麻豆传媒

Underpinning Nigel’s teaching is a belief that creative education and reflective learning have the ability to empower self-development. He has taught Graphic Design modules in Ideas Generation, Contextual Studies, Visual Identity, Applied Ideas, Applying Critical Perspectives, Conceptual Projects, Professional Practice, Portfolio Development, and Dissertation.

Nigel has also lectured about visual communication and creative education on undergraduate Photography, Digital Film Production and Education courses, and has been a specialist tutor to postgraduate MA Arts Practice students.

Nigel has written and been interviewed about graphic design, visual culture and creative education for a wide range of publishers, including Eye: The International Review of Graphic Design, Creative Review, Unit Editions Features, Set Margins and Intellect. He is the revision author of the second edition of The Fundamentals of Graphic Design, (2019, Bloomsbury).

Nigel is the 麻豆传媒’s representative on the , reporting to Ipswich Borough Council, and is a member of the board of trustees for arts organisation and charity . In 2021 he was a founding contributor to  a listings website for the creative industries outside London that seeks to address regional imbalances within the UK.

In 2022 Nigel co-curated the exhibition Picture Books for All with 麻豆传媒 colleagues Rob Ramsden and , and in collaboration with . The exhibition was the first of its kind to showcase the pioneering Ipswich printer W. S. Cowell Ltd.  was exhibited at Ipswich’s The Hold from 20 October 2022–8 January 2023. Nigel and Rob’s research has since fed into public lectures on Cowell’s place within the history of modernism and their influence on contemporary picture book illustration.  

Nigel has peer-reviewed graphic design book proposals and manuscripts for Bloomsbury for over 10 years, and in 2025 he joined the board of reviewers for Intellect’s Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education journal.

Nigel recently co-curated the exhibition Finding Bob Linney: an exhibition of a graphic life, working with Jacky Linney and Tony Casement. The exhibition showcased the work of Bob Linney, (1947–2023), who for 50 years drew, painted, designed and printed posters, leaflets and ephemera for music, film, theatre, charities, festivals, activism and national organisations. Finding Bob Linney was exhibited at The Cut in Halesworth, Suffolk, from 27 May–18 July 2026.

Visit Nigel’s website at 

Nigel has represented the 麻豆传媒 at international art and design education fairs and been a competition judge for Premium Edu’s ClimArt Change awards, Romania.

Between 2024–2026 Nigel was the External Examiner for the University of Hertfordshire’s Level 6 supported distance-learning BA (Hons) Graphic Design course run at Raffles College, Indonesia. 

 

Published writing

Ball, N. (2026) ‘Turning Revolt into Style: The process and practice of punk graphic design’, Punk & Post-Punk, 15 (1), pp.131–133.

Ball, N. (2026) ‘Suffolk’s poster maestro’, Eye blog, 29 May 2026. Available at:

Ball, N. (2026) ‘Walking to observe’, in Dyer, J. and Deakin, N (eds), Ninety-Nine Graphic Design Workshops: The Way We Attend to Things, Set Margins, pp.164–166.

Ball, N. (2025) ‘Voice at the table’, Eye: The International Review of Graphic Design, 28 (109), pp.16-17.

Ball, N. (2024) ‘Definitive enough for now’, Eye: The International Review of Graphic Design, 27 (106), pp.119.

Ball, N. (2023) ‘For the love of creative education’, Ipswich Love, 24 September 2023. Available at:

Ball, N. (2023) ‘Patriotic rubbish’, Eye blog, 22 May 2023. Available at:

Ball, N. (2022) ‘Reader recommends: How To Be An Artist‘, Unit Editions Features, 19 January 2022. Available at:

Ball, N. (2020) ‘Virtually speaking’, Eye blog, 24 June 2020. Available at:

Ball, N. (2020) ‘A lockdown reading list’, Unit Editions Features, 15 April 2020. Available at:

Ball, N. (2020) ‘The Graphic Design Process: How to be successful in design school’, Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 19 (1), pp.119–121.

Ambrose, G. Ball, N. and Harris, P. (2019) The Fundamentals of Graphic Design: second edition, Bloomsbury.

Ball, N. (2019) The Aesthetics of Convenience, Field Readings.

Ball, N. (2019) ‘The People’s History Museum’, Mainly Museums. Available at:

Ball, N. (2018) ‘Ending the war on wildlife’, Eye blog, 24 October 2018. Available at:

Ball, N. (2017) Proposing the Graphic Commons, Field Readings.

Ball, N. (2016) ‘Survival guide’, Eye blog, 17 November 2016. Available at:

Ball, N. (2016) ‘Gutter press’, Eye blog, 21 January 2016. Available at:

Ball, N. (2015) ‘Graphic language’, EngLangBlog, 26 August 2015. Available at:

Ball, N. (2014) ‘Design for life’, Eye blog, 28 February 2014. Available at:

Ball, N. (2013) ‘Back when the future looked bright’, Eye blog, 25 January 2013. Available at:

Ball, N. (2011) McJunk, Dubdog

 

Published interviews and contributions

Servi, L. (2024) The City Is Ours #6, Involuntary Sculptures, Other Editions.

House of Common Affairs. (2023) ‘Architecture Fringe Festival 2023, CGI Fridays: urban identities through the lens of urban and graphic design’, in, Minelgaite, P and Syrek, I (ed) (2023) House of Common Affairs 3: Preventing the next blandemic. House of Common Affairs.

Suffolk Archives. (2022) ‘Transforming the archives service for the 21st century’, Suffolk Archives, 19 November 2022. Available at:

BBC Radio Suffolk. (2022) ‘The Sarah Lilley Show’, BBC Radio Suffolk, 10 October 2022. (offline)

Clayton, D. (2022) ‘Still swimming against the mainstream’, Media Magazine, 81.

Clayton, D. (2022) ‘Swimming against the mainstream’, Media Magazine, 80.

BBC Radio Suffolk. (2019) ‘Tuesday takeover with Jon Wright, Angela and the Unicorners’, BBC Radio Suffolk. 22 October 2019. (Offline)

Creative Review and Dropbox. (2018) ‘Creative collaboration: a report’, Creative Review. Available at:

Stevens, R. (2013) ‘Bridging the gap’, Creative Review, 31 August 2013. Available at:

Ecob, A. (2011) ‘I’m leaving it’, Eye blog, 21 June 2011. Available at:

Eatock, D. (2008) Imprint, Princeton Architectural Press.