TechCrunch announced they’re redesigning their site, which marks an end of an era at a personal level.
Five years ago, myself, Josh Clark, Dan Mall, Jennifer Brook, Kristina Franz, and Jonathan Stark redesigned TechCrunch to be modern and responsive (which was still a new-ish thing at the time!). Our sturdy design lasted them 5 years, which ain’t bad in internet years.
But this news got me reminiscing big time. See, this was the project that helped me launch my own business. A bit over five years ago, Josh Clark reached out to see if I’d be interested in doing the frontend code for a project he was lining up. I was still working for R/GA at the time, and I saw this project as a way to take the leap into self-employment.
Josh asked if I knew of any visual designers that would be interested in the project, and I suggested we get in touch with Dan Mall. Josh rounded out the team with the inimitable Jennifer Brook doing UX design, Jonathan Stark wrangling JavaScript, and Kristina Franz managing the whole shebang.
The project certainly wasn’t easy, but the camaraderie between our team made the effort worthwhile. And here’s the crazy thing: 5 years later Josh, Dan, and myself are still collaborating on a whole bunch of (oftentimes huge!) projects. Jennifer Brook just visited my house and hung out with my dog when she was in town. I’m so incredibly grateful for the connections I’ve made and opportunities I’ve had over the past 5 years. These last few years have been a wild, wonderful adventure, and our redesign of TechCrunch really kicked the whole thing off.