Michiel Nagtegaal Brand Identity Design

Name: Michiel Nagtegaal Brand Identity Design
Address: Laan van Middenburg 14, Voorburg, 2275CC, NL
Telephone: +31643491443

Startpagina
Nederland
Voorburg
Michiel Nagtegaal Brand Identity Design

Freelance Brand Identity Designer / Logo Designer

20/04/2025

Nervously, I fiddled with my pen.
I hate proposal rounds.

And with daily enough confidence, I now felt nerves.
“Act normal man! You’re 50!” shot through my head. It didn’t help. “Maybe talk to a coach after all,” I also thought.

A month ago, I clicked the order button for this training without nerves.

There’s nothing wrong with my self-esteem.

Last Wednesday, I attended the BNO training ‘Strategic Brand Design’ with about 12 Brand Designers from across the country. It was led by Roel Stavorinus RM, Strategy Director at Dutch agency Thonik.

My main reason for joining wasn’t knowledge.
I wanted answers:
👉 Where do I stand in the market, in strategic brand design?
👉 How do others approach it?
👉 How is it applied in practice?
👉 Is my knowledge still up to date?
👉 Who am I to put “strategic” in my job title?

After the intro, my nerves gave way to curiosity. I listened with fascination to stories from the field.

I noticed: the brand strategy knowledge I’ve been learning and applying over the years is right on track.

Well done, Michiel.
Bye bye nerves.
Hello self-confidence.

My view on abstract theory may differ here and there. But that’s theory. Models. Practice and real results are what matter.

I’d have loved to discuss more with the group and the experienced strategist. That’s how my father taught me to learn. But time was short.

My biggest takeaway?
As a Strategic Brand Designer, I should research more.
Before design even starts, a strategic team often already has fieldwork done.

A Strategy Director prepares thoroughly. Researches deeply. Then asks razor-sharp questions in multiple sessions.

I learned:
Good Brand Design stands or falls with real insight into your client’s real needs.

Not five minutes of Googling.

I love that.
Researching. Thinking. Understanding.
Sometimes I already feel like a business coach, psychologist, and brand therapist.

All to give clients more than just a pretty picture.
The world deserves more than surface-level design.

Also learned:
Brand Design doesn’t fail because of bad design. It fails from poor preparation.

Valuable insight.

And maybe… good prep helps with nerves too :)

05/04/2025

New work!

BrynQ is an innovative platform, powered by AI, from the Netherlands based HR and Payroll specialist Salure. The platform exchanges data between various HR and Payroll systems and makes this data insightful via dashboards.

As a Freelance Brand Identity Designer I was asked to provide a new Brand Identity and website design.

Based on a concise Brand Strategy provided by Salure, a comprehensive Brand Book was delivered, outlining all corporate identity elements. During the design process, the Brand Book was further supplemented and adapted.

Based on the Brand Strategy, three different mood boards were designed to work with BrynQ to properly determine the Art Direction.

As with any logo design project, I spend considerable time behind an iPad and Procreate thinking and sketching out ideas for a logo/brand mark. The sketches are later developed digitally in Adobe Illustrator.

Hi! I am Michiel Nagtegaal, a passionate Dutch Brand Identity & UX-UI Designer with over 20 years of experience in building unforgettable brands.

Throughout my career, I’ve helped businesses of all sizes craft powerful brand identities that speak to their audiences.

Let’s transform your brand!
Send me a DM if you like to chat about the possibilities or check out my portfolio on MrUpside.com.

14/12/2024

All good things must come to an end.

In this case, it is not so much an end as a new beginning :)

And the good does not stop now, but continues in a different form.

Janette and I ended our romantic relationship quite some time ago now.

Especially in the past year, we have personally told more and more people around us. In recent weeks, I felt the need to conclude it a little more clearly.

That is why I am writing this post.

After 17 (and a bit) beautiful and wonderful years together and many good conversations, we told each other that we did not want to grow old together.

And because we both wanted to stay as close to our children as possible every day, we have now found a beautiful, creative solution for that.

In recent years, we have converted the ground floor of our spacious house into an independent apartment. So that Janette can create her own place on the ground floor of our house.

That place is now starting to take shape, with a bathroom, kitchen, bed and a couch.

So we have actually become roommates.

Zoë and Liam will have a second, private bedroom on the ground floor. They will be able to choose where they sleep.

Janette and I have created the desired distance, without completely losing sight of each other. We still have good (and long) conversations. And a special connection. We are very good friends.

But no longer romantic partners.

It feels good now. And special too :) And I am very curious about what the future will bring for beautiful, new things.

17/12/2022

Yes! They’re hanging! Really proud of being the new owner of those two customised skatedecks by Dutch / Spanish Designer and Illustrator !
Bought the unique handmade artworks today on the Wintermarket of .vn in Voorburg.

I also had a really nice conversation with Dutch Illustrator , who was also there.
Go check it out today, in Voorburg, the Netherlands.

28/05/2022

Last Sunday was ! Amd we (with ) had a fun day visiting with looking for the latest in art and furniture.

That’s where we stumbled upon this work by , an upcoming artist based in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

I could not resist buying it, :) And today we picked it up in Eriks studio and workplace in Utrecht. Really love how the white geometric shapes catch the shadows, with the light green background.

26/05/2022

I did it again. I fell for the bright colorful when buying a in the supermarket :)

So compliments to for tricking me into buying your Playground Non Alcoholic :) Good visual .

I a few days, 29th May to be exact, I have been drinking no alcohol for six months in a row now. Not that I had a alcohol problem. I already did not drank alcohol for days in a row sometimes. But I started a no-alcohol challenge with myself on 29th of November 2021.
Anyhow, nice ! Hopefully the IPA won’t dissappoint!

23/05/2022

“How much does a cost?”

As a designer, I get this question a lot. And my answer varies. A lot.

I generally do not price my work by measuring the amount of time it takes to complete the project. A client really doesn’t care if it takes me five, fifteen or fifty hours to produce a successful result. Hourly billing is nuts.

Clients don’t buy my time. Clients buy results. Custom results.

I am respectful to planning. Planning is about delivering results on certain dates. Part of the job of a designer is to deliver high quality results, on time. But how much time it takes to deliver high quality results is never my clients responsibility.

The bigger the project, the bigger the investment ofcourse. The amount of work is not the same as the amount of time it takes to complete the work.

I do base the price of my work on:

• the size and the kind of the client
• the value my work has for the client
• the complexity of the work
• the potential reach of the project
• the mitigation of the risk the client needs
• the amount of applications needed

A local bakery isn’t charged the same amount as a larger client with lots of visibility. Some clients really understand the true value of good visuals and the impact they have on the success of their business. Sometimes the client does not want to be bothered with every step in the design process. Sometimes the designer takes all the risk of the project, when the stakes are high, the design is really important and making even the smallest mistake is not an option.

What do you think? How should the value of a Brand Identity be determined?

21/05/2022

Accidentally found a cool new co-working space in our city(Voorburg, the Netherlands) today!
After a quick espresso with amd at my eyes caught the bright yellow sign of .vn on the sidewalk.

Luckily they where still open! This space has everything we like. Eclectic , cool and some and designer goodies.
I’ll be checking in there often the next couple of weeks!

Adres

Laan Van Middenburg 14
Voorburg
2275CC

Telefoon

+31643491443

Website

https://www.mrupside.nl/

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