James Woolford Design

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Ultraderp by Mucho

The name Ultraderp seeks to combine all things extreme (think ‘ultrafast’, or ‘ultra marathon’) with ‘derp’, which is, apparently, the face a dog makes when they don’t know what’s happening. The product that bears this name is an ultra-light, easily-packable dog leash that can be worn on the collar...
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Breaking Out of the Box

CSS is about styling boxes. In fact, the whole web is made of boxes, from the browser viewport to elements on a page. But every once in a while a new feature comes along that makes us rethink our design approach. Article Continues Below Round displays, for example, make...
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Chester Zoo by How&How

I’d lazily assumed that, like jazz record sleeves and Dutch public transport, zoos were one of those sectors with a visual legacy that’s packed with game-changing brand design – the sort that fills the pages of graphic design histories, up there with the likes of Paul Rand’s ‘IBM’ and...
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Designers, (Re)define Success First

About two and a half years ago, I introduced the idea of daily ethical design. It was born out of my frustration with the many obstacles to achieving design that’s usable and equitable; protects people’s privacy, agency, and focus; benefits society; and restores nature. I argued that we need...
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North Road by Manual

Independent content studio North Road was founded in 2022 to unite a portfolio of companies covering everything from scripted entertainment (‘Chernin Entertainment’) and non-scripted content (‘Kinetic Content’) to non-fiction productions (under ‘Words + Pictures’). Across these entities, North Road is one of the largest global suppliers of TV and...
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Mobile-First CSS: Is It Time for a Rethink?

The mobile-first design methodology is great—it focuses on what really matters to the user, it’s well-practiced, and it’s been a common design pattern for years. So developing your CSS mobile-first should also be great, too…right?  Article Continues Below Well, not necessarily. Classic mobile-first CSS development is based on the...
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Suupaa by A Friend of Mine

There isn’t a shortage of well-executed, interesting branding projects out there – ones that are joyful, witty, slick, or just perfectly fit a brief – which do their job perfectly. But 99% of the time, you can sort of see where they came from – the broader cultural spheres...
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Spellbound by Studio Gruhl

Berlin-based techno label Spellbound was founded last year by Shaleen, a DJ, producer, and the woman behind the SURD series of femme- and queer-centric events. Known for her 90’s-infused vinyl-only sets and her ethos of looking back at techno’s roots in order to move it forward, it makes sense...
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Humility: An Essential Value

Humility, a designer’s essential value—that has a nice ring to it. What about humility, an office manager’s essential value? Or a dentist’s? Or a librarian’s? They all sound great. When humility is our guiding light, the path is always open for fulfillment, evolution, connection, and engagement. In this chapter,...
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