Leigh Howells • Designerist • Tune maker • Writer of words

Blog

On the ball

I have never suffered from a bad back or neck. That’s a miracle really, as I have spent many many years and many many long...

Freezing fog

On a very icy February morning (-13) in Cambridgeshire, freezing fog left amazing ice crystals on stones, trees and iron gates. Unfortunately I didn’t have...

Responsive Wireframing

I am conscious that some people in the web industry, including myself(!) may be getting tired of hearing the word ‘responsive’ in everything they read....

Cut the crap

Some companies just don’t know how quickly they can ruin the look and feel of their own website simply by spewing out far too much...

Inspiration Dubai

Dubai is an architects’ playground – a showcase of design and construction achievements, with each building trying to stand out from the crowd. But it’s...

A prototype is worth a 10,000 ...

“Design isn’t just how it looks, Design is how it works” – Steve Jobs. Wireframing is important.  I don’t think I need to labour the...

Web/Native Infographic

I made a pretty infographic to illustrate a blog post on Boagworld; The whole web is confused by mobile. I’m really keen on infographics at...

Web sites are NOT posters

W eb sites are not posters, nor should we design them to be posters. I’ve heard this idea a lot recently, that we should be...

Update 2011

C onferences always inspire me. I attended Aral Balkan’s one day Update Conference 2011 in a very blustery Brighton this week and came away with...

Ugly Duckling

I’m not a big fan of swans. Graceful yes. Slightly scary and generally annoying, definitely. In fact they used to be my mortal enemy when...

Happy Face Syndrome Must Die

R ecently I’ve been reviewing University websites and over the last few weeks I’ve noticed a bit of a trend, which amuses me more and...

Design Ignorance is Bliss?

W ell OK, I admit it. I’m not really a proper designer. I have been bluffing my way through for the last 10 years as...

Austin 2011

SXSW in photos We sat on planes… and waited for planes… took photos of random strangers… then welcomed Austin like an old friend. We met...

.Net Magazine

I was thrilled to have a feature article printed in the February 2011 (#211) edition of .Net magazine. I’ve been in magazines a few times...

Merry Christmas

A little Lego Christmas card from me.  I ran out of patience after about 30 minutes of moving arms and legs, so just imagine it’s...

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Each year my Nativity scene comes out of the attic and sits on a shelf for a couple of weeks. Every year it makes me...

iFolio Keycase Review

T he iPad onsreen keyboard is okay. It works well, it’s always available and gets the job done, but I find it suffers from a...

Knowing When to Quit

A ll my life I’ve heard, even repeated to others that you should ‘never give up’, ‘keep on trying’, quiting is for losers, blah blah. ...

Space-silly Spangly Site

I redesigned my site over the course over the weekend. It was boring and I hated it. It has no ‘Posts by Month’? No, but...

Santa is Here!

Today I got a Lego Santa. He’s beardy....

An experience with user person...

R ecently I was asked recently to prepare a set of user personas for a large new client website. As a newcomer to the wonderful...

A Vision in Marble and Granite

“I am in love. She’s Norwegian, gorgeous, full of fun, yet with surprising hidden depths. Quite literally so, since her lower limbs are permanently submerged...

I Want To Be Your Long Term Lo...

O ne of the most depressing realities of being a web designer is looking back at the nice shiny and perfectly presented site you handed...

Interview with my Grandfather

I am a man of humble origins. My paternal grandfather, Wyndham Howells, was a salmon fisherman at Goldcliff on the River Severn . In fact...

Peeping into Plant Pots

Today I rediscovered my Raynox M-250 Macro lens sitting in a drawer, completely unloved.  I decided to dust it off and venture into the garden...

Micropigtastic

Had a fun time today at Little Pig Farm with Jane Croft, one of the few suppliers/breeders of micopigs in the UK.  She has a...

Miami South Beach – Ocea...

The types of Art Deco along Ocean Drive...

Auschwitz

A thought provoking visit, remembered through my photography, of what is most probably the most notorious place on Earth. Auschwitz II-Birkenau...

Creating the Soundtrack to My ...

I’ve been playing the piano and creating music from the time I could reach the keys of the small upright piano in the dining room....

Flottillas in the Mist

A 6am paddle up the Great Ouse #WIN Loads of swans, a couple who weren’t happy with my presence, far too much mist and a...

The Power of Sculpture

My father was a sculptor. He had a rare skill of visualising a block of material and extracting a three dimensional model from within it....

Couch Potato Perfection

Yesterday I finally got to play with an iPad in an Apple Store in Florida. I hadn’t completely made my mind up on buying one...

799 Lego People

Who doesn’t like Lego? Not sure it’s possible to dislike it, unless you have very recently trodden on some with bare feet. This photo was...

NerdGeekDorkDweeb Infographic

I loved a little venn diagram that was doing the rounds very recently and decided to reproduce it so it would look nice on my...

Cartoon Comedy Genius

I declare myself a cartoon comedy genius, and am available right away. No project too big or small. Created with  pixton.com...

Waterlands

Capturing some of the seasonal flood plain images at the end of my road.  The iPhone camera isn’t great in terms of it’s quality, pixel...

Tilt-shift Experiments

Traditional tilt-shift photography uses a special lens (the technicalities of which I really don’t understand) which is often used to simulate miniature scenes.  Basically the...

Lego Man in the World of Boag

Lego Man travelled far to the alien world of Boag. He enjoyed his time in the curious surroundings, but wasn’t invited to spend the day within...

Day of the Lego Man

A little experimental photographic fun with a Lego Man and his fantastical domestic world....

Best Above Cloud Sunset Photo ...

A snap taken on my Samsung Omnia mobile phone over the Irish Sea, 2009.  Hi spec phone with pretty good 5 megapixel camera, which was...

The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.