The Shell-Out is a monthly newsletter by Tom Ayling.

It’s about cool things in design.

And if UI/UX, branding, product, and generally cool visual stuff is your thing, then you’ll probably enjoy reading it.

1) It’s written by a human.

This is not a newsletter written by, or about AI. Because LLMs cannot ‘design’.
Design requires thought, imperfection, failure, learning, and real thinking by humans.

2) It’s 100% free, with no spam.

No paywalls. One or two emails a month. I’ll only publish something when I think it’ll interest you too.

3) It’s written for normal people.

Design writing is drowning in business-speak. Let’s keep the synergising effective thought-leadership outcomes firmly on LinkedIn.

About the author

I’m Tom. I’m a User Experience Designer and Researcher living in the pointy bit at the bottom of the UK. I’m a big fan of German pasta. I’ve been designing commercially for 7 years, and the constant learning and sharing of new things is the reason I do it. My background is in traditional graphic design, and I’m fully qualified to draw cartoon turtles.

In my day job in a product agency, I've had the privilege of collaborating with businesses of all sizes, from budding startups to industry giants like Google and the United Nations (eep!).

People called me a turtle back in school because I had a long neck. Well, the joke’s on them, as I can wear 50% more scarf.

Disclaimer: All views are my own, and don’t represent those of my employer, clients, turtles, or anything else that lands in me in trouble.