Was struck today by an observation – one of the type that when pointed out, seems so mind-numbingly obvious that it leaves you (me) feeling rather stupid. It’s that the reason good ideas always seem to come from the margins is, well duh, that there’s A LOT of margin out there. It seems self-evident (now, […]

I’ve got to the point in my working life where reflections on things about this industry creep up on me. After all, it still comes as something of an astonishment that I can call myself a designer. It’s how I still make a living. So that must be what I am. Maybe it’s guilt. I […]

Seems like the UK is heading for more discomfort this summer, only this time rather than melting roads and rails, the heat will be on for whoever ends up leading (now, there’s an interesting way to frame the new incumbent’s role) this frazzled country as a Summer of Discontent looms large – and with it […]

Was rummaging around in the draws looking for a cable adapter, so as the screen could talk to the computer (or possible vice-versa) at the correct ratio and what I thought was box file full of usb-b-c-firewire-dongle-port-rgb spaghetti turned out to be a collection of the designer’s go-to inspiration – a stash (possibly a ‘deck’, […]

When I was young (and this was all fields, etc.), when I’d ask someone where they’d been, the reply was often ‘there and back to see how far it is’. Which usually meant, none of your business, nosey. It never really occurred to me what a strange turn of phrase it was – a kind […]

Or, alternately, what folding can reveal. Unless you’ve been living under a metaphorical rock, (and I wouldn’t blame you, the atmosphere over here in the UK has been pretty febrile) the last few weeks have lead us to changing political horses again. Well, when I say ‘us’, in truth, not all of us.  Whichever leader […]

Maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be a lot of the 1970’s about at the moment? Was taking a dip through the state of graphic design and from identity to packaging, my eye kept snagging on shades of 1973 which set me to wondering why it was – or, why am I ‘seeing’ that? […]

Zelf Koelman is busy inventing the future of material interactions, or as he captures it, a place “Where digital meets nature”. What does that mean? A series of rolling experiments where art meets tech meets material science meets interaction. The result, in this instance, is called Ferrolic – which I guess is a compound of […]

Spotted this collection of matchbook covers, and apart from the gift of match-based metaphors, what struck me (sorry) was how valuable this very particular media opportunity used to be. Seeing as how so few people use or need matches now, the art of the matchbook cover has surprising parallels with many of our more usual […]

Stumbled on this, really neat and rather useful interpretation and presentation – take a look through and tell me how you feel… The Ekmans’ Atlas of Emotions