I’ve said this a number of times in various pieces of my writing about design. It’s easy to get, as a lot of people can relate to being a sports fan of some kind. As a fan, you are essentially a customer of the institution you are supporting. Much of…

Good typographic practice makes digital designs better — Call me old fashioned, but proper typographic practice remains high on the list of topics that all types of designers should be knowledgable about. Matters of the straight vs. …

The world is on fire, the current political climate means societies have never been more polarised, and it feels like a Skynet war is a plausible reality as the years tick by. There’s a lot of shit happening in the world, and we’d all be forgiven for wallowing in a…

Tips for putting together the best representation of yourself and your work — I’ve spent almost 15 years designing portfolios. For myself, for the design studios I’ve founded, for the creative agencies I’ve designed for and the creative teams I’ve worked as part of. There is always a presentation of work to put together at some point along the road. I’ve also spent…

Research, for me, is the single most important aspect of the design process. It informs every step. From foundational strategy—to rationalising something that could be seen as arbitrary like colour choice—having the right research in place right at the beginning of a project means always having something in your corner…

What education did for me and what it should do for design — I always had an issue with education. Well, the way I was educated throughout the various tiers of schooling, anyway. I couldn’t comprehend why I couldn’t grasp some of the matter being taught to me (I wasn’t a stupid child, probably bordering between ‘average’ and ‘above average’ (based on the…

How not giving a fuck made me get my shit(s) together — Often, I get asked how I manage to ‘fit so much in’ between home, work and life. Granted, I do—and have done—a lot of work over the last decade: Self-initiated design projects, new businesses, authoring books, teaching, curating exhibitions and repping illustrators. It’s not all peaches and cream, though. …

Things to consider before going gung-ho into the global branding process — Before joining the Global Creative team at EF Education First, I’d worked on a few brand identity projects that had an international reach. For instance, with Relentless Energy Drink, which had presence in Ireland, Germany and the USA, along with the UK. Pelé Sports, with a global audience between Europe…

On this day nine years ago, I decided to ‘get into’ writing. — Ah, 2010. A lot’s happened in the last nine years. Personally, professionally, locally, globally. For all of us. Back then, we were all very excited for the upcoming London 2012 Olympics, figuring out how Twitter actually works and designing websites without even thinking about how they might work on a…