 2017
Grade: Cum Laude

Industrial Design - Bachelor of Applied Science
2011 - 2014
Grade: Cum Laude

Professional courses

Design Thinking Bootcamp
Design Thinkers Academy Amsterdam
2023

Achievements

Elected co-lead of new local political chapter
Initiated a new local chapter for Volt (EU focused political party)
2025

Winner of the national competition "Lightchallenge"
Granted sponsorship to continue development
2013

Runner up Stockholm Junior Water Prize
Granted sponsorship with Ghana to continue development
2010-2012

Winner of the national competition "Knappe Waterhoofden"
National representatives
2009

Publications

BinnensteBuiten | National TV
Showcased our home and our personal story.
2024

De HuizenFixers | National TV
Expert on how to build a house in the current housing market.
2023

Smarter Dumb Products - Medium article
Explored machine learning kitchen tap interactions using cameras and object recognition. Published my personal learnings about designing for “intelligent” products.
2018

Expertise

  • Client Management (Proposals, Kick-off, Presentations)

  • Workshop Facilitation (Design Thinking)

  • Innovation & Concept development

  • Systems Thinking (Eco-systems, business models, services)

  • Human-centered Design

  • UX/UI Design (Figma, Adobe suite, Sketch)

  • Design Research (Strategic & Tactical)

  • Rapid Experience Prototyping (Figma, low-code, C++, Embedded Electronics, Paper, 3D modelling/printing, Videos, 3D rendering, PCB’s)

  • Photography/Videography

Client projects & role

forpeople - UX/interaction design
Designed the user experience for a new concept car, focusing on a minimal dashboard, luxury adventure experience, and simple cluster display interactions.

Dell - Team/UX lead
Created story-driven cloud gaming demonstration for different household environments. Balanced lo-fi prototyping with detailed video animations, focusing on unique user experience benefits.

Philips - Team/UX lead
Led the team designing future shaving experience concepts with high-fidelity prototypes for user research across the globe. Explored personality-driven interactions, new ecosystem opportunities and screen based interactions on a shaver.

Oppo - Strategist/Product Designer/Videographer
Conducted strategic smartphone research and translated insights into tangible concept prototypes and storylines. Developed comprehensive strategy deck showcasing future directions for internal teams.

Amazon - Team/UX lead
Led multiple teams developing enhanced Alexa interactions through rapid prototyping and UX-videos. Delivered cost-effective user experience improvements that established Amazon as recurring client.

Albert Heijn - Team/UX lead
Developed a new product category creating a permanent kitchen presence for Albert Heijn. Built an interactive live cooking demo with custom hardware to showcase the intended user experience to internal stakeholders.

Samsung Fitness Mirror - Interaction/UX Designer
Designed the UX framework and interaction model for a new fitness mirror category. The team created an interactive prototype while navigating complex edge cases and unfamiliar device interactions.

TomTom - Product/Interaction Designer
Designed an integrated car navigation system with my focus on custom hardware prototype and multi-modal steering wheel controls. Created comprehensive cockpit demonstrator for TomTom's automotive client presentations across the world.

Mercedes - Product/Interaction Designer
Designed and built research-driven prototypes investigating autonomous driving, emotional bonding, and luxury driving experiences. Focused on the conceptualizing phase, exploring new daring concepts for future mobility.

Intel USA - Product/Interaction Designer
Created rough hardware prototype as storytelling tool during interactive concept presentation. People could experience the different effects explained throughout the presentation.

IKEA - Photographer and video editor
Flew across the globe to capture different events for IKEA Inter Sweden. Created multiple videos and photos that are distributed across their social media channels and used for internal management presentations.

Elsevier - Interaction Designer
Worked on their first version of an educational application for healthcare experts. Focused on gamification elements within personal progress planning.