The internet suffers from a lack of imagination, so I asked my students to redesign it — Today’s internet is bland. Everything looks the same: generic fonts, no layouts to speak of, interchangeable pages, and an absence of expressive visual language. Even micro-typography is a mess. Web design today seems to be driven by technical and ideological constraints rather than creativity and ideas. Every page consists of…

The tech community is in a terrible state. How do we get out of the slump? — Most of you probably know the Gartner Hype Cycle. Right now, it’s a bit out of fashion. But back in the 90s and 00s, it was a fun and slightly ironic way to talk about the progression of technology. The basic idea behind the Hype Cycle is that all technologies…

Why essayistic writing is an excellent format for design theory and design research — There are many ways to express your ideas. Depending on your talents, intentions and inclinations, you can draw, compose, act, sing, dance, paint — or you can write. You simply pick the format that is most appropriate for your idea. In research, a common way to publish ideas is the…

My students explored the use of typography in Virtual Reality — Virtual Reality was not made for reading long texts. So it is not surprising that typography does not play a prominent role in the design of virtual environments. This, however, is a bit of a shame. As Oliver Reichenstein noted, web design is 95% typography and Frank Rausch added that…

If we want to expand the design space, we need better tools. — Whenever we create something, the tools we use have a direct influence on the resulting artefact. Tools shape our products — it’s as simple as that. This observation is neither new nor original. Tools extend our capabilities. They allow us to do things that would be difficult or impossible with…

Creating a professional culture for design feedback is an essential factor for the success of a project — All creative disciplines — be it music, art, dance, architecture, or design — share an elemental form of evaluation and assessment: the critique. These feedback sessions are deeply ingrained in each disciplinary culture, and they form the backbone of creative education. Critiques are fundamental to the development of a creative…

Why is Mark Zuckerberg and the Metaverse so obsessed with literal simulation? — A few days ago, Mark Zuckerberg presented his vision of a virtual world called ‘Metaverse’. Personally, I found it difficult to watch the presentation. It was an endless string of warmed up ideas, bland concepts, and visual disappointments. It was infantile and tacky. But one thing intrigued me: if the…

Individual creativity is a remarkable source for innovation. — ‘Always remember — you don’t design for yourself!’ is a mantra you hear a lot in the UX and interface design world. I must admit that I disagree with it. It is not fundamentally wrong. But I strongly dislike the implication that if you let designers design for themselves, they…

Reflections on communicating and visualising climate change scenarios — The core aim of the SENSES project was the visualisation and communication of climate change scenarios. We started the project in late 2017 — and submitted the last modules in late 2020. It was a long and intense project — and since we just published an extensive Perspective in the…