Shipped guideguide.me/figma last week. Got a decent (modest) bump in sales, but I struggled to find places to announce the launch. I feel like the developer world has all manner of publications to reach out to and forums to post in. Am I just missing some of the obvious choices for designers that want to learn about new tools?
About
I'm an indie developer, formerly a designer, illustrator, and creative director. Now I build tools for creative people that don't want to think about their tools.
I've done what some might consider noteworthy work, but the things I'm best known for aren’t what I'm proud of. I'd prefer to be known for running happy and productive creative teams with a policy of shenanigan driven design and development, creating experiences that subjected people to genuine happiness, and building powerful tools that are so good, you forget they exist.
Projects
GuideGuide is a grids and guides plugin for various design software. This year I launched it for Figma.
I'm of mixed minds on this one. On the one hand, it's felt strange not having a version for Figma, given that it feels like the most relevant contemporary design tool at this point (sorry, Sketch). On the other, auto layout and layout grids in Figma work pretty well, so I'm curious whether this version will take off.
Ultimately, I think there are certain workflows where manual grids will still be valuable and GuideGuide will be there to assist. If nothing more, it's a nice-to-have option for customers that use GuideGuide in their other design software and want some continuity in their tools.
GuideGuide is a guides and grids plugin for popular design tools. It started with Photoshop back in 2010, where it got tremendously popular (millions of installs) due to the lack of a built-in grid tool and the fact that it was a free plugin.
In later years I started charging for GuideGuide which thinned the audience out, but it's still going strong with plenty of devoted fans, and now also lives in Illustrator, InDesign, Sketch, with more on the way.
Historically GuideGuide has been a one man show. However back in 2018 I hired a friend, Dave Keller, to do some brand design for me. The version of the site that exists today is no longer his original work, but he set the tone for how I’ve adapted it over the years.
While it's not strictly visual design, I've put a ton of work into the experience of the site. The live demo on the front page is a fully functioning demo of the plugin which works exactly like it does in the apps it supports. It’s got easter eggs too, if you go hunting for them.
Of particular personal interest is the copy. As an indie, I don’t have to get approval to push boundaries, so the copy is written in a tone that you won’t typically see on a marketing page. I put a lot of effort into the personality, and I think it shows.
Speaking
I had a chance to go on the Syntax podcast to talk about being a creative director, my experience making octocats at GitHub, and the special hell/fun that is building JavaScript based plugins for design tools.
Awards
My team at Sentry gave me a World's Okayest Boss mug. I think that speaks for itself.
Work Experience
I got out of the design game and went into full time independent development. I regret nothing.
At Sentry, my title was always Creative Director. However for the first few years I was the lone creative and marketing focused designer. I eventually hired a team of artists, designers, copywriters, and video people, and served as the team's frontend developer. I also managed Sentry swag production.
As Creative Director, I ran GitHub’s Creative Team, which was responsible for all brand and illustration content. I managed artists, designers, and copywriters for all manner of internal, marketing, and event projects.
I was hired as a "Creative Badass" which amounted to Illustrator and Design Generalist. I created ~70 of the early GitHub Octocat illustrations, designed the original GitHub for Windows app (one of the first “Metro” style apps), the original image diffs, was involved with the logo redesign, and the Octicons project. I also worked on photography and swag production for the GitHub shop.