It’s all bollocks and none of it really matters. Yes really. That stress about the thing that went really wrong, your burning desire to make this your best design ever that in turn makes you miserable, the argument about the late print, graphic design, none of this is what really really matters in life. Release yourself from that stress. No one is dying. It’s pixels, type and colour. Work hard, but enjoy it and relax.  

— James Greenfield

Mapbox studio looks very interesting — code your way to the desired design of your map.

You are not a storyteller - Stefan Sagmeister @ FITC from FITC on Vimeo.

Recently Mr Sagmeister went on video pointing a finger at the “story telling” phenomena. I have no real issue with anyone coining themselves as a story teller, nor do I have an issue with Sagmeister calling himself a graphic designer in the beginning of the interview.

Stefan is notorious for adding novelty to, what some might argue, limited substance – so hearing these kind of statements makes it difficult to do anything but disconnect.

Good idea person — bad MO.

I have recently started working with The Lubalin Center – on reissues (newsprints for now, with posters being planned) – the space is free and open to the public (just get in touch here) – but I definitely find myself here more often, and exposed to mind–blowing pieces of design, gems that no amount of online trolling will be able to expose me to. I will do my best to share some of those here.

Typographica 7 — was edited by Herbert Spencer and published by Lund Humphries.

The issue was published earlier than anticipated to coincide with the ‘Typography in Britain today’ exhibition which was held at Lund Humphries’ Bedford Square.

Those piece of design are hard to find – I could only locate issue 9 of Typographica on eBay , and a bonus little feature on Grain Edit

Lund is a great publisher and I highly recommend getting a copy of Swann, C. (1969) - Techniques Of Typography.

I was surprised to see a new article by Bradford – an experienced entrepreneur, and a designer by training: You’re a designer. Not the CEO.

There were some good points there but overall the piece felt rushed and irresponsible.

“…All humans understand design …It’s art. Art is for everyone. Design, too…”

A statement I agree with wholeheartedly, design is not reserved for designers. It’s a humanistic skill and way of thinking that is part of just about every profession.

“Trust. Trust is a designer’s best friend. And you earn it. You don’t just get it.“

Again –  incredibly true.

However, some of the other points go against a lot of the same humanistic values that Bradford mentioned.

If design is for everything – then it is not a thing / discipline, but rather a set of values, a vector for solving problems, which just doesn’t compute with:

“…You’re support staff just like the

Mills Baker published a great post on Quora analyzing a few products by supposedly design–led companies.

Despite being somewhat harsh (mainly due to calling out names) I do agree with the closing statement which articulates a lot of what could, and should change in the balance between visual, UX and product.

In order to avoid losing its place atop organizations, design must deliver results. Designers must also accept that if they don’t, they’re not actually designing well; in technology, at least, the subjective artistry of design is mirrored by the objective finality of use data. A “great” design which produces bad outcomes —low engagement, little utility, few downloads, indifference on the part of the target market— should be regarded as a failure.

Thanks Jon–Kyle Mohr for sharing some JS wisdom.

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