It has been a while since I started Creative Seeds for interaction and graphic design. A logical step after graduating Design for Interaction at the Technical University in Delft, The Netherlands.

I have had fantastic years in which I designed awesome interactions. I made clients happy and made myself happy, but always wanted that extra bit more. I didn’t just want to inform people (through good interaction design), I wanted to change them. Change them for the (greater) good.

“Play is an interaction between players ignited by a to be designed product or service. I want to design that interaction.”

If you look at sports, people tend to be very passionate. Might be for the beneficial friendships, might be for staying health or it might be about winning. But this passion is something very interesting, this passion can drive people and change them eventually.

If you look into the digital world and search for passion, you’ll find the perfect marriage in video games. Players get lost in playing videogames, they can be extremely passionate and end up spending many hours playing. This passion is interesting, wouldn’t it be great if you could use this passion to drive other goals than playing video games?

With this idea in mind, I transformed Creative Seeds into The Playful Company. A one-person business for which I design, consult, facilitate and speak about changing people’s behavior through digital services by the use of game experiences.

TPC-wide

This change has of course been gradually since I have been consulting companies for a few years already on gamification. But I felt these activities should be done via a company which reflects these activities.

In the most of my projects, play has taken an important role. For me play is a certain form of interaction between the player (or consumer, user, etc.) and the to be designed product or service or the interaction between players ignited by a to be deigned product or service. I want to design that interaction.

Gamification or user experience design is never about designing the product you are working on. It is always about designing the interaction you spark with that product. It is designing for (multiple) touchpoints with that product instead of merely designing one touchpoint, which is the moment of purchase.

I believe that play is important in everything we do. Of course in sports, but also in work in socialising and in learning. Play can set the right attitude in which players get passionate and do what they think is important.

If are your inspired, please contact me!

3 comments on “A better defined direction and a new company name

  • Monica

    NICE!! Love the look, colors, and ease of use. Great job!

    Reply
  • Niels van der Linden

    Hoi Thijs,

    Ik volg je al op Twitter, kom vervolgens via je laatste Slideshare presentatie (gamification for startups) op je nieuwe website… Nice name btw … en vond het inmiddels tijd dat we ‘connected’ waren. Eerste lijn dus :)

    Ik ben woonachtig in Istanbul en run daar een toko ook gericht op gamification met de focus op software development & integration. Heb je deze week tijd voor een Skype call? Mijn ID is ‘nsvanderlinden’.

    Doel van het gesprek om geintroduceerd te zijn en wellicht te kijken hoe we in de toekomst kunnen samen werken.

    Cheers,
    Niels

    Reply

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