In a design process there are two immediate things that matter*: …

There’s still an ongoing debate about whether designers should learn to code. I think it’s more important that designers learn to prototype.

Prototyping doesn’t mean that you have to write code or build software.

A prototype should be the quickest, …

What it means to move to a design mindset

A mindset is how we respond to the world around us. It acts as a center of gravity. It goes with you. It shapes who you are and what you do, wherever

Ambiguity is a key part of design. It points us to the uncomfortable gap between ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’ which is where I believe design adds most value.

As I described in my blog post ‘Seniority in …

When working with product teams, the job of a design leader is to make quick and accurate assessments about the focus and quality of the work being presented back to them.…

There’s a lot of design education out there. I get asked sometimes what people should ‘study’?

If you want to be a good designer, my advice is to study broadly and follow your interests. A design degree is great but …

All design is strategic unless you just see it as implementation.

Lingjing recently wrote about the importance of strategy.

I like this approach as a framework. It’s simply a way to think through and take forward a set of …

Written by Ben Holliday. Based on work developed with Kirsty Sinclair and feedback from the FutureGov design team.

There’s a question of why designers make so many maps. We love maps. But there can be confusion or misunderstandings about why …

Why all design is flawed when you’re looking for magic

I often get asked about bias in design. My answer:

All design is flawed. But buried in each action, each small step that we take and every single decision — even when

What we can learn from the military about ‘mapping backwards’ and how this applies to service design

In my previous blog post I wrote about the differences between service design and business analysis…

Why prototypes can be more valuable than specifications or documentation

A good rule of thumb for designers:

If you need to get into a finite level of detail, make something.

Artefacts are most useful when they become the design, rather …

How we quickly adapt to unfamiliar service models

I spend a lot of time in London and Manchester at the moment. Over the past few months I’ve started to notice the trend of new bike rental services — like Mobike.

I …