Today at Adobe Typekit we launched a new website, Typekit Practice. You can read more about it on our blog. I couldn’t be more excited about it, and I look forward to working on it every day. My hope is that I can share not only the practice of typography, but the web design culture of openness and camaraderie that I grew up knowing, with the millions of people who use Adobe software. Talk about an opportunity.
Lots of people helped me get this off the ground.
Thanks to my Typekit colleagues Bram Stein, Sally Kerrigan, and Elliot Jay Stocks for working directly on the site with me. Bram made the site work, made it fast, and fielded many of my questions during development on short notice and at all hours of the night. Sally helped me shape the tone of the writing, the part I care about most, and brought her archival experience to bear as we planned features. Elliot and I worked together on every design detail, trading sketches and revisions to make sure Practice felt right. Furthermore, each of these folks contributed in the other ways too — Bram and Sally helped with design, Elliot helped craft the tone of voice, etc.
More thanks to my Typekit colleagues. Ryan Carver and Matthew Rechs made Practice a part of Typekit and pushed me to ship it. Michael Wallen helped make working on Practice a smooth part of our team’s daily routine. Greg Veen and Libby Nicholaou helped me strategize about what the site could and can be. Liz Galle did many odd jobs — research, notetaking in critical meetings, providing feedback about iterations, and writing help docs to support Practice content. Ari Remoundakis suggested, “Stay sharp.”
Frank Grießhammer and Miguel Sousa reviewed some writing and examples. David Demaree answered my Git questions, and he and Brent Getlin helped me figure out hosting. George Blazer set us up the domain. Ivan Bettger and Ben Trissel did research. Everyone provided constant feedback and encouragement, and in many cases realigned personal priorities to help us get Practice going. Every person on the Typekit team was part of this process — past and present (Typekit Practice is the manifestation of the “Learn” section of Typekit.com that we had always intended to make).
Thanks to current Typekit team leadership and Typekit founders Jeff Veen, Bryan Mason, Ryan Carver, and Greg Veen for incubating and vigorously defending the culture and instincts that yielded this project. Thanks to Adobe for trusting and fueling us.
Thanks to my teachers, especially George Laws and John Downer.
Thanks to my former colleagues at Vassar College, especially Ray Schwartz, Chris Silverman, and Donny Truong, with whom I continue to talk about web design best practices. Also Chris Coyier, whose writings at CSS-Tricks and 24ways were incredibly valuable to me.
Finally, thanks to my wife Eileen and my family. So very much. It’s easy to forget, or never notice, that concerted work efforts often mean preoccupied minds, extra chores, and built-up messes for the people who depend on us. I love that Eileen and I talk about our time and priorities. Her sacrifices are part of this site too, and will continue to be.
Typography has held my interest for over a decade, yet each day there are new things to appreciate, new challenges to be met, and new stories to be told. I’m so happy to have this time and place to share them with you.
Now let’s practice.
