Two laptops with dark blue screens and a white background, displaying the RDK website, with overlapping large white text in the background spelling "RDK".

RDK - Rebranding

Rotterdam

2025

Role
UX Lead (website) + rebrand support

Collaboration
UI Lead: Lodewijk (visual direction & UI)

Scope
Full rebrand (brand direction + visual identity) and translation into a scalable website experience: information architecture, user flows, page templates, CMS rules, and handoff.

Team
Yve (UX), Lodewijk (UI), 4 developers, 1 QA tester, 1 project manager, 2 stakeholders

Platforms
Desktop + mobile

Users
Prospects, members, partners, developers, and marketing

Constraints
CMS-driven publishing, content governance & approvals, scalable templates for growing content, brand alignment, and accessibility considerations (where applicable)

Website link
https://rdkcentral.com

Project context

The board requested a new website. Lodewijk and I recommended using this moment to deliver a full rebrand at the same time—shifting the narrative from “tech-first” toward a stronger community focus and making the mission clearer and more visible across the experience.

My role

I led the UX for the RDK website and supported the broader rebrand work end-to-end. My ownership focused on defining the website structure, user journeys, and the CMS/data approach needed to scale content over time. I partnered closely with Lodewijk (UI Lead), who owned the visual direction and UI execution.

What I did

  • Supported rebrand research and discovery to inform direction and messaging foundations

  • Defined the website information architecture and key user journeys across primary audiences

  • Documented end-to-end flows in a structured Excel flow map to align stakeholders and reduce rework

  • Created wireframes for core page types and reusable templates to scale content consistently

  • Defined CMS requirements (modules, content rules, structure) to support governance and long-term publishing

  • Configured CMS data collections/workflows to support engineering implementation

  • Handed off the website UX foundation to the UI lead once the base structure was set, then shifted focus to the membership (e-commerce) area for a UI reskin aligned to the new brand

  • Partnered with engineering to validate feasibility, support handoff, and run design reviews during development

  • Facilitated stakeholder alignment and managed scope by recommending which items to move into a second phase

Key decisions

  • Go/No-go for membership launch: I had final sign-off on whether the membership experience was ready to go live, based on UX quality, brand consistency, and implementation readiness.

  • CMS approach: I helped shape the CMS strategy (content model + workflow), ensuring it supported scalable publishing, governance, and developer feasibility.

  • Template-first governance: I defined a template-first structure and CMS guardrails (modules + content rules) to keep the experience consistent across desktop and mobile as content grows.

Collaboration

I owned the UX foundation (structure, flows, wireframes, and CMS logic). Lodewijk owned the UI and visual execution. We worked closely to ensure the final screens matched the journeys, content priorities, and publishing rules.

Result

A brand-aligned, scalable UX foundation for the RDK website—improving navigation clarity, enabling consistent publishing through reusable templates and CMS guardrails, and supporting long-term maintainability as RDK continues to grow.