The Secret
If I learned one thing in 25 years of running design and education companies, it’s that idealism isn’t a business strategy. If you wonder why my partners and I had to shut down organizations we and lots of you loved, refer to the previous sentence.
#Design
Before this year ends, I will resolve this, if only just to symbolically give the finger to every low-down, chiseling, extractive business in Christendom.
Behind every successful launch, there are 100 interesting failures. We must stop thinking of failure as an end of something, and learn to see it as a natural part of progress. The first incarnation of a new idea may die, but the best ideas will find new lives.
Web Design Inspiration
If you’re finding today a bit stressful for some reason, grab a respite by sinking into any of these web design inspiration websites.
Gathered from conversations on Reddit and elsewhere, each site offers a collection of other sites’ designs, chosen for impact, originality, and innovation. Each collection should offer at least a few designs that will inspire your own ideas and creativity—and most…
Touch me, babe
Cute and fun: a toggle switch with feelings. By Jon Kantner at CodePen, ℅ @[email protected].
For love of pixels
Sure, that tell you when you’re walking unsteadily and pocket computer phones that show you the closest pizzeria are swell, but were you around for ResEdit?
Sure, watches that tell you when you’re walking unsteadily and pocket computer phones that show you the closest pizzeria are swell, but were you around for ResEdit? That humble yet supremely capable Macintosh resource editing tool is what we used to design pixel art back in the day. (And what day was that? Come August, it will be 30 years since the final release of ResEdit 2.1.3.) Stroll with us…
The More Things Change… (or: What’s in a Job Title?)
What’s in a job title? @elly@front-end.social explains why good old “web design” is the best way to understand what she does—and maybe what you do, too.
#webdesign #frontend #webstandards #design #stateoftheweb
I’m not a “[full-stack] developer,” regardless of what my last job title says.
I’m not even a front-end developer, thanks to the JavaScript–industrial complex.
I’m a front-of-the-front-end developer, but that’s too long.
So, I’m a web designer. And I also specialise in accessibility, design systems, and design.
…Why do I think that this is the best title? Here’s why. I’m designing for the…
♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ The secret life of interaction design, brilliantly explained by Enrico Tartarotti. Watch, learn, and enjoy: Hat tip: Cris Busquets.
✩ Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, designers of America’s 1971 bicentennial logo, have unveiled their 2026 US semiquincentennial (250 year) logo, and the thinking, sweat, and creativity that went into it.
Gift link, no paywall:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/04/style/america-250-anniversary-logo-design.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Dk0.cmOd.LBGW3HTLpYHY&hpgrp=k-abar&smid=url-share
#design #branding #identity #usa #250year #americafyeah
ALT: The 250-year anniversary logo of the USA, designed by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv. A mobius-like red, white, and blue ribbon below the word “America,” set in all caps, in a custom serif typeface.
Remember creative websites?
Progressive disclosure, pleasurable interaction, delightful discoveries, sweet animation … and all in service to a worthy cause.
“Welcome to Barcelona” is a creative website by Anton & Irene. Hat tip:
A faster horse
“The user is never wrong” means, when a user snags on a part of your UX that doesn’t work for her, she’s not making a mistake, she’s doing you a favor.
“The user is never wrong” means, when a user snags on a part of your UX that doesn’t work for her, she’s not making a mistake, she’s doing you a favor.
To benefit from this favor, you must pay vigilant attention, prioritize the discovery, dig deeply enough to understand the problem, and then actually solve it.
In so doing, you will not only be secretly thanking the user who discovered your…
My Liz Danzico Joke
I used to tell a joke I made up. An American goes to the Vatican on Easter Sunday, joining a huge crowd of worshippers who gaze up in awe at a raised platform. On the platform stands the Pope. Beside him is Liz Danzico.
The American turns to a nearby man and asks, “Excuse me. Who is that with the Holy Father?”
The man answers, “I don’t-a know who’s the guy in the pointy hat, but that’s-a Liz…
“The new set of grays for the Red Hat Design System was crafted with care, solving a couple of key problems and allowing the colors to be used successfully across all mediums and contexts.”