Thom van der Doef riding a cargo bike with his twin boys in the Netherlands
Hi, I am Thom, principal product designer.
I drive product teams forward through
strategic design planning, hands-on research, rapid prototyping, cross-functional facilitation, an eye for delightful details.

Case Studies

For the last 3 years I led design strategy and execution of 0-1, AI-powered products for students and teachers at eSpark Learning.

Here is a glimpse of how my work impacted end-users and the business.

eSpark Learning — Lead Product Designer

Deeply engage students through GenAI stories and quizzes

A generative-AI reading experience where students of all ages co-create their own story before taking comprehension questions. I led Product Design, Discovery and Delivery.

+23%

NWEA scores

9 Million+

Stories created

97%

student rating

Students using Choice Texts prototype during testing session
Teacher planning lessons with an AI-powered assistant on a laptop at a home desk

eSpark Learning — Lead Product Designer

Increase teacher efficacy with AI-powered lesson recommendations

I led design and discovery for an AI-powered assistant helping teachers align eSpark activities with core curriculum requirements, transforming lesson planning from a weekly stress point into an efficient, intentional process.

+300%

Assignment MAU

+100%

Assignment Conversion

150+

Aligned Curricula

Preview of eSpark design system showing color palette and core UI components

eSpark Learning — Lead Product Designer

Increasing consistency and dev speed with a unified design system

I founded and led a cross-functional team to tackle a growing product-complexity challenge by building a single source of truth: a unified design system and component library.

Faster

Development

Accessible

User Experience

Scalable

Architecture