Nigel Ball

Recent blog posts about Nigel Ball

Patriotic rubbish

22 May 2023
Brand madness, Critical path, Photography, Visual culture

Metaphors – even unintentional ones – can deliver a powerful critique. Nigel Ball inspects the flag-strewn waste in UK streets

The flag has become a marketing tool, soon to become litter poking out of a bin …

Virtually speaking

24 June 2020
Design education, Graphic design, Illustration, New media

Design educator Nigel Ball weighs in on the positives that Covid-instigated online talks have offered students who live far from big cities
It seems inappropriate to suggest that some good has come out of Covid-19 – given…

Ending the war on wildlife

24 October 2018
Critical path, Graphic design, Illustration, Visual culture

Harry Woodgate’s science-driven illustration and design for A People’s Manifesto for Wildlife creates a human connection for its readers
In the long history of manifestos, many are as visually engaging as they are strong…

Survival guide

17 November 2016
Design history, Illustration, Music design, Posters, Reviews

At Firstsite in Essex, Gee Vaucher’s ‘Introspective’ covers a long career spent tackling political and social issues that are more urgent than ever.By Nigel Ball
When I was a teenage punk in the early 1980s it would have seemed inconceivable…

Gutter press

21 January 2016
Brand madness, Critical path, Food design, Graphic design

Nigel Ball on packaging graphics, ‘gutter share’ – and whether design blogs should be more sceptical about big brand news stories
As a design educator I need to keep on top of the latest developments, writes…

Design for life

28 February 2014
Critical path, Design education, Design history, Graphic design

To mark First Things First’s 50th anniversary – an initiative to update the manifesto’s aims for the digital age
If you are not a graphic designer, you are unlikely to have heard of the…

Back when the future looked bright

25 January 2013
Design education, Design history, Graphic design, Information design

A printed guide to the 1951 Festival of Britain prompted Nigel Ball to consider the value placed on design by governments – then and now
Not seeing the value of investment in design is a folly of the current British…