Redesigning in public

Jonnie Hallman’s newly redesigned personal site is rather lovely as it’s sort of like a little essay all about him and his work. It’s the perfect introduction to the history of his web design and development career and I might steal a bunch of his ideas for a redesign of my own. Anyway, he’s been blogging consistently in small bursts about the redesign process and I love everything about it.

Likewise, Frank Chimero’s redesign for his blog has been just as fascinating. Frank’s been building it all very slowly and meticulously too, documenting his decisions such as picking typefaces and why he’s doing this out in the open so publicly:

...the web, by and large, has become a dumping ground for garbage. Most design content has become poor quality, surface-level content marketing that does more damage than good, because it offers over-simplified, misinformed perspectives dressed up as guidance. One hardly gets the sensation of lived experience and professional acumen in the words. When the experienced don’t write, grifters step in, feign expertise, and sell it.

I feel like my problem with design in general today is that folks want to burn everything to the ground and start again all the time. Whether that’s with a website, or a new web standard, or a political policy. They don’t want to fix what’s wrong with things bit by bit, everyone wants Thing 2.0 whilst jumping over all the small improvements that are required to get there.

And I think that’s what I find so exciting about Jonnie and Frank’s writing—progress is made slowly today. Step by step.