About

Hello, my name is Nigel Ball, I am a designer, educator and writer based in Ipswich in the UK. This website serves as an online hub for my writing, and as a repository for my ongoing and archived research.

I am a Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design at the University of Suffolk and an External Examiner at the University of Hertfordshire. I have written widely about graphic design, visual culture and creative education, and my research has included outputs of co-curated exhibitions, public lectures and self-published photobooks and texts.

Alongside academia and writing, I take on design consultation work and I am active in local and regional art and design organisations. I’m a member of the Board of Trustees of SPILL Festival, and I sit on the Ipswich Conservation and Design Panel.

My interest in graphic design grew out of the do-it-yourself culture of anarcho-punk in the 1980s, creating artwork for bands, activist groups and agit-prop campaigns while working as a print finisher and book binder. After leaving the print trade and completing my first degree as a mature student, I set up my own freelance creative practice working across graphic design, film and photography. My video work has been screened internationally, my photographs have been published in print and online, and I dedicated my graphic design services to clients from the cultural, public and third sectors.

I started my first teaching post in 2003.

A man and a dog sitting in front of a bookshelf. There are framed pictures on the wall to the right, and a pot plant and chair. To the left, shelves of CDs, a plant and lamp.

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