Automattic Design Stories 486

James Koster

Automattic Design

Time in design

While pondering a topic for this post I habitually glance down at my wristwatch and decide that it might be a suitable inspiration. I rapidly mind-map a potential overlap between horology and software design / development but only find ethereal concepts – nothing concrete. What I do find is an overlap between how my taste…
Tammie

Automattic Design

Receiving the Baton

Not every project you join at the start. I recently was passed the baton to become the new design lead of the WordPress editor focus. The current lead, Joen Asmussen is taking some time off to welcome a new baby boy into his family. He wrote an amazing post about passing the baton, this is…
Filippo Di Trapani

Automattic Design

Recruiting participants for remote user tests

I recently attended my first remote design sprint at Automattic. It ran over a two week period and was attended by fellow designers, developers, data scientists, happiness engineers, and marketers. Together we created two prototypes and tested them out with real customers. I found the experience to be both rewarding and inspiring. We came up…
Mel Choyce

Automattic Design

From No Code to Pro Code

I’m lucky that Automattic sponsors my time to work on the core WordPress software full-time. This allows me the time and focus to take on more leadership responsibilities in the community, including my current role as Customization Design Lead and the co-lead for the upcoming WordPress 4.9 release. ✌️ One of our major goals during…
Mark

Automattic Design

WordPress as a Classic Diesel Engine

In 2015 I set out to buy a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 with a Cummins diesel engine. I could probably get a used 2014 or 2013 model for a great deal, so why would I want something so… old? I did a lot of research, and a diesel engine of that particular year proved to…
Erin Casali

Automattic Design

Remote Workshopping: Facilitating a KJ Technique, Fully Remote

As a designer working in a fully remote team, I often get the question on how certain common design activities happen in remote environment. In some cases, the answer is to just reframe the problem taking a different approach, or to just meet in person when it’s needed, but other times we can transition traditional…
Joen A.

Automattic Design

Passing the Baton

On or around the 21st of August, my family and I will welcome a baby boy, officially making me the luckiest man in the world. That also means I’ll be taking off from work for a bit, as I tend to my new highest priority. Until that time, and for the past several weeks, I’ve…
scottsweb

Automattic Design

One more thing…

I have a guilty pleasure. On a Sunday afternoon when the weather is bad I like nothing more than to sit down to an episode of Columbo. My wife and I have the entire box set and have made our way though every episode, including the pilots of Mrs Columbo. Watching a random episode is…
Kjell Reigstad

Automattic Design

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…
Ernesto Méndez

Automattic Design

WordPress as a Solid Foundation for Applications

Usually, people associate WordPress with a blogging platform. It’s true, but WordPress has evolved to much more than that. As part of its evolution, WordPress has received several additions and built-in features that can be used when building Web applications, such as content sanitization, validation, caching, transients, and many more.