Produxion

We just launched an exciting new initiative called North. It’s going to be a creative conference taking place in South Cumbria this coming Summer, and we have some really great plans for it.

I’ve recently experienced a web design epiphany.

It’s funny how you work with stuff for so long, and you become very entrenched in a certain way of doing things. You follow the trends because that’s the consensus. You ocassionally push the boundaries in small ways, to create distinct designs and user experiences. But there are certain guidelines you set yourself; basic rules you adhere to. Many times it’s subconscious: you do things a certain way because, well, you’ve always done things that way, everybody else does them that way, so there’s no reason to change.

An intriguing little article from the New York Times, all about the design ethos of Muji (via James).

I’ve been using grids in my CSS designs for quite a while now, inspired by frameworks like Blueprint CSS. Although I don’t use Blueprint for production work (using a CSS framework starts to get a bit restrictive, and I prefer to build from scratch, rather than trying to override someone else’s default), I do use the methodology in my own CSS to create structured, grid-based layouts, and consistent typography.

One of the clever things that Blueprint introduced was the idea of displaying the grid while you’re working – this proves to be an invaluable aid as you try to refine CSS rules. But I’ve found that – as good as the theory is – it has a few drawbacks.