Embracing web-safe fonts

Before webfonts were widely available, designers relied on a relatively small number of web-safe fonts, i.e. fonts that come pre-installed with various operating systems, and thus most likely to be present on user’s devices. As a result the web was saturated with Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Georgia and Times New Roman. While these fonts are not …

Exclusion by generalization

How often do designers struggle when presented with a new user interface? It may take us a few moments to read it, but because our cognitive muscle is so developed for these tasks it takes far less time than an individual that doesn't work in this industry. It's even harder when an interface was designed …

Typographic Tweaks for Longreads

During the 7 years I've been involved with Longreads, we've gone from sharing links on Twitter to publishing our own in-depth, investigative stories. While we've grown substantially in scope and focus, the brand has largely stayed consistent. The core of the Longreads brand has always been simple, traditional typography, paired with a healthy amount of whitespace. I've made small …

Hundreds of Tiny Arrows

I recently hand-drew hundreds of tiny arrows for a Longreads illustration. It took about four hours, with a few breaks to check Slack and refill my chai. I knew I could have drawn a few arrows and duplicated them in Photoshop. I would've added some brush strokes to differentiate them from each other, and it …