Jeroen Coumans

Current

Lead Designer at Hyves

Past

Web Designer at Jeroen Coumans
Co-founder, board member at LOSS
Web Designer at Solide

Web Master at Universiteit Maastricht
FAQ & Website maintainer at Linux From Scratch
Student consultant at University of Maastricht

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Education

Katholieke Hogeschool Limburg
Universiteit Maastricht

Recommended

2 people have recommended Jeroen

Connections

124 connections

Industry

Online Media

Websites

Jeroen Coumans’s Summary

I'm an interaction designer with expertise in standards-based front-end web development, user-centered design, usability and accessibility. I studied Arts and Culture, and Communication and Multimedia Design, which means I know a bit about a lot. Some of my key strengths are an open mind, a research-based approach to problem solving. I prefer quality over speed but can be pragmatic about it.

Jeroen Coumans’s Specialties:

Interaction Design, Information Architecture, Web Design, Usability, Accessibility, CSS, XHTML, Drupal, Open Source, Front-end

Jeroen Coumans’s Experience

Lead Designer

Hyves

(Online Media industry)

April 2009 — Present (4 months)
Web Designer

Jeroen Coumans

(Graphic Design industry)

September 2006 — April 2009 (2 years 8 months)

I worked on quite a lot of small to medium-sized projects in various roles and positions. For smaller web sites, I did the whole shebang: from defining target audience, communication plan, design and Photoshop mockups to final implementation of the website in whatever Open Source CMS fit best. For larger projects, I've worked in teams with designers, programmers, copywriters, IT staff etc. Mostly I was responsible for the frontend of the website, the HTML and CSS, and implementing these as Drupal themes in PHP.

In the case of www.cjp.be, I designed and created the complete website and managed third-party programmers and database implementors. CJP.be was up as a social networking site where volunteer youngsters can contribute reviews and articles. Lots of usability work was done to make this task as easy as possible for untrained people.

While I've built websites in other content management systems, such as CMS Made Simple, Wordpress and even Joomla, I mostly use Drupal since I know it inside out and I can configure it to fit an organisation like a glove. I'm a very proficient Drupal themer and built some quite complex themes.
Co-founder, board member

LOSS

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Civic & Social Organization industry)

October 2004 — January 2008 (3 years 4 months)

LOSS ("Limburgs platform voor Open Source en Standaarden") is a local Dutch platform of companies invested in Open Source Software, who want to spread realistic, unprejudiced information on OSS. As co-founder I've worked on establishing the platform mission and organisation, and created the initial website at http://loss-platform.org.
Web Designer

Solide

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

January 2004 — September 2006 (2 years 9 months)

Responsible for the complete development trajectory of dozens of websites, from the initial user research, proof of concept, information architecture and visual design to implementation and deliverance. I was also responsible for the architecture and deployment of the hosting solutions and web application development methodology. Did an ethnographic research for the development of a virtual community and conducted a widely-reported research on the accessibility of municipal websites.
Web Master

Universiteit Maastricht

(Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

July 2002 — July 2005 (3 years 1 month)

Responsible for the maintenance, design and all technical aspects of several websites.
FAQ & Website maintainer

Linux From Scratch

(Non-Profit; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)

November 2001 — April 2005 (3 years 6 months)

Linux From Scratch is a collaboratively written book that describes how to build your own Linux system, using nothing but the source packages. It's a volunteer effort led by a community of users, readers and contributors. I've been an active member on the support and development mailing lists (later, as official FAQ maintainer), and led the redesign of the website.
Student consultant

University of Maastricht

(Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

September 2002 — August 2004 (2 years)

Active member of the student board (STOV), for which I setup a Wiki website,
student consultant with the Educational Management Team and the ICT team. Worked as a student-assistent on an historical research on e-learning which was used for an international benchmark between universities. Worked as researcher for the PRIME network on a feasibility study on e-learning (report co-written with W. Bijker & E. Sol).

Jeroen Coumans’s Education

Katholieke Hogeschool Limburg

Master , Communication & Multimedia Design , 2006 — 2008

Activities and Societies:

Part of several 'think tanks' for HasseltLokaal.be to discuss marketing and design.
Universiteit Maastricht

Bachelor , Arts & Science , 1998 — 2005

Major in Visual Culture, thesis finished with Prof. Dr. Ir. Wiebe Bijker on the relationship between technology and the online communities of Linux From Scratch and Wikipedia. Worked as a student-assistent on an historical research on e-learning which was used for an international benchmark between universities. Internship as researcher for the PRIME network on a feasibility study on e-learning (report co-written with W. Bijker & E. Sol).

Activities and Societies:

STOV, Educational Management Team, ICT team.

Additional Information

Jeroen Coumans’s Websites:

Jeroen Coumans’s Interests:

Interaction design, usability, accessibility, user-centered design, user experience, ethnographic research, Open Source, Drupal, web standards, new media,