New book launched: Creative Responsivity Casebook

2023

Webinar: Non-artistic Creativity in Therapy

Seeking participants for my PhD research

2022

Two modes of working

My problem-solving method 2022

Successive approximation in psychotherapy and design thinking

Deadly design

Myst: thoughts on a revolution

2021

Visual resume 2008-2021

Design Thinking over 15 years

Systems naturally deter innovation

2020

Pretty pointing pointless design

Happy Congratulations and Merry Christmas

The unsung everyday designers

From Darkie to Darlie (but only in English)

Rolling signage - a great application

thesitewizard: an impressive body of work

2019

When the shop doesn't match the merchandise

Mimicry - flattery or exploitation?

2018

Deliberate imperfection: Welcome to my new website

To live is to design

Odd fashion shot

Is Gate H7 the same as Gate 7?

03667 WedgeWave

Three ways to do innovation

00351 Facade

00348 Facade

00336 Nested Monument

Perpetuated product UX fails

00289 Astor

00277 Wedge

00270 Fett

00264 Aplanci

Three fundamental user needs

00256 Minerva

The context gap in UX design

00252 Themis

Agency in UX design

00238 Athena

0233 Arch Trellis

00223 Arch Jonathan

00218 Arch Discus

00214 Monument

00211 Monument

00196 Chine

00189 Block

00175 Counterpoint

00162 Pier

00153 Sail

Three simple rules for applying logos

00142 Zaftig

00134 Prism

00129 Catherine

Hawaii missile warning: a hypothetical UI improvement

00097 Thalatha

A big psychological step forward for robocars

2017

Experience design must move beyond marketing

Sketch-draw digital art process

Human- vs machine-centric content design

Ill-differentiated triggers

If you want to survive in design

Details details details

The humble index.html page

2016

Macbook Pro 2020 Prediction

A body of worth

Hair-trigger ads UX fail

Apple Magic Mouse design fail

2015

Leadership fishtanks

Obvious but not too easy

Mobile power

Foot traffic lines

Use the whole wall

Viennese traffic lights

Captcha an exercise in aggravation

Un-extraordinary Vertu

Design museum design fail!

Communicating the basics

Tins of paint?

Just say "fast"

Ice cube tray: squee or sigh?

Idea banks and the need for curation

Context-sensitive ads

Visualising De Waag

Amsterdam Museum timeline works

Tools and operating frameworks

Cross-ed FTW

Creating "foreign" to test UX

Guinness Storehouse: exhibition done well

Book of Kells exhibition: could be better

History changing objects

The potential in tools

Cola is red

Chocolate is gold

"Design" has a double meaning

Combining design thinking and applied psychology

UX lies beyond just the screen

Design + applied psychology: A hybrid problem solving process

Feeling and Being in UI/UX design

Same green different light

Designing from where users are

Infographic fail

Audacity vs arrogance

Dell Venue 8 Pro opportunity missed

Apple emojis missing the point

Why I keep Opera around

One simple change to increase web form usability

Another pointless and wasteful design?

Build your creative confidence

2014

Circular menu done Material Design right

What I do Wordle 2014

Crafting our toolbox

We get what we measure

Assumed levels of knowledge (when providing instructions)

Design thinkers and the MBTI

The fugliest UI ever?

Good design in plain sight

Designing for motivation

Vaclav Smil nuggets

Resource: What is Strategic Design

The MoSCoW Method

What's your problem?

2013

Making a mark in a world of slim

Three elements of a UX use-context

UI, UX, IA and gamification in context

UX/UI for internal vs public users

User-centred design mindset

Design seesaw

Designing for damage tolerance

UI design vs user training

Resource feature: Three Elements of UX Use Context

A matter of will

2012

Design thinking without design

A limited definition limits the leverage

Evaluating design

Design fail: looks like a urinal...

Previewing for colour blindness

Innovate “within” and “across”

Advertising facts vs emotion; then and now

Three design approaches

What is Strategic Design?

Big picture blindness

Crap... what?

Creepy shopping bag

The Bios Urn

Re-thinking Cheap Fast Good - a much better diagram

What does humanising business mean?

