I am often explaining to young designers the need for them to get inspiration from sources that aren't other designers. A recent example of this was my visit to the Baltic in Gateshead recently where I saw a few art ...Read More
I was talking to a designer earlier this week about possibly talking at an upcoming event, the topic of which got me thinking what is a design studio? Now we all know what comes in to our heads when the term ...Read More
A recent discussion on the ownership of a brand made me consider the recent increase in the co-creation approach to branding. The issue of who owns a brand is one which is only going to become more prevalent in the ...Read More
Whenever we discuss brands we have to be clear about their context. Now there are many definitions of a brand and branding, which makes sense as I don't know many things which designers, strategists, etc, can agree on. However, if ...Read More
Aesthetics is a term which I have always shunned. It has always felt so surface, so inconsequential, so throw-away. I thought as a designer that my work should be more than 'aesthetic', more than just a pretty piece of work. For ...Read More
I'm currently studying an area of branding which is central to its purpose, that of value and values. It may be the same word but with two different meanings: Value – economic worth Values – meanings, ethics and qualities It should be pretty ...Read More
After learning a little more about Marshall McLuhan whilst writing an essay for my MA I discovered a book about him written by Douglas Coupland. Being a fan of his writing too I bought it straight away. I'm about half ...Read More
Whilst listening to a fantastic podcast, Freakonomics Radio, I heard a great story about how bad press was spun on it's head with a bit of self-depreciation. The story is that of Johnnie LeMaster, a pretty average major league baseball player ...Read More
Do you ever ask yourself "what do I design for"? Now I don't mean who are your clients, or what media channel are you designing for, I mean what is the end goal of my design, what is it's purpose. I've been ...Read More
This week I was asked by Design Week to comment on their Voxpop topic. The topic is something which I am interested in anyway so I was very happy to add my comment to the others. The question and my ...Read More
Design’s ability to make a difference to society