When I joined a tech company after working for myself for 20 years, the corporate world had changed in many ways. One, in particular, struck me. My old jobs had existed in environments so laddish and rowdy that even I, as a man, had felt uncomfortable in them. So I’d gotten out. … | Continue reading
When he was eight years old, my dad taught himself to take apart watches and put them back together. He supported his mother by doing watch repairs at that age out of her little jewelry stand, and a few years later by delivering clothes for a Chinese laundry. As a laundry deliver … | Continue reading
When he was eight years old, my dad taught himself to take apart watches and put them back together. He supported his mother by doing watch repairs at that age out of her little jewelry stand, and a few years later by delivering clothes for a Chinese laundry. As a laundry deliver … | Continue reading
We laid my brother Pete to rest today. They brought him out in a bespoke coffin his wife Cheryl designed. It had a red top, and its white sides were covered in Pete’s quirky figure drawings. He’d have loved it. Several of us had written about Pete, and the officiant read our stat … | Continue reading
We laid my brother Pete to rest today. They brought him out in a bespoke coffin his wife Cheryl designed. It had a red top, and its white sides were covered in Pete’s quirky figure drawings. He’d have loved it. Several of us had written about Pete, and the officiant read our stat … | Continue reading
As the lines between our physical and digital surroundings continue to blur, it’s more important than ever to design usable and accessible content for our ever-expanding array of contexts. In 2021, A Book Apart and I were delighted to bring you Preston So’s Voice Content and Usab … | Continue reading
As the lines between our physical and digital surroundings continue to blur, it’s more important than ever to design usable and accessible content for our ever-expanding array of contexts. In 2021, A Book Apart and I were delighted to bring you Preston So’s Voice Content and Usab … | Continue reading
When my mother was pregnant with my younger brother Pete, my father took her to see West Side Story in New York. My mom said every time the orchestra played, Pete kicked in her womb, keeping perfect time. Some people are born to play the drums. Pete played before he was born. He … | Continue reading
When my mother was pregnant with my younger brother Pete, my father took her to see West Side Story in New York. My mom said every time the orchestra played, Pete kicked in her womb, keeping perfect time. Some people are born to play the drums. Pete played before he was born. He … | Continue reading
Before the present owner, I was a Twitter Blue customer, because I always pay for software—to support its creators and help prevent it from disappearing, as so many great websites and platforms have done over the years. It wasn’t about the Twitter Blue pro features, to be honest … | Continue reading
Before the present owner, I was a Twitter Blue customer, because I always pay for software—to support its creators and help prevent it from disappearing, as so many great websites and platforms have done over the years. It wasn’t about the Twitter Blue pro features, to be honest … | Continue reading
The world is losing one of the greatest musicians, rhythmic theorists, and just lovely and decent human beings ever to exist. The post About Pete appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design. | Continue reading
The world is losing one of the greatest musicians, rhythmic theorists, and just lovely and decent human beings ever to exist. The post About Pete appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design. | Continue reading
I love the smell of my neighbor’s weed in the morning. And afternoon. And evening. Seven days a week, God bless him. A grocery delivery guy dropping food at my apartment Thursday morning thought it was my weed and complimented me on the quality. Twenty-nine-and-a-half years sober … | Continue reading
My longtime friend and former collaborative partner Craig Hockenberry bids a dignified adieu to Twitterific, Twitter, and his mom … and calls for a standards-based universal timeline. — The Shit Show The post “A $44 billion version of MySpace.” appeared first on Zeldman on Web an … | Continue reading
First thing after her breakfast, Snow White climbed into a small, half-filled paper and cardboard recycling box. The post A Cat Tale appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design. | Continue reading
One of these worlds is gone, and to the other, we will never return. The post A Tale of Two Pools appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design. | Continue reading
All my life I’ve known I was “creative” and “different.” Only recently have I realized that I’m both neurodivergent and bisexual. In my youth, as I struggled with drugs, alcoholism, depression, and underemployment, it never crossed my mind that I was neurodivergent—not that the t … | Continue reading
You may not know his name, but he played a huge part in creating the web you take for granted today. And he’s back—kind of. The post He Built This City: The Return of Glenn Davis appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design. | Continue reading
Whether or not it was the most expensive or most competitive college in the land (it wasn’t), it was a place where they’d encounter other smart kids from different backgrounds and discover Truffaut and Bergman and stay up all night enthralled by great ideas or ridiculing them, cr … | Continue reading
Whether or not it was the most expensive or most competitive college in the land (it wasn’t), it was a place where they’d encounter other smart kids from different backgrounds and discover Truffaut and Bergman and stay up all night enthralled by great ideas or ridiculing them, cr … | Continue reading
The mail carrier used to think I was away from home, traveling. Nope, just scared to open the mailbox. | Continue reading
The mail carrier used to think I was away from home, traveling. Nope, just scared to open the mailbox. The post Walking Through Fear appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design. | Continue reading
Back when I was in advertising, one of my team’s clients was a well-known Irish Airline. They could only afford an 1/8th-page ad in the travel section of the paper. But my partners and I didn’t think creativity was dependent on budget. | Continue reading
