Tim Theys, senior product designer
Product &UX Design
Projects
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Empowering UX researchers with a plug-and-play platform to design, set up, and test human-agent interaction
imec, Ongoing. The design and development of a modular AI-testing platform from scratch, leveraging an AI-powered design stack.
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Exploring and driving the adoption potential of personal data stores
Open Data Institute, 2026. An exploratory design study, spanning quantitative & qualitative research and iterative low-to-high-fi prototyping to validate and optimise the adoption potential of personal data stores.
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Enabling effortless diploma sharing in My Citizen Profile
Randstad x Flanders, 2024. A usability study assessing the effectiveness of a data vault, integrated into the Flemish government's portal, to share documents with Randstad.
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Enriching content recommendations on VRT MAX streaming
VRT MAX streaming, 2024. A prototyping study exploring how cross-platform data can sharpen recommendations for Flanders' public broadcaster, evaluated through expert reviews and focus groups.
About me
Hi, I'm Tim.
- Background MSc in design engineering — Ghent University
- Experience 4+ years — collaborated with 10+ companies
- Now Senior product designer — imec
I am a senior product designer at imec with 4+ years of experience designing solutions for data-sensitive applications. During that time, I've led UX/product design and research for international organisations and public institutions, including Randstad, public broadcaster VRT, the Flemish government, and Marriott, while earning my PhD in human-computer interaction on personal data stores.
Currently, I'm mainly focused on leveraging an AI-powered design stack to design and build ASTRA, a platform to evaluate human-agent interactions.
At heart, I just love creating things and thrive in international environments. If this sounds like a match, let's connect!
Let’s connectConnect
Key collaborations
Resume
Experience
Senior product designer
- Leading the design and development of ASTRA, an AI platform that enables researchers to configure, deploy, and evaluate human-agent interactions with automated behavioural tracking. Partnering with public broadcaster VRT for functional testing and user validation. Built with an AI-powered design stack including Claude Code, n8n, and ElevenLabs.
- Defining the ‘shifting interfaces’ strategic roadmap to align imec’s product and research focus with emerging interaction modalities such as on-body AI.
- Coordinating the AI-powered product design project, guiding 20+ SMEs in integrating AI-powered workflows into their product design processes.
Freelance UX design assignment
- Conceptualisation and development of a high-fidelity interactive prototype to demonstrate the potential of personal data stores to drive client acquisition for the Open Data Institute.
UX designer & researcher
- Led UX prototyping and research for the Flemish public broadcaster’s streaming platform VRT MAX to evaluate the adoption potential of cross-platform personalised recommendations using personal data stores, conducting expert reviews, high-fidelity Figma prototyping, and focus groups.
- Evaluated user trust and platform transparency through usability testing for the Flemish government and Randstad to enable effortless digital diploma sharing via personal data stores on My Citizen Profile (3M+ users); delivered chaptered behavioural video insights and design recommendations adopted in the subsequent platform version.
- Facilitated a 2-week innovation challenge design sprint for 50+ international participants in collaboration with Marriott Hotels (Indonesia), delivering user-validated prototypes focused on reducing food waste.
- Co-organised 10+ design sprints fostering community-driven innovation and co-creation in the city of Ghent.
- Built and shipped the User Innovation Toolbox, an interactive Double Diamond framework making the design process accessible for first-time users.
- Presented at 4 international HCI conferences, including CHI 2025 (Yokohama, Japan) and HCII 2024 (Washington, DC).
R&D intern, medical product design
- Conceptual design and rapid prototyping of a 3D-printed wrist orthosis.
Education
PhD in human-computer interaction
- Research on personal data stores, carried out at imec and Ghent University.
- Published 6 peer-reviewed papers as first author in leading HCI venues (full bibliography @ Google Scholar).
Professional diploma in UX design
- Hands-on online credit-rated course encompassing user research and prototyping.
MSc in industrial design engineering technology
- Summa cum laude graduate.
- Thesis titled: ‘The Design of a Smart Diametrically Adjustable Ligament Knee Orthosis’.
BSc in industrial design engineering technology
- Magna cum laude graduate.
- Erasmus exchange: Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain (2020) – focused on design engineering.
Awards
Recent certifications
Languages
Contact
Let’s build something together
Interested in working together? Let’s have a chat — about a role, a project, or a freelance assignment.