Web Design Articles: Article

Article Web Design Articles

Insiders, Outsiders, Branding & Boredom

Earlier this week I wrote this on Twitter: Random late night thought: a huge part of stewarding a brand well is defending consistency against the boredom of insiders. It hit enough of a nerve to warrant a few favorites/retweets, so I thought I’d expound a bit. It wasn’t brought about by any one interaction or [...]

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:10:30 GMT | Tagged: Article

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On Learning in the Midst of Change

At times of change, the learners are the ones who will inherit the world, while the knowers will be beautifully prepared for a world which no longer exists. —Alistair Smith

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 13:28:26 GMT | Tagged: Article

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I Want to Work With You. For Longer.

A few months ago I wrote about how doing less work for more money saved client work for me. One of the points I discussed was the 15 hours each week I allotted for clients in 2011. It’s amazing how having a wife, a fulltime job (with five six direct reports) and getting a business [...]

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:14:59 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Ice Cube Celebrates Los Angeles, Architecture & All Things Eames

Some videos require no further commentary…

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:40:19 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Some Awesome Things My Team Has Been Making Lately

I love my design team. I’m super proud of the work they do at NewSpring, but I also love that they make things in their spare* time as well. Here’s a few of my favorites of late: Chandler Van De Water designed and released his first typeface, Cubano, a confident, friendly sans serif display face [...]

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:04:14 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Five Songs I Wish I Wrote

Picture in a Frame Tom Waits See You Soon Coldplay Lonely at the Top Randy Newman Carbon Ribs John Mark McMillan Use Me Bill Withers

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:11:17 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Being a Good Designer is Only 1/4 of My Job

My role is increasingly about identifying, recruiting, and interviewing talented designers and developers. I help try to get the right people on the team, and then attempt to create an environment that assists them in staying healthy, happy and productive. But whether those designers and developers are a good fit in the first place is [...]

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:25:55 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Flight of the Frenchies

Because slacklining across a Norwegian fjord is a completely sane and normal thing to do…

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:54:34 GMT | Tagged: Article

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The Christmas Story

And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” —Matthew 21:16

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:55:05 GMT | Tagged: Article

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On Discovery & the Social Graph

This exchange happened a few days ago: I don’t care what everyone is discovering, I only care what people I trust are discovering. People in aggregate have bad taste. — Joshua Blankenship (@blankenship) December 8, 2011 Dustin was likely tweeting in response to the top-level #discover tab in the recently-shipped Twitter products. Whatever you think [...]

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:09:04 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Five Things I Want for Christmas

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:29:41 GMT | Tagged: Article

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My Five Favorite Company Names

General Magic Mohawk Industries Oracle Palantir Pentagram

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:09:54 GMT | Tagged: Article

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The Hard Part of Team Building is People

Getting big things done would be easy if not for having to manage people, right? But you can’t pull off big things without great people. Teams move big missions forward, not individuals. This means your people are more important than your calendar. Your people are more important than your action items. Your people are more [...]

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:16:31 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Detroit! See It Through!

Filming the undefeatable citizens of a decaying city using Detroit transplant Edgar Guest‘s poetry as a script is nothing short of inspiring. I’m ambivalent about it being used to sell a magazine, but as a piece of art, it’s stellar. See It Through by Edgar Allen Guest When you’re up against a trouble, Meet it [...]

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:11:47 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Breakdance Yoga

I will never cease to be amazed at what can be achieved through genetics, practice and good, old fashioned hard work. The human body is incredible.

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:24:53 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Chris Thile on Improvisation

Improvisation is essentially very fast composition. —Chris Thile

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:53:39 GMT | Tagged: Article

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On Unreasonable Men

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. —George Bernard Shaw

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:51:26 GMT | Tagged: Article

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South Carolina State Fair 2011

Thanks to the iPhone and Instagram, I’m trying to get back into the habit of documenting adventures. Not carrying a DSLR around is fantastic. This weekend Mrs. Blankenship and I, along with friends, made the trek to Columbia, SC for the second-to-last day of the State Fair in search of giant corn dogs, overpriced rides, [...]

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 14:22:20 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Some People I’m Excited to Meet at Next Week’s Brooklyn Beta

Next Thursday and Friday I’ll get the pleasure of attending a small, friendly web conference aimed at the “work hard and be nice to people” crowd. Here are a few folks I’m excited to hopefully talk with (presented in order of their surname’s appearance in our fine English alphabet): Josh Brewer — Part of the [...]

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 04:46:35 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Steve Jobs on Death

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are [...]

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:15:36 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Buzz Andersen on Innovation

I’ve always subscribed to the theory that innovation is a process of synthesizing disparate influences. —Buzz Andersen

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:27:04 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Beware the Purists, Lest They Kill Your Innovation

Mrs. Blankenship surprised me a few months back with date night tickets to see Herbie Hancock in concert. I spent a good portion of the evening occasionally reading over the shoulder of a gentleman in front of me as he carefully, confidently typed an exhaustively venomous email to a friend about the show. Photo credit: [...]

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 06:23:22 GMT | Tagged: Article

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On The Inevitability of Failure

The invention of the ship was also the invention of the shipwreck. —Paul Virilio

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 12:46:10 GMT | Tagged: Article

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On Personality Tests and Knowing Your Team

[Personality tests bypass] the process of learning via set of clever labels. If you want to understand someone, my advice is to sit next to them and solve a very hard problem together. You will learn who they are by watching how they think. —Rands, Fred Hates It

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:27:17 GMT | Tagged: Article

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Creating Controversy for its own Sake (and How Humility is a Rare Bird Indeed on the Web These Days)

This article was originally published on my now defunct long-form writing site So Serious. It is republished here for posterity, and for the enjoyment of you, the reader. Back in May of 2009, a then 21-year-old designer named Dustin Curtis wrote a blog post called Dear AmericanAirlines in which he redesigned (read: moved some pixels [...]

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:48:25 GMT | Tagged: Article

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