Anthony Hobday

Interface obsessed product designer. Email, X, LinkedIn

74 blog posts

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

16 side projects

  1. Visual design rules you can safely follow
  2. Complementary, an interface design podcast I co-host
  3. Quick start guides to interface design topics
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  1. A YouTube channel where I review website designs
  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. A comparison of open source typefaces designed for interfaces
  9. Quotes about design
  10. Notes on design books
  11. Breakdowns of well-designed interfaces
  12. Sample copy you can practice visual design with
  13. Superfamilies on Google Fonts

10 appearances

  1. I was interviewed by Dive Club
  2. I reached the #1 spot on Hacker News
  3. I taught a class on interface design for Hyper Island
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  1. I wrote a guest post for the Learn UI Design blog
  2. I was featured in the UX Design Weekly newsletter
  3. I was featured in the HeyDesigner newsletter
  4. I was featured in the Design By Numbers newsletter
  5. I was interviewed on Design Discipline
  6. I did a Q&A with UX Talks
  7. I was on the Design Downtime podcast

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. Visual design and interaction prototypes
  2. An AI meeting notes feature in Superthread
  3. A collaboration feature for Beauhurst

1 paid service

  1. Expert design feedback

2 other interests

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