Shooting for the stars – falling back to Earth

Over the last couple of years I've watched a good friend of mine develop a keen interest in astronomy. He's purchased numerous telescopes and other gadgets that have enabled him to produce some impressive amateur astrophotography. Leo is a technically savvy chap. By day he's a graphic designer. He uses a modern smart phone. Obviously …

The risk of homogeny when following positive trends in design

Trends constantly come and go in visual design. Some explode on to the scene and see mass adoption only to fade into obscurity as quickly as they arrived - remember burning text gifs? Others are slow burners that eventually become mainstays once proven to provide a verifiable benefit. Inclusive design is probably the most important …

Time in design

While pondering a topic for this post I habitually glance down at my wristwatch and decide that it might be a suitable inspiration. I rapidly mind-map a potential overlap between horology and software design / development but only find ethereal concepts - nothing concrete. What I do find is an overlap between how my taste …

Imagining product authoring with WooCommerce and Gutenberg

Alongside the Customizer and the REST API, the other key focus for WordPress in 2017 is improving the tool we use on a daily basis to craft our content - the editor. Content creators are craving a richer, more powerful and more intuitive authoring experience. In response to this, the "Gutenberg" project was formed. Gutenberg …

Designing products for efficiency

Understanding users is of paramount importance, that is clear to any product designer. But sometimes creating an accurate persona to test against can be tricky. Sometimes it might even be impossible. In these situations it's good to have some fundamental rules to fall back on. For me, one of those rules is to always focus …