Say hello to: Nicolas. Team Lead Design and Strategy at icapps.
During this blog series, we highlight one of our colleagues who talks about his or her job at icapps. Find out what their challenges are in their job, how they want to grow in their job and get to know them a bit too.
From Strategist to Team Lead
When Nicolas first joined icapps a few years ago, he quickly made his mark as a UX designer with a sharp strategic mindset. With the support of colleagues like Tine and Geert, he started shaping user journeys, wireframes, and workshop formats for a wide range of clients.
Fast forward to today, and he’s stepped into a much broader role, leading the Design & Strategy team at icapps. “It started gradually,” he says. “Over time, I started picking up more commercial tasks. I discovered I really enjoyed thinking beyond the solution, diving into market trends and understanding what clients truly need.”
Impact through Design and Strategy
Nicolas isn’t one to stay on the surface. Over the past few years, he’s played a key role in some of our most complex and impactful projects. Take the UiTPAS app, for example, a user-first project where he led extensive research, built wireframes, and helped define the UI direction.
Then there’s amfori, a long-running and technically challenging platform. “Projects like that teach you to think strategically, to see the bigger picture,” he explains. Manuport Logistics' Platform is another innovative solution within the logistics sector where Nicolas supported the project team, and delivered a product that serves as a strong reference for our work in logistics.
These experiences laid the foundation for his current role: shaping our market positioning, guiding clients from first idea to strategy, and making sure our Design and Strategy team continues to grow, in quality, capacity, and confidence.
Balancing leadership and creativity
Leading a team while staying creatively involved isn’t always easy. Nicolas spends much of his time on planning, customer proposals, and commercial efforts to secure the right projects. “But I still want to be part of the creative process,” he says. “It energizes me. Whether it’s jumping into a Figma-file while wireframing or facilitating a workshop, it’s important for me to stay connected to the craft.”
That balance isn’t accidental. It's something he works on consciously, making space for both leadership and hands-on work, and setting the same example for others in his team.
Learning to lead
Transitioning from designer to Team Lead comes with its own learning curve. Nicolas joined our internal leadership program, alongside other Team Leads, to develop his skills in coaching, giving feedback, and fostering team growth. “Listening, asking the right questions, and creating opportunities, those are skills I’m still sharpening every day,” he shares.
Nicolas believes his background in user research is actually helping his move to leadership “Similar to user interviews or observations with users, you actually do the same with your colleagues; you observe, you listen, you dig deeper, in order to take the best decision “
Can you tell us something that few people know about you?
They used to tell me I was a ‘curieuzeneuzemosterdpot’, always being super curious and asking ‘Why’ a lot! Well to admit to you something, that hasn’t changed since. I always question the status quo and wonder what the root cause of a problem is. In user interviews or strategic research, this little quirk of mine really has proven its use.
