Midwest UX – Conference Experience Design

Nonprofit Client Project

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Midwest UX – Conference Experience Design
As the Creative Lead and a creative team we partnered with Midwest UX to craft the creative vision for their three-day conference in Grand Rapids. Leading the creative team in the development and design of key visuals, environmental graphics, and digital touchpoints, we created a cohesive experience that reflected the theme of “Place” and highlighted the city’s culture and character.

Guided by the theme, I directed the overarching visual identity that shaped every aspect of the attendee experience. I oversaw the development of key visuals and their application across a comprehensive range of assets, including badges, wayfinding systems, environmental graphics, videos, website design, apparel, and social media content. By defining the conference’s visual language through clear assets and guidelines, I ensured the brand was applied consistently across all touchpoints, creating a cohesive, intuitive, and immersive experience for more than 500 participants for workshops, talks, and keynotes.

Beyond execution, we had the opportunity to showcase what Grand Rapids has to offer, integrating local culture, gastronomy, and context into the conference experience. I collaborated closely with the Midwest UX board, conference board, sponsors, and vendors to ensure alignment between design, logistics, and user experience, balancing creative vision with practical considerations. The resulting design system strengthened the conference brand, enhanced participant engagement, and left a lasting impression on both attendees and the broader UX community.

 

  • Midwest UX
    Conference & Event Services

  • + Brand Advisor
    + Concept Development
    + Creative Direction
    + Creative Assets
    + Environmental Design
    + Qualitative Research
    + Wayfinding Design
    + Website Design

  • MKN Design Team:
    + Michael Nÿkamp, Design Lead
    + Jonah Bailey, Interactive Design Lead
    + Jacob Mcvey, Junior Designer

    Conference Co-Chairs: 
    + Grant Carmichael, Conference Co-Chair
    + Laurel Stanley, Conference Co-Chair
    + Samuel Bowles, Conference  Co-Chair

    MWUX Stakeholders:
    + Erik Dahl, MWUX Board Chair
    + Brandon Stephens, MWUX Board Chair
    + Pam Haaser, MWUX Board Chair

Herman Miller – Planning Guide System Design

↓ Locale Planning Guide
Several layouts from the Locale product planning guide.

 

↓ Locale Isometric Illustrations
A selection of isometric illustrations from the Locale Planning Guide.

Client Project

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Herman Miller – Planning Guide System Design
To support Herman Miller’s vision for an accessible and scalable planning resource, we were brought in to redesign their product planning guides from the ground up.

Informed by focused research, UX insights, creative exploration, and stakeholder input, the work moved into development. Over the next two years, I worked with three product development teams to define requirements, understand their product lines, create a flexible framework, and design layout concepts paired with a refined isometric illustration style.

Each planning guide required custom product illustrations paired with copy and callouts, all maintained consistently across the system. Categories such as storage, desking, screens, displays, tables, and accessories were represented with multiple illustration types—including product views, detail views, planning views, and electrical diagrams—complete with callouts and dimensions. Across each guide, over 300 isometric and plan view components were created to ensure comprehensive and consistent representation.

The redesigned framework refreshed MillerKnoll’s planning guides, enhanced search functionality, and introduced a clearer, more intuitive layout. The final implementation delivered a user-friendly, easily navigable, and scalable guide, accessible across electronic devices, with the added ability to download and print PDFs.

“Michael’s collaboration, creativity, and design expertise elevated the planning guides, creating a user-friendly system with clear layouts, comprehensive visuals, and a flexible framework that works across product lines.”

Marketing Manager
MillerKnoll

 

  • Herman Miller (MillerKnoll)
    Furniture Design & Manufacturing

  • + Design Direction
    + Design Strategy
    + Product Research
    + Qualitative Research
    + Technical & Isometric Illustrations
    + User Experience Design

  • MKN Design Team:
    + Michael Nÿkamp, Design Director and Technical Illustrator

    Herman Miller Stakeholders:
    + Laura Bielby, Senior Marketing Manger
    +     Renee Cooper, Interior Designer
    + Furniture Design Teams, Locale, Public Office, Layout Studio

Remarker – Brand Identity

Client Project

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Remarker – Brand Identity
Collaborating with Sung Yi via Carambito I assisted with developing a logo and defining the aesthetic of his notebook. Through thorough research, it became evident that the logo needed to embody both the notebook’s simple sophistication and resonate with its intended audience. The outcome was a logo that conveyed individuality and simplicity. The logos freehand script mimicked a fluid motion of pen meeting paper. Crafted to be comfortably handheld, this product provides effortless access to personalized index cards that perfectly align with users’ needs.

Crafted to securely hold index cards, with future adaptability to accommodate cell phones. Users can choose from a variety of custom-designed index card options to suit their needs, including Blank, Dot Grid, Line Grid, Isometric Grid, Idea Card, Lined, Time Tracker, Task List, Hourly Task List, and Storyboard.

Notebook Dimensions:
• Closed Notebook: 5¼" x 3⅞"
• Open Notebook: 5¼" x 7¾"

 

  • Remarker
    Stationery Notebook

  • + Brand Advisor
    + Concept Development
    + Creative Strategy
    + Design Direction
    + Qualitative Research
    + Visual Identity

  • MKN Design Team:
    + Michael Nÿkamp, Design Director

    Remarker Stakeholder:
    + Sung Yi, CEO

Design For Good

Article

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Design For Good
In 2013, I served as an advisor for the AIGA West Michigan's Design for Good initiative. In this photo, you can see me listening to issues that required advisory support. Ultimately, we successfully addressed these issues by collaborating and resolving the issues together.