Tijmen's 5 thoughts on design
Tijmen's 5 thoughts on design
Changing direction is never a step back. Every path gives me information that helps me find a better local optimum.
Changing direction is never a step back. Every path gives me information that helps me find a better local optimum.
To master one thing, you must be willing to learn a thousand others.
To master one thing, you must be willing to learn a thousand others.
Just because I see room to improve next time, doesn't mean the current work isn't good. Both can be true at once.
Just because I see room to improve next time, doesn't mean the current work isn't good. Both can be true at once.
The circumstances that shape you can change, and so can you.
The circumstances that shape you can change, and so can you.
I see design simply as the process of moving from a problem to a solution.
I see design simply as the process of moving from a problem to a solution.
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A puzzle wherever it lands
For Tijmen, design comes down to five words: moving from a problem to a solution. It's a definition simple enough to survive almost any context, and he has tested it in more than one. Trained in Industrial Design at TU Eindhoven, Tijmen has spent the years since chasing that same instinct through custom bike bags, a solar-powered car, and now product management at Dynamic Bike Care, each one a different shape of the same puzzle.
For Tijmen, design comes down to five words: moving from a problem to a solution. It's a definition simple enough to survive almost any context, and he has tested it in more than one. Trained in Industrial Design at TU Eindhoven, Tijmen has spent the years since chasing that same instinct through custom bike bags, a solar-powered car, and now product management at Dynamic Bike Care, each one a different shape of the same puzzle.
Two years of refusing to stop
That instinct found its sharpest form at Witslingers, the bike bag brand Tijmen built alone. It started as a kind of moonshot. Moving to Leipzig after finishing his bachelor's, job opportunities were mostly UX-focused work, which wasn't what he wanted to do. And so he decided to start Witslingers whilst thinking "failing simply isn't an option". After 2 really hard years, his company produced custom bags with a precision no one else in the space was offering. Over time it also taught him to separate two questions that had blurred together: is this good, and what would I do differently next time? Once his craftsmanship reached a level he was confident in, his focus to something more strategic, building a brand. He used it almost as a live experiment: watching which designs (the bold colors against the safer, simpler ones) actually pulled in the customers whose taste he respected. "I think my brand is cool if the people I think who have good taste, think my brand is cool."
That instinct found its sharpest form at Witslingers, the bike bag brand Tijmen built alone. It started as a kind of moonshot. Moving to Leipzig after finishing his bachelor's, job opportunities were mostly UX-focused work, which wasn't what he wanted to do. And so he decided to start Witslingers whilst thinking "failing simply isn't an option". After 2 really hard years, his company produced custom bags with a precision no one else in the space was offering. Over time it also taught him to separate two questions that had blurred together: is this good, and what would I do differently next time? Once his craftsmanship reached a level he was confident in, his focus to something more strategic, building a brand. He used it almost as a live experiment: watching which designs (the bold colors against the safer, simpler ones) actually pulled in the customers whose taste he respected. "I think my brand is cool if the people I think who have good taste, think my brand is cool."
Every bag you see is made by Tijmen!
Tijmen with his bike and Wit Slingers bags
Every bag you see is made by Tijmen!
Tijmen with his bike and Wit Slingers bags
Every bag you see is made by Tijmen!
Tijmen with his bike and Wit Slingers bags
Understanding everyone and every part of the system
That same curiosity shows up earlier, in his time with Solar Team Eindhoven, a multidisciplinary student team building a solar-powered car. Tijmen was part of the design and systems architecture team alongside specialists from mechanical engineering, computer science, and electrical engineering, and always strived to understand not just his own part of a solution but theirs too, how a shift in one module rippled through the rest. That same instinct carried into Dynamic Bike Care, where he still seeks out colleagues in sales or supply chain to understand what actually drives their decisions, so he can work with them in the best way.
That same curiosity shows up earlier, in his time with Solar Team Eindhoven, a multidisciplinary student team building a solar-powered car. Tijmen was part of the design and systems architecture team alongside specialists from mechanical engineering, computer science, and electrical engineering, and always strived to understand not just his own part of a solution but theirs too, how a shift in one module rippled through the rest. That same instinct carried into Dynamic Bike Care, where he still seeks out colleagues in sales or supply chain to understand what actually drives their decisions, so he can work with them in the best way.
A linear double diamond?
At Dynamic, one of the team's mottos is fast is better than slow, and Tijmen has grown to like it. At the same time, that speed has a cost: when a decision gets reconsidered or a direction changes, it can be seen as wasted time or effort. Tijmen connects this is with the Double Diamond and how he sees it being used in practice. Because it is shaped as diamonds, the process is linear. It treats any change of direction as a reset, a step back to a previous phase. He prefers the reflective transformative design process he was taught in Eindhoven, where there is no fixed order and every path walked, even one that turned out not to lead towards the solution, sharpens what comes next. A pivot, in that view, is never a step backward. It's information.
At Dynamic, one of the team's mottos is fast is better than slow, and Tijmen has grown to like it. At the same time, that speed has a cost: when a decision gets reconsidered or a direction changes, it can be seen as wasted time or effort. Tijmen connects this is with the Double Diamond and how he sees it being used in practice. Because it is shaped as diamonds, the process is linear. It treats any change of direction as a reset, a step back to a previous phase. He prefers the reflective transformative design process he was taught in Eindhoven, where there is no fixed order and every path walked, even one that turned out not to lead towards the solution, sharpens what comes next. A pivot, in that view, is never a step backward. It's information.
More bike love
Moreeee bikes and bags!
More bike love
Moreeee bikes and bags!
More bike love
Moreeee bikes and bags!
It's all making sense now
Looking back, Tijmen doesn't describe his path as one he could have mapped out in advance. He calls it a somewhat unorthodox route, shaped by intuitive choices that only make sense in hindsight. But he sees the years at Wit Slingers as experience he eventually capitalised on, rather than left behind: the commercial instincts and systems thinking he built there are exactly what let him step into product leadership now. Asked if he still sees himself as a designer, he doesn't hesitate. The core skill, going from problem to solution, hasn't changed. Only the shape of the room has.
Looking back, Tijmen doesn't describe his path as one he could have mapped out in advance. He calls it a somewhat unorthodox route, shaped by intuitive choices that only make sense in hindsight. But he sees the years at Wit Slingers as experience he eventually capitalised on, rather than left behind: the commercial instincts and systems thinking he built there are exactly what let him step into product leadership now. Asked if he still sees himself as a designer, he doesn't hesitate. The core skill, going from problem to solution, hasn't changed. Only the shape of the room has.
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Designers in Full Color - All rights reserved 2026
Designers in Full Color - All rights reserved 2026
Designers in Full Color - All rights reserved 2026