About Nils van den Broek
Nils van den Broek, is one of the founders of Valsplat, a strategic design agency which he co-founded in 2000 together with Joris.
For over 25 years, he has helped organisations work in a more customer-centred way, turning strategy into action and bringing momentum to complex digital projects. What started as a fascination with technology and creativity has grown into a deep concern for its impact on people and society.
Nils is a co-author of Weg van tech, a book based on 18 conversations about our relationship with technology and the crossroads we now find ourselves at.
What is your vision on our UX industry?
UX has helped make digital products more usable and accessible, and that matters. But somewhere along the way, digitisation became a goal in itself. More features, more flows, more screens. Over the years, I have seen digital products become faster, smarter, and more efficient, while often becoming less human at the same time.
As designers and product teams, we are not just shaping experiences, but behaviour, access, and power. That comes with responsibility. I believe the future of UX lies in restoring the human scale in digital services, helping organisations make conscious choices about when technology helps, when it harms, and when it should step aside.
It means asking harder questions, slowing down where needed, and designing for a more open, inclusive, and trustworthy digital society, not just better products.
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Keynote
Nils van den Broek
Designing Beyond the Screen: Bringing the Human Scale Back to UX
We are at a crossroads in the digital world. We can keep digitising everything by default, or we can choose a path where technology serves people again. In this talk, I reflect on the tension of being a digital agency while staying critical of “digital-first” thinking, and on moments where pushing everything into a screen actually made things worse.
I will share the core lessons from Weg van tech, based on 18 interviews with leaders, scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, and citizens, and connect them to the day-to-day reality of UX and product teams. Expect concrete examples, a clear perspective, and practical takeaways you can apply immediately, so your work does not just ship, but genuinely helps restore the human scale.
