1

ORIENTATION

Design looks finished but cannot ship without translation.
Small changes queue behind bigger ones. CMS structures work on launch day and collapse soon after. Over time, people stop making decisions and start avoiding risk.

This is not a tooling problem. It is a structural one.

HUX exists to fix that. The work focuses on building clear systems that people understand well enough to use. When structure is sound, teams know what can change, what cannot, and why. That removes hesitation. Speed follows without shortcuts.

The aim is not more output. Fewer mistakes, less rework, and work that holds up under use.

2

RESEARCH

Before any system exists, someone has to work out what actually matters.

Most digital work fails early because teams skip this step. They collect references, agree on taste, and move on. The result looks coherent but does not survive real use.Visual research trained a different habit. The job was to reduce uncertainty. Directors needed clear reference they could align around. Vague ideas had to become concrete enough for others to act on without further explanation.

Documentary photography reinforced the same discipline. Framing is a decision.

What stays out matters as much as what stays in. Context gives meaning. Without it, work becomes decoration.

Research, done properly, is not about inspiration. It is about removing guesswork before it spreads.

3

SYSTEMS

Systems are the new product.

When they fail, teams argue about the same problems again and again. Layout gets rebuilt. Components get duplicated. CMS structures get worked around instead of fixed. Speed drops because nobody trusts what already exists.

The work here focuses on building systems that people can use without supervision. Design systems, UI structure and no-code workflows are treated as infrastructure, not artefacts. They define what is safe to change and what must stay stable.

When systems are clear, ownership becomes obvious. Designers stop guessing. Engineers stop gatekeeping. Agencies stop rebuilding work they have already solved.

The result is not creativity at scale. It is work that ships, holds up, and costs less to maintain.

4

ORIGIN

Competitive snowboarding trained a direct relationship with risk, structure and consequence. Decisions happened at speed. Errors had cost. You learned quickly what held up under pressure and what did not.

That changed in 2004 after a spinal injury ended that career. Progress slowed. Attention shifted from momentum to structure. What supported recovery, what introduced fragility, and what failed when pushed too far became impossible to ignore.

The same discipline appeared later in visual research and documentary photography. Framing is a decision. What stays out matters as much as what stays in. The most effective work carried intent without explanation.

Brand innovation follows identical rules. A brand only works when people understand it well enough to act without guidance. Systems, language and structure matter more than surface expression.

HUX applies that thinking to digital work. Brands behave consistently across products, teams and decisions. Innovation becomes repeatable because it is anchored in clarity rather than novelty. I believe that play is the power of transformation.
White cursive signature on a black background.
Hamish Duncan as a child with helmet sitting in handmade wooden go-kart on a paved area, preparing for a race.
Hamish Duncan in black jacket and blue trousers carving through fresh snow under clear blue sky, creating a spray of snow.
Hamish Duncan in winter clothing standing on a snow-covered path with a snow-capped mountain and leafless trees in the background under a clear blue sky.
Mobile wooden repair cabin in snowy landscape with two people leaning out of a window and one person hanging upside down, two patterned deck chairs and a 'We Repair' sign in the snow.
Hamish Duncan wearing a pink cap and white t-shirt sitting in a café with blurred background of other customers.
BRISTOL, UK

Winter 2025/26 workshops now open.
‍hamish@hamishduncan.com
‍+44 (0)7832 839 543

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