Back when I was in advertising, one of my team’s clients was a well-known Irish Airline. They could only afford an 1/8th-page ad in the travel section of the paper. But my partners and I didn’t think creativity was dependent on budget. We were determined to deliver great ads for … | Continue reading
In 1999, although still in his early 20s, Daniel V. Licht was already an accomplished art director and digital designer. Today he’s a fantastic comic illustrator, artist, and creative director. Check his recent work. | Continue reading
In 1999, I had the good fortune to work alongside Dan Licht at an NYC digital startup called SenseNet, RIP. Back then, although still in his early 20s, Dan was already an accomplished art director and digital designer. Today he’s a fantastic comics illustrator, artist, and creati … | Continue reading
I was a teenage telemarketer. Reading from a script, I attempted to raise money for St. Jude’s Hospital for Leukemia-Stricken Children. I was fired after three days for departing from the script. We were supposed to hard-sell, no matter what the person on the other end of the li … | Continue reading
I was a teenage telemarketer. Reading from a script, I attempted to raise money for St. Jude’s Hospital for Leukemia-Stricken Children. I was fired after three days for departing from the script. We were supposed to hard-sell, no matter what the person on the other end of the li … | Continue reading
Not only are we enabling folks to express themselves uniquely on the web, unlike the cookie cutter looks that all the social sites try to put you into. We’re doing it in a way which is standards-based, interoperable, based on open source, and increases the amount of freedom on th … | Continue reading
Not only are we enabling folks to express themselves uniquely on the web, unlike the cookie cutter looks that all the social sites try to put you into. We’re doing it in a way which is standards-based, interoperable, based on open source, and increases the amount of freedom on th … | Continue reading
“[We are] like a school bus teetering on the guardrail of a bridge over a roaring river. The bus driver is trying to coax the children to move calmly and carefully to an exit door in the portion of the bus that is still on the bridge, but some of the children are running and […] | Continue reading
“[We are] like a school bus teetering on the guardrail of a bridge over a roaring river. The bus driver is trying to coax the children to move calmly and carefully to an exit door in the portion of the bus that is still on the bridge, but some of the children are running and […] … | Continue reading
She’s Got It by The Leonard Simpson Duo; Mittrom by Mach-Hommy & Earl Sweatshirt; Open the Brain by Quelle Chris; Snake Oil Scientist by Marlowe; and Aunties Steak & Rice Hold the Cabbage by Camoflauge Monk (from Chopin Prelude in E Minor by Les Baxter). #SpotifyWrapped | Continue reading
She’s Got It by The Leonard Simpson Duo; Mittrom by Mach-Hommy & Earl Sweatshirt; Open the Brain by Quelle Chris; Snake Oil Scientist by Marlowe; and Aunties Steak & Rice Hold the Cabbage by Camoflauge Monk (from Chopin Prelude in E Minor by Les Baxter). #SpotifyWrapped The post … | Continue reading
Blue Beanie Day in support of web standards is celebrated around the world on November 30. Hey, that’s today. So how can you help? Glad you asked! Take a self-portrait wearing a blue beanie (toque, tuque, cap) and post it to your website and social media channels with the hashtag … | Continue reading
Blue Beanie Day in support of web standards is celebrated around the world on November 30. Hey, that’s today. So how can you help? Glad you asked! Take a self-portrait wearing a blue beanie (toque, tuque, cap) and post it to your website and social media channels with the hashtag … | Continue reading
One year to the day since he left us. The post DOOMSDAY appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design. | Continue reading
Herewith, a scene from last night’s interview with legendary web & book designer (and Dean of The Cooper Union School of Art) Mike Essl, who shared his portfolio, career highlights, early web design history, and more. Fun! If you get a chance to meet, work with, or learn from Mik … | Continue reading
Herewith, a scene from last night’s interview with legendary web & book designer (and Dean of The Cooper Union School of Art) Mike Essl, who shared his portfolio, career highlights, early web design history, and more. Fun! If you get a chance to meet, work with, or learn from Mik … | Continue reading
The roly-poly ophthalmologist shining a beam into my eye wasn’t overly explicit on this point. | Continue reading
Vitreous humor lines the backs of our eyeballs. We are born with a full supply of the stuff, but as we age, it begins to dry out or evaporate or some damn thing—the ophthalmologist shining a beam into my eye wasn’t overly explicit on this point. Sometimes the stuff detaches and … | Continue reading
Even people who didn’t get deathly ill. Who aren’t still struggling to recover. Who didn’t lose a loved one—or more than one. Who didn’t bear the brunt of it because of their race and class. Who didn’t lose a job because of it. Those who didn’t miss out on senior year. Or the pl … | Continue reading
Even people who didn’t get deathly ill. Who aren’t still struggling to recover. Who didn’t lose a loved one—or more than one. Who didn’t bear the brunt of it because of their race and class. Who didn’t lose a job because of it. Those who didn’t miss out on senior year. Or the pl … | Continue reading
I DREAMED I’d boarded a ship that was slowly making its way to an exotic vacation locale, somewhere on the other side of the world. I’d bought a giant new steamer trunk for the voyage. I thought I’d have a cabin to myself, but, below decks, the ship was like a passenger train, wi … | Continue reading
I DREAMED I’d boarded a ship that was slowly making its way to an exotic vacation locale, somewhere on the other side of the world. I’d bought a giant new steamer trunk for the voyage. I thought I’d have a cabin to myself, but, below decks, the ship was like a passenger train, wi … | Continue reading
If Spotify exposes you to new music, Last.fm helps remind you of great music in your existing collection that may have slipped your mind. | Continue reading