Danny Angel

International football teams have long competed on the biggest stages for the biggest prizes. Some come out on top again and again, and some are destined to be forever bridesmaids. Ever wondered why?

With the passage of time and a bit of headspace over the recent Christmas break, I finally decided to revisit that line of questioning and delve deeper: what goes into making a winning team, what attributes are needed to succeed? And what, in fact, should be considered success for any particular nation?

What should have been left in a drinking establishment all those years ago quickly became one man’s slightly obsessive quest to discover the secrets to international footballing immortality.  Read more

In the headlines this week, several pages away from the usual geopolitical disasters, is the news that Booths, the upmarket, up-north supermarket chain has decided to ditch its self-service checkouts in favour of tills staffed by humans. And it’s triggered my own misgivings about self-serve tills.  Read more

Earlier this month, I gave a talk to my digital design colleagues at Sapient on presenting their UX and UI work; simple, practical advice – some of it obvious, some less so – on how to improve their presenting skills.

So here are 15 tips ranging from how to prepare for the presentation to articulating ideas slickly to influencing the audience for the best outcome. I hope it helped my colleagues and I hope it helps you too.  Read more

The sun rises on a new year, the lights on the machinery begin to flicker back on, and I’m looking at the next 12 months, wondering how the – yes, I’m going to use this word: unprecedented – year just gone has changed the digital landscape.

What has shifted? What has changed irreversibly? What new challenges might we expect when creating digital experiences?‍  Read more

As we approach the Christmas hiatus, I find myself assessing how working from home for the best part of a year has gone for me. Has being away from others in my own little world helped my creative process and allowed good ideas to flourish? Has it aided my navigation of client needs and expectations? Has it ensured high quality output? Have I been happy with this way of working? And finally, where the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, what have I done or could do to make it a ‘yes’?  Read more

So here’s a question: do you understand your phone? I don’t mean do you know how to use it. I mean do you know how it works, how it does the things it does?

Not to underestimate your knowledge of modern technology, but it’s a fair bet to assume that this familiar little box – your enduring, omnipresent companion – is a total mystery to you.  Read more

Calling all digital designers. Join me, if you would, in a tiny little revolution. A revolution sparked by a slightly radical thought: what if we got rid of pixels? Consign them to the dustbin of history, never to be mentioned in polite society again.  Read more

At a time when the government is considering ditching mandatory creative, artistic and technical subjects in school, my thoughts turn to the wider health of the creative industry in this country.  Read more

The new year usually brings with it new resolutions. Whether it’s getting fit (yep, need to do that), keeping a tidier desk (check), or generally trying to be a better person (yes again), there’s always something to aim for.

Now that last point is interesting, and it got me thinking: should brands – particularly ones with a strong online presence – try to behave better too? Should we hold them to the same moral standards we do people?  Read more

Here at BEAR, one topic of debate has been doing the rounds recently: the issue of skeuomorphism, the use of real-world metaphors in on-screen design.

You’ve probably noticed the proliferation of this type of design during the last decade or so. First the ‘flat’ design style of the early internet gave way to sheens and glass effects, and now it’s hurtling towards all out computer-generated replications of real-world physical objects.  Read more