Notes

Things we only learned by doing

Trends and tools in design, branding, and technology, plus the problems we run into while building things, and what we make of them.

Each post is a mistake we walked into: why the symptoms were misleading, why we chose what we chose, and whether it turned out to be right. There’s no publishing schedule, and we deliberately leave off dates. An observation doesn’t become wrong because it was written six months ago.

Want our positions rather than our observations?+Where we stand+Our solutions

Latest

A checker that never fails is worse than no checker
A glowing slider rail and clamp on a metal jig
A checker that never fails is worse than no checkerCraft & Tools

A checker that never fails is worse than no checker

We once ran a validator for two weeks without a single red light. Then we found out it hadn't been catching anything since day one.
2 min

Up next

A row of black sliders on a long metal track with purple light glowing from the bottom
Your CSS is on the server. It just never reaches the browser.Web & Technology

Your CSS is on the server. It just never reaches the browser.

The file is right, the path is right, and the string is sitting in the combined stylesheet. The rule still…
2 min
Color chips fanned out and inserted into a glowing curved base
Of 13 colors, two were 8.8 degrees apartBrand Identity

Of 13 colors, two were 8.8 degrees apart

A palette built from traditional colors looked fine swatch by swatch. Measuring the hue angles showed two that could never…
2 min
A vise gripping a row of metal blocks
A cramped mobile layout isn’t a font-size problemWeb & Technology

A cramped mobile layout isn’t a font-size problem

We shrank the type three times before admitting it: what the layout lacked was a rule for which parts give…
2 min
A neat row of metal comb teeth with one standing out in the middle
You can’t eyeball icon qualityBrand Identity

You can’t eyeball icon quality

One icon in a set had a stroke 0.25px off. We went through the set by eye three times and…
2 min
A transparent lens clamped between two plates with blue and purple light glowing from underneath
The database has the new value. The site is reading the old one.Web & Technology

The database has the new value. The site is reading the old one.

Write to the database behind the application's back, add a persistent object cache, and the symptoms look like a completely…
2 min
A row of identical metal blocks fitted on the same guide rail
Consistent AI images don’t come from the promptCraft & Tools

Consistent AI images don’t come from the prompt

We generated several hundred images and used about a dozen. What decided whether the style held wasn't the prompt. It…
2 min

The rest

And 38 more

A row of equally spaced black blocks on a guide rail
Your monospace font has no Chinese, and it won’t say soBrand Identity
2 min

Your monospace font has no Chinese, and it won’t say so

A metal tray with an intact outer frame and a hollow center
HTTP 200, and nothing in the middle of the pageWeb & Technology
2 min

HTTP 200, and nothing in the middle of the page

A metal grid resting on a stone slab
An open-line mark on a photo always needs a backingBrand Identity
2 min

An open-line mark on a photo always needs a backing

A metal key and a similarly shaped black key
The short class name is inside the long oneWeb & Technology
2 min

The short class name is inside the long one

Two glass panes stacked on a metal stand with a blue-purple light shining between them
To check a web font loaded, compare pixels, not API answersCraft & Tools
2 min

To check a web font loaded, compare pixels, not API answers

A metal storage tray divided into a row of small compartments
A legend lists every category, not just the ones in the dataBrand Identity
2 min

A legend lists every category, not just the ones in the data

Two sockets on a black base, with a plug in one of them
We guessed the right folder. The site was using another one.Web & Technology
2 min

We guessed the right folder. The site was using another one.

A perforated metal plate next to a closed box
Zero hits doesn’t mean it isn’t thereCraft & Tools
2 min

Zero hits doesn’t mean it isn’t there

Want to talk through your situation first?

Thirty minutes, no charge.

Email us