Design is Everywhere

Design is Everywhere (Even in Your Slice)

Next time someone tells you design is just about logos and layouts, send them to a golf course. Seriously. While we're out here obsessing over kerning and colour palettes (guilty as charged), some designers are moving earth, plotting sight lines, and using contours to mess with your head – all in the name of the perfect round.

Think about it: every dogleg, bunker, and subtle green slope is a deliberate design choice. It's user experience design at its finest, except instead of clicks and swipes, we're talking hooks and draws. Golf architects are out there crafting emotional journeys, from the anticipation on the first tee to that fist-pump moment when you finally nail a birdie (or, in my case, a bogey).

Take the 17th at St Andrews – the infamous Road Hole. It's basically a masterclass in psychological design. That blind tee shot over the Old Course Hotel? Pure design genius. The brutal road bunker guarding the green? Positioned exactly where your mind doesn't want it to be. It's design that plays with your head while looking effortlessly natural.

This is what we live for at Maker Motel – finding design in unexpected places. Because once you start seeing it, you can't unsee it. Design isn't just in your phone apps or on billboards – it's everywhere. It's in the way a golf course guides you through a story, in how a coffee shop shapes your morning ritual, in the subtle shapes of your favourite mug.

So next time you're lining up a putt or just walking down the street, take a second to appreciate the design decisions that shaped that moment. Just don't think too hard about them during your backswing.

Want to geek out about design in unexpected places? Let's start a conversation.