Ignorant about design

Six Secret Multinational Giants

Has "innovation" lost all meaning?

Does business poison passion?

Stock vector satisfaction

Air Asia X logo misses the spot

2011

Improving the user experience of a crate

Building trust in processes

Trust of systems

Dieter Rams 10 Commandments of Good Design

Obsolescence resistant design

On why theme parks are WOW

Thoughts for a meaningful creative work/life

Today's Wordle

Letter box dog poo bin

What is ugliness?

Too many words

Toyota FJ Cruiser orthogonal delight

Non-designer design

Human factors underpin everything we do

I know no one reads anything...

Making things useful

Attraction marketing

A simple model for value-adding

Another InnoFuture event tomorrow

People do scroll for content

Challenging the myth of the fold (with style)

Innovation is social

Hire designers to design or think?

What does a typeface say?

Without a problem, there is no design

Hyper-niching – another example

Did I start a trend?

Bad handwriting at Kastrup

Bit.ly: non-visual good design

The un-designed Facebook

Hiring designers for non-design roles; who dares, wins!

A clear, compelling and engaging vision

Mercure email user-centric communications fail

From QMS to CES

Six Steps To Getting Results With Innovation

The Dark Matter that is consumer-led innovation

The Office ribbon and location memory

Innovation is not a business model

Blue on white is unlucky?

Low standards of experience

The role of design

Social media on mobiles

Selling innovation when businesses can’t and don’t want to be innovative

Most businesses can’t and don’t want to be more innovative

How not to practise design

Design and unnecessary consumption

Gadgets with sealed-in batteries

I think I will stop buying design books

Not not knowing and the next opportunities in the innovation space

2010

Fashion design drawing IS reality!

Thoughts on aural signage

Singapore $10 notes

Be nice, be memorable

Digital media opportunities – Part 9: Pragmatic reality

Digital media opportunities – Part 8: e-politics and e-government

Digital media opportunities – Part 7: E-books and self-publishing

Digital media opportunities – Part 6: Knowledge-distillation

Digital media opportunities – Part 5: Mobiles as the primary data device

Digital media opportunities – Part 4: Augmented reality

Digital media opportunities – Part 3: Haptic experiences

Digital media opportunities – Part 1: Social media

Digital media opportunities – Part 2: Latent foundational technologies

How not to do an Unsubscribe form

Rethinking innovation – Part 12: The opportunities

Rethinking innovation – Part 5: Time pressures

The Desktop Epic Revolution

Rethinking innovation – Part 1: Reality check

Redesiging a boarding pass

Design and fun as differentiation

Blink packaging design – cigarettes?

The reassurance of the tangible

More orthogonal goodness

The iPad is boring

Mash-up wow

Kill the messenger

Design Thinking

Clarity in Design Thinking and Agile

Business process design primer

Incongruous Alessi shop design

Cool Lego ad

Good taste and insecurity

Thing of beauty

Rules

The fiddle-worthy nature of products

Wabi sabi

Super Supa Glue ad

If it ain’t broke don’t break it (just make it better)

The UI/UX and feature-set consistency of tools

Office 2007 Ribbon follow-up

Mass media and Internet advertising

Minimalism win, usability fail

Insecticide packaging graphics

Knowing enough to break the rules

Malmö solar panels

Is Hello Kitty the nemesis of creativity?

Free idea for conference organisers

What if Harvey Norman sold as Ikea does?

Annoying design – headphones with blue flashing LEDs

Crappy design that persists

The Microsoft Office 2007 ribbon

Elevator access infographics

Design can take a moral position

Airline seat screen pitch

Tokyo railway poster

Invisible excellence – Tokyo pavement

Japanese movie poster

Invisible design – Tokyo manholes

The heal-thyself myth

Three things

The role of customers in products and services development

The big picture in service design

Designers advocate for end users

Service design and the attention economy

Design is innately innovative

A fashion industry “revolution”

Two aspects of service design

Picasa 3 face detection rudeness

Japan day 8

2009

Designers need to think bigger

Qantas magazine odd typography

Jumbo elephant landing

Folding plug

Industrial design collectable wants

Wordle

Keyboard heaven – cheapest is not best

Nice use of Flash

Fun is the easiest way to change behaviour

The big-small supplier cycle

New role for designers

Look-down vs look-up consumers

Breakable glass

The invisible man

Animals and integrity

Play with a projector

Design thinking

Reactive vs proactive thinking

Design process

Design process – how not to do it

Netbooks – more from less

Governments affect design

Camera ads

The folly of the advertising account pitch process

Silence is golden is innovation

Good design

Fire hydrants – iconography

Funny evidence of short term thinking

Transparent Internet meets lazy designers

The problem of alignment

How many?

