Blog

Straight talk on design & speed.

Why fast failure beats slow perfection, what friction really costs, and how design protects your runway.

Rodeo rider gripping a bucking bull in front of a gate reading MIND THE GAP

Your AI Isn't the Bottleneck. Your Brief Is.

Everyone's blaming the model. The model is fine — your context was never designed.

Built for speed — learning to take control

I Think Fast. I Design Faster.

Why a hyperactive brain is the best thing at a founder's table.

AI can build your app fast — but UX design makes it good

Your AI Built the App. Now It Needs a Designer.

AI is a brilliant builder and a terrible decision-maker.

Rodeo-style artwork symbolising the emotional cost of poor UX

The Impact of a Small Bad Experience

One tiny UX decision, a chain of spam calls, delayed payments and burnout.

UX helps companies save 100x on ROI

Getting UX On Too Late!

Not hiring a designer is the most expensive cost-saving decision a founder can make.

Japanese oil fryer — the origin of MagSafe design thinking

Japanese Oil Fryer Power Adapters Make Better Laptop Chargers

How a deep fryer solved a laptop problem — and what that teaches about design.

Funding runway for startups

End of Runway… Now You Fly!

Good UX is runway protection: compressing the time between assumption and truth.

Design helping founders and investors reduce risk

Mind The Gap

Design isn't the pretty layer on top. It's the risk management your term sheet forgot to ask about.

Test your ideas in 5 days with Cowboy

Why Your Team Being Stuck Is a Design Problem

The quiet kind of stuck that kills startups — and the five-day sprint that breaks it.

Corporate design sprint — speed vs risk decision making

Why Corporate Design Is Too Slow (And What to Do About It)

Most corporate teams don't have a design problem. They have a speed problem.

What Does It Cost to Launch a Real Brand?

You're not buying design. You're buying momentum. The 5-day alternative, from R25,000.

Field notes

Nine things I stopped for at Decorex

Walked the floor yesterday. Not a review — just the things that made me stop, and the reason why. Mostly it came down to two materials doing one job well.

Kitchen showroom stand with stone counters, brass detailing and a linear pendant light, with visitors leaning on the counter — Staged as a working kitchen rather than a display — so people leaned on the counter without being invited to. One linear pendant doing all the lighting work.

Kitchen cabinetry in warm oak and deep oxblood with a fluted base panel and integrated oven — Warm oak against oxblood. The colour carries it, but the fluted base panel is what stops the run of cabinetry going flat under the lights.

Fire pits made from vertical timber slats wrapped around steel bowls — Vertical timber slats wrapped around a steel fire bowl. Two materials, one idea — and it still reads as furniture when there's nothing burning in it.

Painting of small birds in flight against a pale grey wash, hung above a gold and ochre artwork — Birds pulled out of a soft grey wash. Most of the canvas is left alone — that restraint is exactly what makes the movement read.

Hand-painted ceramic vessels with faces wearing sunglasses and red lipstick — Hand-painted faces on thrown vessels — sunglasses, a red mouth, entirely deadpan. Functional pottery that isn't taking itself seriously.

Large monochrome artwork of figures hauling a rock-like form, with small bursts of colour pinned across the surface — Monochrome figures hauling something enormous, with tiny bursts of colour pinned across the surface. Restraint everywhere except the two places it counts.

Painting of white origami cranes against a dark burnt-amber background — Folded paper cranes painted against burnt amber. Hard geometry sitting on something that looks almost molten — the contrast is the whole piece.

Slouchy black leather handbag on a white shelf, with a patterned lining visible beneath — Slouchy black leather on a hard white shelf. All the pattern is in the lining — hidden until the person carrying it opens the thing.

Wardrobe interior joinery with a brass hanging rail and integrated shelf lighting — Brass rail, integrated shelf lighting, everything on show. Storage designed to be looked at rather than shut behind a door.

Decorex Joburg, 2 August 2026. Photographs are mine; the work in them belongs to the exhibitors and artists who made it.

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