Re-packaging knowledge

Turn to your audience, now

You believe expert knowledge leads to a better world.
You’d love to see people understand your ideas and spread them for you.
To make that happen, merely being right is not enough. Your knowledge needs to be accessible and actionable.

Let me repackage it.

Be aware

Pick the right details, show the bigger picture.

Protecting Landscape

The experts each talk about one aspect of a subject.
What’s the key to a unified message?

About this project (images & video 1:20)

Cultural Heritage

Some people love ruins straight away. Most of us need a link to everyday life.

3 projects on digital education (video 2:39)

Services

Abstract things can't be understood without using a visual metaphor.

Some animations (projects + intro video)

Explore

Bring the future and the abstract within reach.

City Planning & Architecture

Reality can be confusing. How to inspire people to explore?

I'll introduce some cases (images & video)

Government

Government agencies plan for the future. Citizens are bound to the present. Let’s express the future in everyday terms.

Gentle exhibitions (with video 1:44)

Innovation

Miraculous engineering, but invisible or yet to be built. If you're a contractor, how to fire the imagination of potential clients?

Some projects + intro video

Dig deep

Design as a service to the reader.

Jayashree K. Iyer and the Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark Advance Copy during the World Economic Forum in Davos 2018

Research for a better world

How can design & editing improve access for various reader-groups? How can it enable the team to repurpose information effortlessly?

My approach (case & video 1:10)

Science Communication

Twenty professors each wrote a book. Will they accept one small page in this conversation starter?

My work for geo-sciences (first a 1 minute video)

Craft

He sells the right wine. Every time. He hunts the right wine. Anywhere. How to tell his story?

Time spent with a subject is a measure of quality (project outline & short video)

I understand

We will invent & design beautiful, well-made products that engage people, without sacrificing content to appearance. Our main task is to set priorities, make hard choices and gather the team around our common goal: building understanding.

#1 Shake

I talk science & engineering. I’m a fresh pair of eyes, independent. I cut through clutter so easily, it’ll make you smile. We'll find strategic scenarios that fit your goals. You’ll feel relieved.

#2 Transform

Your expert knowledge looks like an abstract wall to most. My work is to build real doors in it, to welcome guests from outside your tribe. To meet their needs, I will restructure, rephrase and reshape your information. Your story will shine.

#3 Make

No idea can travel without form. We’ve laid a solid foundation, we’re ready to build all products necessary. I will arrange and supervise contractors, designers, editors. Quality equals time spent with the subject.

Klaas has been instrumental in developing the clean and crisp style of our current publications. For our work, Klaas' great strength is in his ability to interrogate our ways of thinking, developing quick and creative iterations of the figure or infographic in question. This way, we are able to work with the researchers to arrive at the most meaningful visualisations, that go on to communicate our findings effectively across multiple communications platforms. We also work to very strict deadlines and Klaas has never let us down, going above and beyond to ensure we meet our commitments.

Anna Massey

Communications Manager at Access to Medicine Foundation

Goshhh… Where do you get this clarity from? I couldn’t say it better!

Natalia Alvarez

Business Coach

Klaas is very clever in translating the subject matter to an original display. To my surprise he could give an almost impeccable oral presentation of the content, showing that he completely understood the matter, followed by a clear explanation of why and how he translated this to the proposed display he intended to make.

Aad Sedee

Senior Coordinator Radiation & Nuclear Safety at Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation

We were looking for somebody that would be able to come up with a video, some interactive poster, the usual. Explanation Design surprised us with... triplex board and colorful wooden connectors. It was an astounding success. With the simplest, the most amusing, and cleverly put together means Klaas found a clear, attractive, striking, and fun to play with metaphor for what we were doing: pioneering digital scientific infrastructure.

Joris van Zundert

Senior Researcher at Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands

At the Nature Trust I worked for, Klaas advised to change very little, where possible. Very refreshing.

Sjoerd Kaarsemaker

Lichte Bries, Agency for Research, Consultancy and Implementation

We liked our cooperation with Klaas so much, we returned to him with other digital education projects. His solutions are both surprising and obvious at the same time.

Vibeke Roeper

Former Director at Plein C, Agency for Culture in Education

Your laser eyes have pinpointed my struggle!

Orlagh O'Brien

Design Thinker

We are a demanding client. We use confidential data. Our reporting can not contain any mistakes. At the same time, we need creativity and flexible formats. This calls for good design, maximum precision and a mastery of the copy and correction workflow. Klaas knows the options and knows the right people to produce this.

Suzanne Wolf

Director of Communications at the Access to Medicine Foundation

Skipping parts of the process may seem quick,
but you’ll end up where everyone else ends up.

Marjan Slob, philosopher

Clients

Corporate

Access to Medicine Foundation
Amsterdam ArenAPoort
BAM
Beleefcentrum Afsluitdijk
Cityroofs
Ewals eLogistics
FloraHolland
KPN Telecom
Liberty Global
National Geographic NL
Twente Visionairies Fund
Villa ArenA
Wareco Ingenieurs
Wijnkoperij Okhuysen
Zoontjens Beton

Public sector

Aeres Hogeschool
Atelier Rijksbouwmeester
Gemeente Amsterdam
Gemeente Alkmaar
Langhenkel Groep
Ministerie van I en M
NEPROM/Lente-akkoord
Provincie Zeeland
Provincie Noord-Holland
Rijkswaterstaat
Waterschap Stichtse Rijnlanden

Culture & Nature

Geomorfologie & Landschap
Huygens Instituut / KNAW
IVN
Kunstfort Vijfhuizen
Natuurmonumenten
Plein C
Rijksinstituut voor het Cultureel Erfgoed
Staatsbosbeheer
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Stelling van Amsterdam
Yogafestival Haarlem

Klaas van der Veen

I love experts. The way academics or engineers thrive when finding facts and solutions really makes me want to help them bring their work to the world. I have a way of cutting through the clutter to clarify (without killing the content) that makes people smile.
I love design. It's a way of thinking, both organised and free. I want to permanently change the way you use design. As a powerful tool.

Experts and design combined surely can work wonders.

My offer

I'm an independent consultant
My work starts as soon as you know you need to reach out to a new audience. I help you turn your vision into criteria we use to find the right message, explore possible products and select or create the right content. I can be part of your team. We can brief any designer, including your favorite, and set up a workflow.

I'm a designer
An effective, well designed exhibition, information panel or digital product, requires extensive re-alignment of content. The message needs transformation to fit the form we choose to bring it to the user. For design and production, we set up the right team.

Free stuff
Feel free to see if we match. Call or mail me and I will show up and ask the kind of good questions my clients love me for. If mail or app is your thing, that's fine, too.