Design Practice
Design Practice

What Design Teams Can Learn from Air Traffic Control

When pilots call up air traffic control (ATC), they don’t just announce their presence—they request a specific level of service based on their needs. For small aircraft, this often starts with a basic service, where controllers keep track of the flight and notify emergency services if something goes wrong. If pilots need more, they can ask for a traffic service, where ATC provides warnings about nearby aircraft. For even greater support, there’s a deconfliction service, where controllers actively give instructions to help pilots avoid collisions.

This structured approach got me thinking: Should design teams operate in a similar way?
Design Practice

The Battle Between Shipping and Perfection: A Designer’s Dilemma

Designers, let’s talk about an uncomfortable truth. For many of us, the joy of our craft lies in creating work that is not just functional but exceptional. We love unearthing hidden user insights through research, challenging assumptions, and asking the kinds of questions that lead to elegant, transformative solutions. To us, this feels like the very essence of design: solving the problem in the best way possible. But here’s the rub...
Design Practice

The Role of Design in an Increasingly Financialized Business Environment

In recent years, businesses have become increasingly decoupled from traditional outcomes like profit, and many are now seen as financial instruments whose value is primarily driven by shareholder sentiment and market perception. This shift towards financialization is evident in many industries, from tech startups to established corporations, and has significant implications for designers who work in these businesses.
Design Practice

The End of Design As We Know It? How Automation and A.I. is changing the Face of Design Forever

As the technology landscape continues to evolve, so does the field of design. The rise of industrialization and automation has led to a shift from traditional craft skills to more assembly-based work. With the development of AI, we are seeing the possibility of even more automation in design. This raises questions about the future of the profession and the role of human designers. In this article I look at the commercial and technological trends facing the industry and try to imagine what comes next.
Design Practice

The 4 Elements of An Effective Brand

Good brand architecture is a hierarchy. Like the oft used Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, it starts with some basic obviously fundamentals that every brand should have, but then grows into areas that few brands successfully achieve. This article outlines four such levels, although I suspect there are plenty of different framings one could use.