Daniel Urquhart · Field Notes https://www.urquhart.design/notes/ Working notes from Daniel Urquhart, senior product designer in Berlin. en Thu, 15 Oct 2026 13:41:00 GMT Operator's Manual https://www.urquhart.design/notes/operators-manual/ https://www.urquhart.design/notes/operators-manual/ Thu, 15 Oct 2026 13:41:00 GMT Projects URQ-224 has a manual. Ten chapters, 26 pages, in the voice of a crew manual. URQ-224 has its own manual, on the computer: ten chapters over 26 pages, in the deadpan voice of a crew manual.

  • Welcome, the ship, the studio, Merlin OS, the applications
  • The niche panel, the hyperdrive, the desk, Milo, warnings
  • Line drawings in cream on dark paper
  • Three small turntables: the ship, the trackball, Milo

It's in Documents and under Help. Later that day every figure was redrawn, most of them traced from the real 3D models.

]]> Come aboard https://www.urquhart.design/notes/come-aboard/ https://www.urquhart.design/notes/come-aboard/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 20:29:00 GMT Projects Merlin's sign-in is a visitor pass now. One button, Come aboard. The sign-in reads Come aboard, with URQ-224 · visitor pass under it. One button, into the portfolio desktop.

It greets you with Welcome aboard.

]]> Field Notes https://www.urquhart.design/notes/field-notes/ https://www.urquhart.design/notes/field-notes/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 20:03:00 GMT Projects Field Notes is live, in Merlin and on the desk. A note is a Markdown file. Field Notes is live. A note is a Markdown file with a title, a date and a category: daily, projects, ideas or media.

In Merlin it's an app: a sidebar with counts, search, and the notes as cards grouped by day. A guest can open it.

On the desk it's a notebook, right of the trackball. Click it and it lifts, tilts toward you and the cover swings open on an e-ink page with the latest note. Click again for the next one, with an e-ink flash and a tick.

]]> Weaponised ADHD https://www.urquhart.design/notes/weaponised-adhd/ https://www.urquhart.design/notes/weaponised-adhd/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 18:32:00 GMT Daily Built a Discord support bot, Slack app, Supabase database and automations. Designed a spaceship. Built a browser inside a browser. Did product design and FE. Lunch with my best mate. One of those days where everything clicks.

  • Discord support bot + automations
  • Slack app and a Supabase database behind it
  • Ship model (URQ-224)
  • A browser inside a browser
  • Logo exploration
  • Lunch with my best mate

Product design in the morning, front end in the afternoon, a spaceship in the evening.

]]> Merlin OS https://www.urquhart.design/notes/merlin-os/ https://www.urquhart.design/notes/merlin-os/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 15:14:00 GMT Projects Refined the ship model, new logo direction. Working on Field Notes and Transmissions. The OS on the desk has a name now: Merlin. New mark, new wordmark.

Refined the ship model (URQ-224): a shark nose, a proper chin, a belly with some stance, and engines that actually fire when you pick the toy up.

Next: Field Notes (this) and Transmissions.

]]> Pye Finance https://www.urquhart.design/notes/pye-finance/ https://www.urquhart.design/notes/pye-finance/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 10:03:00 GMT Projects CDP prototype, design iterations, team sync.
  • CDP prototype
  • Design iterations
  • Team sync
    • ]]>