At Deeson, we champion creativity in all its forms and strive to provide leadership that encourages this most capricious and fleeting of qualities.

As such, we’re delighted to welcome to our team, as new Head of Strategy, a digital strategist with tons of experience of leading creative teams to deliver outstanding products and services. Let’s meet Martijn van der Heijden.

Delivering exceptional digital experiences in the cultural sector

Martijn joins us from the Amsterdam- and Rotterdam-based agency Fabrique, known in the Netherlands as a leading strategic design agency in the cultural sector, having produced remarkable campaigns for the Edinburgh International Festival and Dutch Design Week, among others. The agency has even curated its own collection at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

During his time as a senior digital strategist at Fabrique, Martijn helped deliver a mobile app for London’s Tate Modern which used an ingenious UI to help visitors navigate the gallery and its many works, and led the team which designed and built the Webby Award-winning website for the Design Museum. He also worked on websites for the Southbank Centre, Royal Academy of Arts and Boutiques de Musées.

Of course, he’s also helped deliver on many projects outside the cultural sector. Highlights include a website proposition, UX concept and cross-channel strategy for insurance company Aegon and a long-term leadership role in the production of a new website and intranet for the Dutch Parliament.

Leading teams to produce creative excellence

With an MSc Industrial Design from Delft University of Technology, Martijn has an in-depth understanding of how to drive creativity and design excellence in teams. His philosophy centres around the idea that digital is a team sport, and so he places a high value on collaboration and communication.

Outside of his day-to-day commitments, he’s been blogging on Medium and LinkedIn, spoken at MuseumNext in Geneva and Rotterdam, and delivered a session at SXSW Interactive. He’s also led a content strategy workshop at Museums and the Web in Vancouver, and advised the MuseumFuturesLab at his alma mater in Delft.

Augmenting the creative and cultural offering at Deeson

Our partnerships with leading organisations in the cultural sector have led to some fantastic pieces of work in recent years, from a bold new website for Imperial War Museums which deepened engagement with the organisation’s content and events, to the management of the Royal Collection Trust's digital estate in a way that opens up the collection to a wider audience.

So we’re delighted to be augmenting our credentials in the sector with Martijn’s huge experience, knowledge and insight.

As someone who loves working with clients and users, and who is experienced in leading discovery workshops, delving into customer journey research, and developing digital strategies and propositions, Martijn is sure to fit right into the team here at Deeson and help us raise the bar for digital experiences in the cultural sector and beyond.