Posts in ‘post’ Category

That one weird trick? TALK. What do you do when someone doesn’t see what component they’re looking for in the design system? TALK. What do you do when someone has questions about what a component does, if it meets their […]

HOLY SHIT! Frostapalooza is happening in exactly one month! I’d really, really, really, truly love for you to come to this one-of-a-kind, one-night-only concert fandango happening on August 17th in Pittsburgh. Here’s 40 reasons why you should come: Sounds pretty […]

If you feel like you’re struggling to keep up with the pace of technological change, you’re certainly not alone. We feel this pressure at an individual level, but also at an organizational level. How do digital organizations establish solid, stable […]

text-decoration-offset is a good use case for em units. Most of the time we favor rems over ems, but in this case we want the text underline offset to proportionally scale with the `font-size` property. Here’s a quick demo: See […]

One day I’ll fulfill my dream of throwing my phone into the ocean*, but for now I’m settling for throwing my phone in my basement. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt articulates how the potent combination of smartphones and social […]

You Want border-color: transparent, Not border: none by Dave is a great reminder to not remove borders from components for accessibility reasons, especially to better support high contrast mode. border-color: transparent comes in handy for other use cases as well. […]

Every time I read about how is being applied in the world, this graph immediately pops up in my head: As the potential to do harm increases, there must be a corresponding increase in the level of caution, skepticism, and […]

One of my favorite Josh lines that’s really stood the test of time and cuts through a lot of noise in a conversation: Don’t put crap in the design system. Josh Clark What is crap? Crap is rushed work, low-quality […]

Recipes are a critical — and often misunderstood! — layer in the design system ecosystem. First of all, what exactly are recipes? As the name suggests, recipes combine ingredients to create UI experiences that are complex, delicious, nutritious. The design […]

Ah yes, this old chestnut. It pops up as reliably as daffodils in early spring. My perspective has changed very little over the years. Telling web designers they don't need to worry about code is like telling architects they don't […]

One video phenomenon that has me enthralled hook, line, and sinker is people hearing music for the first time. Watching vicariously as others experience amazing music for the first time brings me so much joy. Sure, it’s entertaining, but it […]

I recently published an article outlining the need for a Global Design System. In my post I stated: A Global Design System would improve the quality and accessibility of the world’s web experiences, save the world’s web designers and developers […]

We’ve all watched with simultaneous fascination and trepidation as a flood of AI-powered tools continues to wash over the digital landscape. At Big Medium, we help complex organizations design at scale and pragmatically adopt new technologies, so naturally we’ve been […]

Woohoo! I am so incredibly excited to announce that Frostapalooza is now live! The show is on August 17th at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA, and you can see the event on Mr. Smalls’ website and get tickets at […]

Exciting news! My Big Medium colleagues and I are launching a newsletter called “A Little Big Medium”. The website does a good job explaining what it’s all about: Love email? Neither do we! But we really, really, really love sharing […]

TL;DR: This is a call to action to create a Global Design System that provides the world’s web designers & developers a library of common UI components. A Global Design System would improve the quality and accessibility of the world’s […]

OUT: Pattern Police IN: Empathic Sherpas OUT: An overstuffed design system libraryIN: A thoughtful, layer-cake design system ecosystem  OUT: Unnecessarily verbose documentationIN: Just enough, just-in-time documentation  OUT: Single discipline-focused design systemsIN: Cross-disciplinary design systems that serve the entire org OUT: Rushing […]

There’s no doubt about it; 2023 was objectively way better than 2022. And 2021. And 2020. Our family has been through a lot over the last 5-ish years, and I’m happy to report that 2023 contained no major medical emergencies, […]

Well I’ll be, I’ve now been running my own business for over a decade! In January 2013 I left agency life and set out into the world of self employment. When I announced I was going to start my own company, here’s […]

I’ve discovered — or rather rediscovered — that playing music is one of the biggest sources of joy and fulfillment in my life. I play music — usually by myself — every day, but it’s the connection with other musicians […]

What does a mature, end-to-end design system look like in a big, complex organization? What are all the moving pieces, and how do they hang together as a well-considered architecture? What’s required and what’s optional? Hold onto your butts, because […]

I’m elated to announce that on August 17th, 2024 — exactly one year from now — I’m throwing a big-ass charity concert/party/happening in Pittsburgh, PA featuring an array of my talented musical collaborators, friends, and family. I’d love for you […]

Why hello there! I’m over three weeks into my 3-month sabbatical. Or Sabbradical as several people have pointed out (which, holy shit why didn’t I think of that!). Imagine waking up in the morning and saying “I wonder what I’m […]

I’m taking a three-month sabbatical! It feels really weird to write that sentence, and it feels even weirder to add an exclamation mark at the end of it. But that’s what’s happening, even if it hasn’t sunk in yet. I’ve […]

A few years ago I got way into birds. I wouldn’t dare call myself a die-hard birder (yet), but it’s been a lot of fun to learn about the birds that show up in my back yard. I backed Bird […]

Today marks the 1-year anniversary of Ziggy leaving us. We had a hell of a 2022 and so I’m only just now getting the opportunity to write about my best bud. Thankfully, I’ve had a year to work through my […]

In what I hope becomes a series, I’ve been recording myself as I drive home from dropping my daughter off at school. Shifting away from more heady topics like AI’s impact on design and development, I felt like talking about […]

I had the great opportunity to chat with Behrad Mirafshar on the Lean Cast podcast. We covered a lot of ground about design systems and AI’s impact on the field of digital design. I really welcomed the opportunity to dig […]

I wish I was better at journaling. I love it and love having documentation of the things I’ve done, feelings I’ve felt, experiences I’ve had, etc. I just haven’t built the habit yet. I’d like to change that. While I […]

I’ve spent the last two years thinking about doing these two projects, and the actual effort to bring them into existence only took two weekends. I arrived at an important insight: if you find yourself frequently revisiting an idea you […]