Anthony Hobday

I think and write about interface design more than most. Email or find me on X.

14 side projects

  1. Visual design rules you can safely follow
  2. Complementary, an interface design podcast I co-host
  3. A YouTube channel where I review website designs
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  1. Quick start guides to interface design topics
  2. A collection of visual design techniques
  3. A list of every visual design concept
  4. A list of every interaction design concept
  5. Interviews about visual design
  6. Anonymous interviews with designers
  7. Background/container colour combinations you can use
  8. Quotes about design
  9. Notes on design books
  10. Breakdowns of well-designed interfaces
  11. Sample copy you can practice visual design with

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69 blog posts

  1. Things that have changed in software’s history
  2. Practical design resources
  3. Companies with dedicated quality efforts
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  1. Beliefs about quality I want to disprove
  2. Defensible visual design
  3. Universal creative techniques
  4. Bold visual styles are hard to use
  5. A designer group interview
  6. What I’d put in an interface design museum
  7. A practical career approach for generalist designers
  8. Cynical advice for designers
  9. What defines a visual style
  10. Style choices that make visual design harder
  11. How to choose between design options
  12. When it’s safe to copy something
  13. Factors of good animation
  14. Interface quality of life improvements
  15. How I think about novelty
  16. Levels of complexity in website design
  17. How I think about quality
  18. Non-interface factors that affect interface design
  19. Uncommon but useful design terms
  20. A critique of the Linear website
  21. Short design books I recommend
  22. A list of every interaction design book
  23. How I define “interface design”
  24. How interfaces change with frequency of use
  25. Why designers don’t talk about interface design
  26. The website visual design hall of fame
  27. Evidence that designers don’t talk about visual design
  28. Others’ classification of software design
  29. Ways that software design is different
  30. My definitions of “beauty” and “taste”
  31. The four universal signals of quality
  32. Classical and expressive aesthetics
  33. Foundations of the visual design skillset
  34. Types of elements in visual design
  35. Visual design exercises
  36. The six layers of interaction design
  37. Evidence that quality is impossible at scale
  38. The five purposes of elements in visual design
  39. The ways software competes
  40. Things I learned about visual design
  41. Levels of visual design inspiration
  42. Why quality is impossible at scale
  43. The twelve interaction design spectrums
  44. Where novel visual styles come from
  45. The benefits of software quality
  46. Tensions in interface design
  47. A critique of the Stripe website
  48. Factors of a good interface designer
  49. How to look impressive without impressive projects or past jobs
  50. The seventeen spectrums that define software “type”
  51. The best WWDC videos about interface design
  52. Common problems with design career advice
  53. Signs that an organisation values interface design
  54. Types of pattern in design
  55. The building blocks of visual design
  56. The twelve types of contrast in visual design
  57. The six signals of quality in software
  58. A list of every visual design book
  59. The five purposes of visual design
  60. The thirteen visual design spectrums
  61. The eight purposes of colour in visual design
  62. All possible parts of the design interview process
  63. The five minute design curriculum
  64. My design principles
  65. What outsiders look for in a good designer
  66. The six layers of visual design

6 books

  1. How to improve your visual design
  2. What is good interaction and visual design?
  3. What is simple web design?
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  1. What is good craftspersonship?
  2. Come up with design ideas alone
  3. Design interesting one-column websites

3 case studies

  1. Here are some examples of my visual design practice
  2. I designed a collaboration feature for Beauhurst (2022)
  3. I designed an app to encourage planet-friendly eating (2021)

5 appearances

  1. I was interviewed by Dive Club
  2. I taught a class on interface design for Hyper Island
  3. I wrote a guest post for the Learn UI Design blog
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  1. I did a Q&A with UX Talks
  2. I was interviewed on Design Discipline

2 other interests

  1. I run Before I Play, a video game tip wiki
  2. I design solo tabletop RPGs