Words that would otherwise be coming out of my mouth

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  1. 21 Oct, 2022

    Let’s talk about web components

    Web components! They’re currently at the vanguard of web development and are a reliable source of hot drama in the community. We’ve built a number of web component-powered design systems with Fortune 500 companies over the last 4 years, and […]

  2. 20 Oct, 2022

    Why We’re Breaking Up with CSS-in-JS

    Now here’s an interesting article: Why We’re Breaking Up with CSS-in-JS.  I took to Twitter to spew out some thoughts, so I thought I’d capture them here. I’m fortunate in that I get to duck my head into a lot […]

  3. 18 Sep, 2022

    Design Systems For Figma

    A collection of Design Systems for Figma from all over the globe 🌎 Extremely useful. I will no doubt be referring to Design Systems For Figma on the regular.

  4. 12 Sep, 2022

    The Arrogance of the Anthropocene

    The Arrogance of the Anthropocene really paints the picture of how insignificant human existence is on a geological scale. Despite the author painting a pretty wild picture of how much of a blip we all are, he makes it clear […]

  5. 12 Sep, 2022

    Component testing in Storybook with play functions

    Here’s my man Chantastic with a great video summarizing how to write interactive tests with Storybook. Unit testing has always been a bit of a rough spot in our workflow and seemed duplicative or off to the side of the […]

  6. 06 Sep, 2022

    Back at it

    For the first time in my career, I took a relatively extended break from work. I’m just now returning after 6 weeks of being away, so I wanted to share some reflections from my time off. Here’s what I said […]

  7. 01 Aug, 2022

    A bit of a break

    In September of last year, I dragged my cursor across all of August 2022 in Google Calendar. I gave the calendar entry the title of “Time off?” A year later, I’m actually taking that time off! Which means that for […]

  8. 18 Jul, 2022

    Naming conventions for design systems

    Here’s some good food for thought for naming conventions for various aspects of design systems: Naming conventions for design systems

  9. 11 Jul, 2022

    The Many Faces of Themeable Design Systems

    Very rarely is exactly one design system created to serve exactly one product that expresses exactly one design language. Nearly all the design systems we’ve worked on require a high degree of flexibility in order to properly serve our clients’ […]

  10. 26 Jun, 2022

    Why most design systems implode

    Here’s a nice article by the folks at Storybook that deconstructs my interview with Michael Chan.  The gist of the article is: 🙅‍♂️ Not all engineers are made for design system work 🛠 Design system developers need custom tools 🐌 […]

  11. 15 Jun, 2022

    Lessons on creativity from Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

    This is a great read about the creative process behind my new favorite movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once. Similar to my breakdown of The Beatles’ Get Back documentary, this post analyzes the lessons learned from the creative process that wielded SUCH […]

  12. 02 Jun, 2022

    Threadbare

    This is the third time in the last four years that I’ve been forcibly yanked away from my normal life —both personal and professional — for extended periods of time. My nervous system is threadbare. My bones are exhausted. My […]

  13. 23 May, 2022

    The “Dark Yellow Problem” in Design System Color Palettes

    A good overview of a common foe: wrestling mustard to achieve sufficient contrast when wielding yellow. Source: The “Dark Yellow Problem” in Design System Color Palettes | by Lodestar Design | Apr, 2022 | Medium

  14. 11 May, 2022

    Announcement: I’m Going to Miss You, But I Am Taking a Sabbatical

    This post really resonated with me, and hits at my feeling of needing an extended break to just kinda collect myself and get my feet back under me. My family has been through multiple rounds of crazy shit and it’s […]

  15. 11 May, 2022

    Henry Heffernan – Portfolio 2022

    Henry Heffernan’s portfolio website is fantastic. I’d love to see a rebirth of creative personal portfolio websites.

  16. 06 May, 2022

    Cars vs Giant Bulge and Other Outlandish Vehicular Simulations

    These are fantastic, and strangely reflective of my life right now. Source: Cars vs Giant Bulge and Other Outlandish Vehicular Simulations

  17. 19 Apr, 2022

    Daft Punk – Around The World (In The Classroom with Michel Gondry

    The music video for Around The World by Daft Punk is one of my all-time favorites, so I thoroughly enjoyed this video with (a very young!) Michel Gondry.

  18. 11 Apr, 2022

    I Think You Should Leave Resources

    In my opinion, I Think You Should Leave is one of the funniest things created in the last number of decades. As a fan of absurd and goofball comedy, it’s right up my alley. Here’s a website that links directly […]

  19. 03 Apr, 2022

    What Didn’t End Up in Jira

    This little diagram captures all the work that really goes into getting something done (often well before it’s actually captured in any formal way).

  20. 28 Feb, 2022

    Headless components in React and why I stopped using a UI library for our design system

    Love me a good pros/cons article. This post does a great job talking about React-based headless UI frameworks that provide functionality and accessibility controls, but don’t provide any default styling (a la Material Design or Bootstrap). We’ve used a few […]