Category: Design

  • My Liz Danzico Joke

    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…

  • The Next Generation of Web Layouts

    The Next Generation of Web Layouts

    Who will design the next generation of readable, writerly web layouts? Layouts for sites that are mostly writing. Designed by people who love writing. Where text can be engaging even if it isn’t offset by…

  • Immersive Content and Usability

    Immersive Content and Usability

    As the lines between our physical and digital surroundings continue to blur, it’s more important than ever to design usable and accessible content for our ever-expanding array of contexts. In 2021, A Book Apart and…

  • Twitter Blues

    Twitter Blues

    Before the present owner, I was a Twitter Blue customer, because I always pay for software—to support its creators and help prevent it from disappearing, as so many great websites and platforms have done over…

  • “A $44 billion version of MySpace.”

    “A $44 billion version of MySpace.”

    My longtime friend and former collaborative partner Craig Hockenberry bids a dignified adieu to Twitterific, Twitter, and his mom … and calls for a standards-based universal timeline. — The Shit Show

  • He Built This City: The Return of Glenn Davis

    He Built This City: The Return of Glenn Davis

    You may not know his name, but he played a huge part in creating the web you take for granted today. And he’s back—kind of.

  • Fear of getting noticed

    Fear of getting noticed

    Back when I was in advertising, one of my team’s clients was a well-known Irish Airline. They could only afford an 1/8th-page ad in the travel section of the paper. But my partners and I…

  • Looking Back, Looking Ahead: artist Dan Licht

    Looking Back, Looking Ahead: artist Dan Licht

    In 1999, I had the good fortune to work alongside Dan Licht at an NYC digital startup called SenseNet, RIP. Back then, although still in his early 20s, Dan was already an accomplished art director and digital…

  • Enabling Folks to Express Themselves on the Web: State of the Word 2021

    Enabling Folks to Express Themselves on the Web: State of the Word 2021

    Bring popcorn.

  • #SpotifyWrapped

    #SpotifyWrapped

    She’s Got It by The Leonard Simpson Duo; Mittrom by Mach-Hommy & Earl Sweatshirt; Open the Brain by Quelle Chris; Snake Oil Scientist by Marlowe; and Aunties Steak & Rice Hold the Cabbage by Camoflauge…

  • Blue Beanie Day 2021

    Blue Beanie Day 2021

    Blue Beanie Day in support of web standards is celebrated around the world on November 30. Hey, that’s today. So how can you help? Glad you asked! Take a self-portrait wearing a blue beanie (toque,…

  • My Night With Essl

    My Night With Essl

    Herewith, a scene from last night’s interview with legendary web & book designer (and Dean of The Cooper Union School of Art) Mike Essl, who shared his portfolio, career highlights, early web design history, and…

  • Not one of us

    Not one of us

    Even people who didn’t get deathly ill. Who aren’t still struggling to recover. Who didn’t lose a loved one—or more than one. Who didn’t bear the brunt of it because of their race and class.…

  • Rediscovering music

    Rediscovering music

    If Spotify exposes you to new music, Last.fm helps remind you of great music in your existing collection that may have slipped your mind.

  • Spring Summit 2021

    Spring Summit 2021

    In a few hours, we’ll kick off Day 1 of An Event Apart Online Together: Spring Summit, a three-day web design conference for front-end and UX professionals, starring fifteen extraordinary speakers. If you’ve signed up to…