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 tech stuff is your thing, then you’ll probably enjoy reading it.

1) There are turtle doodles.

Because design talk is already oversaturated with formal business-speak and boring diagrams — it’s all the same. My writing is aimed at designers and non-designers alike, and… there are doodles of turtles.

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 by a human.

Because you could talk to ChatGPT on your own if you wanted to. My tone of voice makes me… me! You won’t get any generic, AI-written nonsense here.

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.