David Hall – Design, user experience, visual theory

Flipping the bird: quitting Twitter and getting my attention back

Working life 3 min read

I joined Twitter 10 years ago and today, I wilfully pressed the deactivate button. Poof! @_davidhall[…]

Inside a designer’s sketchbook

Working life 3 min read

Over the past few years I have built up a collection of sketchbooks containing design ideas,[…]

Design research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I am doing

User experience 9 min read

As the massive B-17 Flying Fortress touched down, the pilot flicked the control to slow his[…]

Poetry by design: a brief but practical guide to writing microcopy

User experience 9 min read

Microcopy is anything from error messages, hints to button text and form labels. Here are a few of my favourite recommendations for formatting and dealing with microcopy.

Our hero: Storymapping the user experience

Mapping out how a user might interact with a product is key to creating a fluid user experience. Flowcharts and task flows are pervasive design tools, yet they lack the human factor and lead to a less than engaging ways to conceptualise the user flow.

The art of visualising music

Culture 4 min read

Design and music intersect in many ways; fashion, album art, set and instrument design. I look at the mysterious and fascinating craft of creating graphic scores.

NoUI and the danger of invisible design

User experience 5 min read

Product designers are hiding the workings of the system as they try to create a better user experience. Users are becoming increasingly divorced from their actions. Is there a danger here? Why should designers counteract this and can we be smarter without sacrificing simplicity?

You are taught to talk, read and write, but no one seems to teach you how to perceive.

Alan Fletcher

Design podcast pleasure: recommended designers to listen to

Working life 5 min read

A selection of articulate and informative UX and Web experts in design land who are perfect to listen to on your commute to work if you are so inclined.

The Vignelli Canon: a Modernist design classic

Art and design 7 min read

The Vignelli Canon is the little red book where Italian designer Massimo Vignelli presents his life’s work through his design philosophy and a wealth of examples.

Design for non-designers: five visual principles to give you a head start

Art and design 12 min read

Are you depressed about your design skills? Panic attacks over that presentation? Looking down the abyss of artistic failure? Don’t worry, I’m here to help…

There are the things that are out in the open and then there are the things that are hidden, and life has more to do, the real world has more to do with what is hidden, maybe.

Saul Leiter

Cardew’s Treatise: the greatest musical score ever designed

Culture 3 min read

Described as the ‘Mount Everest’ of graphical musical scores, Treatise still manages to surprise with its invention and beauty of graphic notation.

Designer’s Stockholm syndrome

Working life 3 min read

They are overly expensive, closed to any modification and difficult to fix by oneself if hardware goes bad. So why are designers so fixated by their Macs?

Absolute Bull: how Picasso can teach us to be better designers

Art and design 2 min read

How Picassos’ series of simple and brilliant bull sketches can teach us about creating better user experience.

The next time you see a sixteen-color, blind-embossed, gold-stamped, die-cut, elaborately folded and bound job, printed on handmade paper, see if it isn't a mediocre idea trying to pass for something else.

Milton Glaser

Design and UX books that are genuinely enjoyable to read

User experience 4 min read

How many UX books have you read that were uninspiring reads? I present some of the best UX books out there for your reading pleasure.

An utterly depressing, but ultimately enlightening example of what not to do when designing an online experience

User experience 4 min read

Badly designed software and bad user experience can make the user feel that they are in a Kafkaesque nightmare. Here’s an example that will make your eyes water.

My favourite pens for sketchnoting

Working life 3 min read

I have tested out some of the best gel and ink pens for design and UX sketchnoting.

A design classic: Barry Lyndon film poster

Art and design 2 min read

I take a look at one of the finest film posters by French designer Jouineau Bourduge, which perfectly complements arguably one of Kubrick’s finest films.

Anatomy of a redesign

User experience 10 min read

This is a design case study on HireHive, an online recruiting platform. I go through the design process and design thinking behind the project.

Notable album covers of 2015

Culture 5 min read

Album art is not dying. Not this year anyway. It is as inventive as ever. Here are my favourite album covers from the last year.

A great user experience in a tiny app

User experience 3 min read

MailChimp have really come up with something great here. A great user experience in a small package. Drum roll please.

Manoeuvre and mislead, but always deliver – the world of Jed Kurzel

Culture 3 min read

“Treat them with respect and they will be with you all the way. They’ll also give you something different.” Jed Kurzel talks about his life and career creating film scores.