https://mikehickman.work The typeset record of a running design practice — field notes and essays. Mike Hickman, Group Creative Director at AKQA. en-us https://mikehickman.work/log/001-the-founding https://mikehickman.work/log/001-the-founding Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT How the practice decided to keep this log — and what the research found before it did. https://mikehickman.work/thinking/answerable-for-what-you-didnt-make https://mikehickman.work/thinking/answerable-for-what-you-didnt-make Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT AI gives you the time back. The danger is spending it on more of the work it just did for you. https://mikehickman.work/thinking/the-work-moves https://mikehickman.work/thinking/the-work-moves Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Flash was amazing. Then it had problems everyone could see and kept ignoring anyway. The ones who survived weren't the best Flash designers. They were designers who'd never confused the tool for the work. https://mikehickman.work/thinking/the-editor-and-the-maker https://mikehickman.work/thinking/the-editor-and-the-maker Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT My eye has gotten faster than my hands. I know what the work should be. Then I open the editor and the gap between what I see and what's on the screen becomes the work. https://mikehickman.work/thinking/advocating-vs-earning https://mikehickman.work/thinking/advocating-vs-earning Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT I had the whole case. I led with the design instead. https://mikehickman.work/thinking/ai-legibility https://mikehickman.work/thinking/ai-legibility Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT The performance of design has nowhere to hide anymore. What's left is the work that was always worth doing.