More About Me
So, you’re a designer and a writer?
Yes.
I used to work in the art world. In my spare time, I wrote about all sorts of things that interested me. Along the way, I fell into UX and started doing more and more design work. I wondered if an employer would find it strange to see my name on a book about 17th-century woodcuts? Probably. If somebody knew me as a writer, would they be confused that I was also designing websites for Samsung? Possibly.
But I think having a varied background makes you a better designer. And if nothing else, a more interesting person.
What have you worked on?
I worked as a researcher for several museums, including Tate Britain. Then I worked as an editor in book publishing for many years.
At T&H, I worked on official books for Blue Note records and the Rolling Stones, and while Editor for British Library Publishing I commissioned titles on food history and the art of aviation. I also found and reissued the world’s first cocktail book (maybe… that one’s hard to claim, to be completely honest).
After moving into UX, I worked for clients in tech, food, beauty and fashion.
I now work solely in the Web3 space. I’ve worked on numerous DeFi projects and have also written about UX for the Ethereum Foundation.
Anything else I should know?
I love a good challenge!
I once became slightly obsessed with memory systems and learnt to memorise multiple decks of cards. I've yet to do anything lucrative with this odd skill like take on the Las Vegas card tables.
I had sudden hearing loss when I was 30 and am deaf in one ear. Silver lining: I’m more sympathetic towards accessibility issues. This is an important area of UX.
I enjoy extreme endurance events and once ran a 100km ultramarathon.
When I’m not training, I sometimes distil absinthe.
About Me
I am a UX consultant and author.
I've worked on cryptocurrency and digital privacy. I've also written books about early modern woodcuts, and decadent literature… I realise this is an unlikely set of interests.
You can check out my UX portfolio here, and more info on my writing here.
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Colophon
An old tradition
I always enjoyed books that told you a bit about their design or, at the very least, what font they were set in. It’s a pity that more websites don’t continue this tradition.
Style
Clean, clear, minimal. My old website had a lot of animations, hover states, big, bold colours, parallax scrolling… It looked pretty cool, but it was unnecessary. I prefer to do more with less now. Plus the occasional vaporwave statue.
Typography
The text is set in Avenir and Avenir Light. This is a font that is both elegant and readable. The majority of all paragraph text is set in 20 (at desktop screen size). I think 20 is more readable than 16. I’ve also gone out of my way to ensure 50–100 characters per line, following Mary Dyson’s research on optimal line length and reading speed (2004).
Colour
Pretty much just black and white. However, pure black and pure white are hard on the eyes. The black used for text is #181818. The white used for most backgrounds is #FAFAFA. Other colours are kept to a minimum.
