robert hempsall - information designer

A good experience easily outweighs negative press

Robert — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:32:07 +0000

I've just found this page, and I'm sure I'm not the first, which seeks to discredit the online storage provider, Dropbox. I'd like to think I'm a typical Dropbox user, but actually I'm probably not because I pay for the full service so my digital life is stored there. Yes, there probably are cheaper options, but I'm happy enough with what I've got so the first onslaught doesn't bother me that much.

Some thoughts about Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA)

Robert — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:07:38 +0000

So, the UK government have decided that by the end of this year, the nutritional information on the front of foods will all look the same.

Will this actually happen? Hard to say, but if it does, it would be nice to think that whatever tablets of stone are handed down, they are more about the interests of the user (or in this case the eater) than a token display of information that's fairly meaningless to most of us.

QR codes and a set of fortunate coincidences

Robert — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:40:38 +0000

A tweet from Joel Hughes asking for examples of good uses of QR codes (the general concensus is that there aren't that many) reminded me of this nice idea for a job advert as a tattooist. Which lead me to start thinking of other possible good uses of QR codes. Then I remembered a brief Twitter exchange with Tom Nelson, the US half of Humans in Design, about his experience of Simple, a new bank/banking service recently launched in the States. From the information on Simple's website, I have slightly mixed feelings about whether it will actually be simple to use or just offers customers more data – the two aren't necessarily the same thing.

Dry, dryer and extra dry

Robert — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:17:53 +0000

This article about how complicated household appliances are becoming reminded me of what I thought might be some unnecessary feature overload on the tumble drier we recently got (to replace the one that went bang).

It seems to offer about 15 settings, but we've only investigated the first three: Extra Dry, Cupboard Dry Plus and Cupboard Dry. Seems sensible enough, but there is also an option to choose a dryness level between 1 and 3, with 1 being better for the planet. But as I see it, these options simply give different ways to get the same result.

So surely all that's really needed is Extra Dry Plus, and of course Extra Dry Plus Plus.

Pay as you drive car insurance statement redesign – the front page

Robert — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:39:09 +0000

Although 2012 gave me two of my biggest projects to date, the one I enjoyed the most was this smaller one: redesigning a statement for a company, based in South Africa, that provides car insurance 'by the kilometre'.

Click the image for a larger version

New York parking signs – could they get even better?

Robert — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:38:11 +0000

So, it seems a lot of people are very excited about the new parking signs created by Pentagram for New York City. And why not, it’s a huge change to one of New York’s iconic images. The existing design and Pentagram’s new design Before I start going all negative, I should point out that the [...]

User manual manual amends

Robert — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:07:10 +0000

With the Christmas spending over the inevitable happened – the tumble dryer broke.

So, time to dig out the instructions and work out what the flashing lights, and the cryptic 'F 04' meant.

Offer of the 12th Century?

Robert — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:46:54 +0000

In a desperate attempt to put off getting back to full-time work, I took my history obsessed daughter for a day out in York, which of course meant a trip to York Minster. I should have taken a photo, but as I didn't, this is what met I saw, but on a big sign. In typical northerner fashion, I asked for: 'Whatever's cheapest for an adult and a child, please' 'That's £9 – children are free' Errrrrrrrr

For 2013, I would like…

Robert — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:29:08 +0000

Without a doubt 2012 was the best year I’ve had so far, based around two huge projects: 1 Working as part of a team on a new bill design for one of the UK’s major energy suppliers. 2 Designing all the post-sale communications (invoices/quotes/letters etc) for one of the world’s most prestigious brands. A project made all [...]

Car parking signs – and a bit of a plug

Robert — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:38:47 +0000

It may have just been my weary eyes, but this car parking sign seemed unnecessarily complicated.

If anyone wants to take a guess at the cost to park from around 7pm until 9am the following morning, then send me a tweet to @roberthempsall.