Skip to content

SJR

  • Journal
  • Links
  • Photos
  • About

Things I Like

  • Designer Duds: Losing Our Seat at the Table

    25 April 2014

    What if design uses its seat at the table to draw pretty things, but otherwise not pay much attention to the outcomes, the user behaviors, the things enabled?

  • And they all look just the same

    24 April 2014

    As an industry, we’re never going to really break free of molds if we’re borrowing design patterns and styles from everything that is already out there. Learn how designers, architects, typographers, and composers broke the mold in their day.

  • Mob Rule

    24 April 2014

    You are entitled to run an organization that reflects your values within the bounds of the law. What you are not inherently entitled to is the opportunity to lead an important and visible organization with values and actions that deviate from social norms.

  • Mandy Brown for The Pastry Box

    23 April 2014

    At its best, “do what you love” is a friendly pep-talk to the dissatisfied elite. At its worst, it’s exclusive: the ugly side of the American dream, the one that judges those with the least as being the least deserving. If only they had the will or ethic to pursue their dreams! If only that was all it took.

  • Letter to a junior designer

    17 April 2014

    So go deeper. Squander loose time on expanding your ideas, even if you’re sure they’re perfect or useless. Look closely at decisions you think are trivial. I guarantee you’ll find better solutions around the corner.

  • Typekit practice

    16 April 2014

    Whether you’re a novice or an expert in any medium, good decisions take practice — and great ones stand on a solid foundation. Typekit Practice is a collection of resources and a place to try things, hone your skills, and stay sharp.

  • Designing in the borderlands

    15 April 2014

    Granted, the walls between the disciplines are much higher now than they were back then. But, I believe, every once in a while it’s worth having someone stand in front of you and say that the walls that separate things are usually stupid, and they deserve to be stepped over whenever possible.

  • Accessibility checker

    15 April 2014

    I recently switched to using Chrome’s Accessibility Developer Tools built in contrast checker and I love it. Take a look at the audits being run by the tools and let’s look at how to begin using it once installed.

  • Pastry Box, April 12, 2014

    12 April 2014

    If you have an idea, own it. Just because someone else has already talked about it doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t. And so what if it’s not perfectly articulated? So what if it turns out to be wrong? So what if you change your mind later?

  • The values of the web

    30 March 2014

    As I scroll through my feeds littered with stories of deplorable behavior coming from the tech industry and beyond, I rest assured knowing there’s a massive community of people working on the Web that value honesty, openness, and collaboration.

  • A lament for Readmill

    29 March 2014

    I'm with Elliot on the way he talks about Readmill. It was so beautiful and easy to use, I am sad they are shutting down. But I am also so grateful that they have left us with a beautiful reading journal as well as an easy export to take our memories with us.

    I’ll miss you Readmill. My home screen will feel empty without you. Oh, and I don’t think you failed at all.

  • Visual inventory

    21 March 2014

    It's not that responsive design inherently takes longer; we just don’t know as much about the nuances like performance and image sizes and resolution-independent graphics… yet.

  • On making design mistakes

    21 March 2014

    By refusing to let myself screw up, I was screwing up. Much of that style guide is in the garbage bin now. It was so airtight with certainty it was useless as a design document.

  • Mastery and mimicry

    21 March 2014

    The user sees the world as it is. Our job as builders is to create the world as it could be.

  • Why RWD Looks Like RWD

    18 March 2014

    The good news is that the transition can be made—and a lot of folks are sharing how they’re handling it. Eventually those walls between roles will break down.

  • Previous
  • Next

RSS:

  • Journal
  • Links
  • Photos

© Copyright 2011 - 2026 susan jean robertson