Lost Generation

Sidewalk strips lost opportunity

Cultivating innovation Alessi style

Fighting innovation inertia

Open plan offices bad

Taxi video advertising

The opportunities in being counter-intuitive

Interesting tools and tips from the Ten Faces of Innovation

Small change, big improvement

How many of these did they make?

Re-imagine

Cultural barriers to innovation

Blue on white is unlucky?

2008

Fostering tiles

The Innovation Interrupt

Tumble Weed Houses

Anonymous televisions

Which one is the real brand?

The visual language of trust

Two ways of looking at brands

Construction barrier in denial

Rusted brand

The case of the entombed air conditioner

Stupid design – two ludicrous examples

A nice touch of whimsy

Can you work this microwave?

Three stereotypes

Why does everything have to beep?

Greater economy of scale = less innovation

Visually consistent, but not quite congruent

Product finishing and wear

Censorship weirdness

I Love the Whole World

How to keep a post upright

Bathroom tap support page wanted

Two restaurant sites

Overly clever typography misses the point

Tap user interface failure

The simplest techniques

The embarassment of context un-aware design

A different kind of car ad

A 16-hour clock

Disturbing poster

Ikea hacks

Aircraft livery design

A worthwhile twist on advertising

Tactile wand for the blind

Ad industry felt "demeaned and trivialised"

The War of the Worlds - book covers galore

Cigarette pack books

Design is unnecessary and materialistic

Taglines and names

Stupid street signage

Funny logo

Most businesses are not ready for innovation

How do you treat your staff?

Innovation training and recruitment

Good looks does not automatically make good design

Making things look thinner

Design and scale

Great Australian Dreaming - the palette

Toilet designed by a fashion designer

When aesthetics come before usability

2007

Reconnecting with creativity

Uncomfortable photo

Logo marks categorised by type

Invisible is good

How many web designers say this?

Make my logo bigger!

Graphic design for the real world

Abstracts for your walls

A fun and classy intro to Web 2.0

Packed in box

Dust collectors

“We say we do” vs “here’s what we’ve done”

Egg poacher - simple and useful

A picture speaks

On Chinese manufacturers

We must have a badge!

Design thinking

Colour matching coffee cup

My Vodafone - extra links please

Logo basics - addendum

Soft stuff has definite priority

Don’t made me think!

"Whorez"

Easy to use means hard to make

A city that said no

Anthropomorphisation

What do you notice?

Unexpected is memorable

Forget logos

Fashion designer fantasies and eating disorders

I’ll stay home and watch the microwave tonight

Sophistication is…

Making magic - The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Startup pitfalls

Powerpoint bad for brains

Bad signage - illegible font

Bad signage - hide crucial info

Another example of abundance and generosity

Sony site - how to make it hard for customers

Identifying vs solving problems

Which graphics file format for logos

Animal “hybrids”

Great diagrams

Which would you bank with?

A little slip of paper can say a lot

Weird sign: a lesson on context

System builders affect culture

It doesn’t have to be black or white

2006

Expression, anonymity and (the illusion of) being heard

On Thinkpads and bento boxes

Paper catalogues online, and the lessons therein

Is this shop closed?

First impressions … oh poo!

The Origin of Brands

The one-gimmick rule for logos

Put your money where your customers are

Straight-talking signage

Refreshingly plain and simple

Make numbers easy

Another take on cross-brand advertising

2005

Comtemplating the simplicity of Google

Comparing apples to apples

Design effective signs and posters

Choosing fonts for effective communications

Logo design pitfalls

Using colour in business communications

Pull your head out

Advertising is not the easy way out

Innovation is subversive

Think big