Giel Cobben

Updated Jul 30, 2026

I’m a Dutch designer based in Toronto with a focus on translating strong narratives into immersive digital experiences that break away from the mundane.



I’ve spend the past 15+ years crafting bespoke digital products and experiences spanning across web, mobile and interactive installations. With a strong focus on typography, art direction and motion, my work embraces new technologies build on top of a strong foundation of traditional design principles.

  1. 2027

  2. 2026

  3. Lijn

    Jul 30, 2026

    Lijn is a place to build your life as a single vertical timeline. You collect the moments that made you each one dated, described, and illustrated with photos or video and publish the result at you.lijn.co or on your own domain.

    The public pages are deliberately plain and fast: server-rendered, mobile-first, and readable with JavaScript switched off entirely. Just a line running down the page, and your life along it.

  4. Wortel

    Jun 14, 2026

    A minimal, native macOS terminal.

    Ghostty’s engine, stripped to what you actually use — named sessions, instant launch, instant switching. No tabs, no splits, no config to babysit. It’s finished the moment you open it.

    Download

  5. Pontueel

    May 24, 2026

    Amsterdam is a city split by water. The IJ separates the centre from Noord, and if you are on foot or on a bike, the free GVB ferry, the pont, is the only way across. Tens of thousands of people take one every day, and the timing of that crossing quietly runs your morning. Catch the pont that is about to leave and you are early. Miss it by ten seconds and you stand on a cold pier watching it pull away.



    Pontueel takes the guesswork out of it. It puts a live countdown to your ferry on your Home and Lock Screen, so a single glance tells you whether to keep walking or run. Open the app and you get a full-screen map of the IJ with the ferries making their way across it, a clean departure board, and the time to the next crossing in big, clear numerals.

    Download for iOS

  6. Wakker

    Apr 24, 2026

    Keep your Mac awake while it builds your next app

  7. 2025

  8. 2024

  9. todays.design

    Apr 16, 2024

    todays.design a design community built around the calendar. Designers post their work, give each other feedback, and vote the best pieces up, with every day getting its own page of what people made. Browse today, or go back through the week to see what rose to the top.

  10. 2023

  11. todays.design landing page

    Jun 22, 2023

    Exciting news! Today marks the launch of a brand new design community: http://todays.design. This platform is dedicated to connecting, sharing, and celebrating the best designs every day.

    Have a look

  12. 2022

  13. 2021

  14. 2020

  15. 2019

  16. 2018

  17. 2017

  18. 2016

  19. 2015

  20. 2014

  21. 2013

  22. 2012

  23. 2011

  24. Defringe

    Jan 2011

    The idea of a website where the overload of creative material on the internet would be filtered, aroused in late 2010. Not a renewing idea on itself, but Defringe is different. Defringe stands for quality and that results in the intuitive, comprehensive and award-winning experience.

    Out of the bulky internet, just a few things make it through our filter: the ones that fit seamlessly into Defringe’s vision. We clean up the edges for you. What stays behind is quality inspiration.

  25. 2010

  26. 2009

  27. 2008

  28. 2007

  29. 2006

  30. 2005

  31. 2004

  32. 2003

  33. 2002

  34. 2001

  35. 2000

  36. 1999

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  38. 1997

  39. 1996

  40. 1995

  41. 1994

  42. 1993

  43. 1992

  44. 1991