‘Arnhemse Nieuwe’ has been a jumpstart since 2006 for newly graduated designers from the ArtEZ Academy of Art & Design. This initiative by Ontwerp Platform Arnhem (OPA) gives young designers a flying start in the creative industry. Meet the Arnhemse Nieuwen 2025!
Creative coder Lucas Zuidema is one of the six Arnhemse Nieuwe. As the host of the podcast Rotoscope within ArtEZ, he has experience sharing stories. Each season he highlights a different theme, from internship placements to fellow students’ experiences. But his real passion lies in connecting technology with design: “I see programming code the way a sculptor sees clay: a material to work with.”
Creative roots
Lucas grew up in an art-loving family in Amsterdam. His mother was an artist, and creativity was present from an early age: “I was always drawing: abstract shapes, icons, logos, and levels for video games. Together with my mother I worked with clay and did sculpting.” After watching a documentary about the typeface Helvetica, he knew for sure: Graphic Design would be his path.
Artistic research
“What appealed to me most about ArtEZ Arnhem was the artistic research. I’m pretty nerdy, I want to know how things work.” After the entrance assignment and a Zoom conversation, he was accepted at ArtEZ Graphic Design. His move from Amsterdam to Arnhem was mainly for practical reasons: affordable housing is easier to find here. Lucas looked for and found a room close to the school, with nice housemates.
At the art academy, Lucas needed some time to find his footing: “It took some getting used to that we were constantly getting feedback and hardly any grades. And also less theory than I expected. They throw you in at the deep end: ‘just make something.’ So: learning by doing. I think a lot before I act, so for me that was quite a challenge.” In the second semester of his second year, it clicked: “I realized I had freedom within the assignments, that I could shape them to fit me. That’s when I started seeing the program more as a playground.”
Undemocratic
Back in secondary school, Lucas was already experimenting with different operating systems, such as Linux. That interest in technology and software grew into his graduation project Empty Space between your Files. Lucas: “The folder structure of Windows Explorer or Finder has limitations. It’s a good metaphor, but certainly not the only way to organize files. The system imposes a structure on you, which is actually quite undemocratic.”
A constellation
From that came his idea: software that connects images to each other in a personal, human way, like a constellation of associations. “That way, an overview of all your pictures emerges naturally. It’s very personal, because everyone makes their own connections. A voice-over guides you through this new structure.” The tool anticipates user errors and combines art with a digital application. Lucas tested the prototype with fellow students; their feedback was essential. He ended his OPA presentation at Focus Filmtheater in Arnhem with an open invitation: who wants to help build a real app? Because right now the program still doesn’t function as a fully fledged software tool.
Building community
Lucas sees a multifaceted future ahead. Besides being a podcast editor, he is a freelance web designer. He also writes plug-ins for existing software. “I think it would be cool to make software tools that people actually use, but from my own offering rather than from demand. And maybe I can build a community of creative programmers, locally or digitally.”
Want to become a member of OPA too?
Ontwerp Platform Arnhem has been offering a program for 20 years that identifies, presents, and discusses key developments within the (design) world. We are here for the individual designer/studio at every stage of their design practice. We are also here for policymakers, companies, innovators, and anyone else who is interested.
This article was originally written in dutch by Nicole Beaujean
