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The history of album art Album art didn’t always exist. In the early 1900s, recorded music was still a novelty, overshadowed...
2nd May 2025
78

The history of album art

from The personal website of Matthew Ström [alt+shift+b] in design

2nd May 2025
Album art didn’t always exist. In the early 1900s, recorded music was still a novelty, overshadowed by sales of sheet music. Early vinyl records were vastly different from what we think of today: discs were sold individually and could only hold up to four minutes of music per...
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UI Density Interfaces are becoming less dense. I’m usually one to be skeptical of nostalgia and “we liked it...
20th May 2024
43

UI Density

from The personal website of Matthew Ström [alt+shift+b] in design

20th May 2024
Interfaces are becoming less dense. I’m usually one to be skeptical of nostalgia and “we liked it that way” bias, but comparing websites and applications of 2024 to their 2000s-era counterparts, the spreading out of software is hard to ignore. To explain this trend, and suggest...
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How to generate color palettes for design systems It used to be easy to pick colors for design systems. Years ago, you could pick a handful of colors...
20th Apr 2024
44

How to generate color palettes for design systems

from The personal website of Matthew Ström [alt+shift+b] in design

20th Apr 2024
It used to be easy to pick colors for design systems. Years ago, you could pick a handful of colors to match your brand’s ethos, or start with an off-the-shelf palette (remember flatuicolors.com?). Each hue and shade served a purpose, and usually had a quirky name like “idea...
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Design-by-wire There’s a lot of fear in the air. As AI gets better at design, it’s natural for designers to be...
2nd Mar 2023
38

Design-by-wire

from The personal website of Matthew Ström [alt+shift+b] in design

2nd Mar 2023
There’s a lot of fear in the air. As AI gets better at design, it’s natural for designers to be worried about their jobs. But I think the question — will AI replace designers? — is a waste of time. Humans have always invented technology to do their work for them and will continue...
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What it means to design a platform After four months of parental leave, I came back to work and noticed something different. Many of...
11th Jan 2023
37

What it means to design a platform

from The personal website of Matthew Ström [alt+shift+b] in design

11th Jan 2023
After four months of parental leave, I came back to work and noticed something different. Many of the words, phrases, acronyms, and figures of speech I took for granted no longer held the same meanings. Specifically, the word “platform:” before my time off, I would breeze over it...
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The micromanager's dilemma Here’s a riddle: Nobody I’ve ever worked with likes micromanagement. Yet, on every team I’ve been...
13th Dec 2022
33

The micromanager's dilemma

from The personal website of Matthew Ström [alt+shift+b] in design

13th Dec 2022
Here’s a riddle: Nobody I’ve ever worked with likes micromanagement. Yet, on every team I’ve been on, there is at least one micromanager. How is this possible? Harvard Business Review says, “Micromanage at Your Peril.” Forbes says “Micromanaging is one of the most damaging habits...
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Ballet dancers and shot putters Starting a career in design is like crash-landing on Mars. You may have studied it through a...
6th Nov 2022
35

Ballet dancers and shot putters

from The personal website of Matthew Ström [alt+shift+b] in design

6th Nov 2022
Starting a career in design is like crash-landing on Mars. You may have studied it through a telescope, but nothing can prepare you for actually being there. One of the biggest surprises many new designers experience is that design isn’t always about coming up with the most...
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Generative art Open Graph preview images I like writing and sharing essays on twitter. I especially like the way the link previews look when...
29th Oct 2022
39

Generative art Open Graph preview images

from The personal website of Matthew Ström [alt+shift+b] in design

29th Oct 2022
I like writing and sharing essays on twitter. I especially like the way the link previews look when they have images that stand out in the timeline. In the past, I’ve created illustrations for each of my posts. But I have two problems: 1. Creating illustrations takes time, and 2....
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Beauty in the machine: Post-industrial design Has design become boring? A twitter thread by Sheehan Quirke (aka the Cultural Tutor) has been...
21st Sep 2022
39

Beauty in the machine: Post-industrial design

from The personal website of Matthew Ström [alt+shift+b] in design

21st Sep 2022
Has design become boring? A twitter thread by Sheehan Quirke (aka the Cultural Tutor) has been making the rounds lately, arguing just that. Quirke describes the many shortcomings of modern design: architecture, urban planning, industrial design, and interior design have all been...
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Functions and the future of design systems New kinds of computers and interfaces are becoming ubiquitous: in our cars, on our wrists, in our...
12th Feb 2022
32

Functions and the future of design systems

from The personal website of Matthew Ström [alt+shift+b] in design

12th Feb 2022
New kinds of computers and interfaces are becoming ubiquitous: in our cars, on our wrists, in our ears, at our desks at work, on our TVs at home. In response, we’ve seen innovations in the content, organization, and delivery of design systems: design tokens, interoperability,...
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