JH

My name is Joe Heaney.

I’m a design lead based in London. You're in the right place to see examples of my work - or read some of my thoughts about design.

View my portfolio 

Read about content design and the design process

Commissioned by The National

When ‘repetition’ doesn’t always mean ‘boring’.

I was commissioned to write about Ravel’s Boléro for The National, Abu Dhabi. 

Commissioned by The National, Abu Dhabi. 

As you can imagine, being the huge Wolfgang fan that I am, I really quite enjoyed it.

Commissioned by The National, Abu Dhabi. 

For the past few months I've been lucky to work on various content strategy projects for Central YMCA – a hugely inspiring UK charity involved in youth opportunity, education, health and wellbeing. 

As the start of London Fashion Week approached I wrote this piece for them which explores how far we have really come with the body image debate. 

“Now in their third decade, there’s something comforting about a Fannies album. Always familiar, yet never the same.”

I wrote about Stravinsky as a conductor for The National, Abu Dhabi.

(Spoiler: he wasn’t very good).

“You can't come in: Wolfgang Tillmans explores borders”

I wrote about Wolfgang Tilman’s latest exhibition at Maureen Paley gallery in London.

“Painting over the whitewash”

The Tate Modern has been investing in artworks from parts of the world traditionally ignored by the West’s public art institutions.

“Thump. Thump. Thump – goes the drum of Charon as he sails you into the gates of Hades. Or so it seems, as Suuns' new album cranks up the wailing guitars on opener 'Fall'. It certainly feels like a descent into somewhere bleak. But we go willingly because, well, Sunns carve out such a magnificent world of austere psychedelia and cut-glass emotions.”

“Did someone secretly script Fela Kuti’s life? At times it feels like a lost Tarantino movie: Polygamy. Murder. Police antagonism. And, of course, music. It’s the music that sent Motown reps to Nigeria in the early ‘70s seeking a potential recording contract. It was a Fela performance in the early 1970s that caused Paul McCartney to announce he had witnessed “the best band I've ever seen live”. And even the great showman himself, James Brown, apparently “picked up a lot from Fela” when the soulman toured Nigeria in 1970 – according to Tony Allen, Fela's drummer.”

I interviewed Egyptian/British photographer Laura El-Tantawy for DazedDigital. 

Read about her experience during the 2011 Tahrir Square protests and her new London exhibition.

I wrote about the illegal underground poppers scene for DazedDigital. 

Last Friday I attended the 2015 Copywriters Conference in London. One of the keynotes was by Tim Fidgeon, a digital marketing trainer and consultant whose impressive list of clients includes Google. Now, if he’s teaching Google about digital, then I’m all ears! Here are five things he said that made me think.

Always test with over 65s

Imagine you’re working on a really cool digital product aimed at hipsters in their early 20s. Naturally, that’s who you think you should be testing it on. BUT WAIT! Why not go against the grain? Statistically, users over 65-years-old fail or abandon tasks much more (55% versus 75% for 21 to 55-years-olds). So, if you want to make sure the logic of your UX is watertight and the microcopy makes sense, then check someone 65 plus can understand it too.

Always go with research conclusions

You’ve done your analysis and something unexpected pops out in the conclusion. The killer link you dreamed up fails miserably and no-one could find the mailing-list sign up. Do you go with your research and change your digital product? Or do you quietly ignore it and stick to ‘what you know’? Um... GO WITH WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS - if only because if you got it wrong at least you can say: ‘I made that decision based on the research’. How very sensible.

Scrolling isn’t quite there yet

‘Scrolling is so now, man. Everyone scrolls, so just pile it on the page and get with it.’ Erm, actually no. Statistically it’s still only 20% of readers that give their attention below the fold (this surprised me). So make sure the good stuff is at the top. (And while we on it, the last paragraph is important too because readers tend to skim to the end of the page then look out for a summary or ‘next steps’ to read.)

In UX terms centre-aligned text design SUCKS

I’ve actually known this for ages, but it was still rather nice to hear sometimes else agree. Designers love centre-aligned text, but it has a significant impact on speed, comprehension and memory. So stick with left aligned and ragged right. (If you don’t believe me, make a brew and read this.)

Visible search boxes make a difference

Yes - despite the trend for getting rid of them, showing an open search box in your digital product or website actively encourages people to search. (I didn’t get a source for this, so you’ll have to take my word for it.)

Thanks for this Tim. It’s worth pointing out, as a major disclaimer, that your audience will always be different and unique. So really, the safest thing is to test, test, test...