2019

The end of 2018 saw our very first “all-distributed” holiday party to help us close out an exciting year working together across all-timezones and working all-remote.

Ill tell ya. @automattic is a remote company. But that does not impede our ability to have a kickass remote holiday party. Thanks to @johnmaeda @alisonrand @alexislloyd & the entire @automatticdsgn crew. @InVisionApp for the technology! (See video) pic.twitter.com/5lMXirMswL

— Jeff Golenski (@jeffgolenski) December 21, 2018

We also rang in our first year of the Automattic Design Award as led by Jury Chair Alexis Lloyd:

A bit about the open-source design principles we want to recognize with the Automattic Design Award.
"We want to honor work that has elegant user experience at its core, including simplicity and clarity, effortless wayfinding, and deep attention to detail"https://t.co/PGMPr4urkV

— Alexis Lloyd (@alexislloyd) November 6, 2018

A little earlier in the year we experimented with adhoc collaboration across the remote and on-prem worlds.

We formulated our three design principles:

1. We make things for people to use, not for the sake of making things.
2. If we’re not inclusive, we haven’t built a good product (or a good company).
3. Hypotheses are great. Hypotheses plus data are better. And hypotheses plus data plus iteration is best.

Our Design Ops team got going with Alison Rand joining us earlier in the year.

And we all wonder what will 2019 bring us? Let’s see what happens! —JM

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HAPPY NEW YEAR
The world needs more you.