May 2013
3 posts
4 tags
Zoobean Is Hiring a Lead Developer
Zoobean is looking for a full-stack web developer!
Zoobean (zoobean.com) is a Ruby on Rails web application for children’s books built by Bearded (bearded.com).
Zoobean makes it easy to find remarkable children’s educational products, starting with books, that have been recommended and curated by parents. Books on Zoobean are catalogued by recommended age, relevant topics, characters’...
2 tags
Zoobean Is Live!
by Matt Griffin
OMG, y’all, Zoobean is live!
We’ve been working on this project for some time here at Bearded, and man are we psyched to finally show it off. Zoobean is a unique new site for children’s books. It has a special filter system that lets you find the right books for children based on things like age, topics (like bullying or holidays), or character background (like...
From the Trenches: Breakpoint - easy media queries...
by Patrick Fulton
tl;dr: We now use nesting and a Compass extension to manage our media queries.
Several months ago, we started experimenting with an excellent Compass extension called Breakpoint. Breakpoint lets you create variables for your most commonly used media queries, and then it handles all of the heavy lifting for you.
Previously, we had been managing our media queries in Compass by...
April 2013
2 posts
Meet the Neighbors: Bearded | The Beauty Shoppe →
You can watch a nifty little video of Matt Griffin talking about Bearded’s approach to responsive web design process and working with clients on a website we built (whoa, meta!). It’s short, and Matt’s hair will never look that immaculate again – check it out!
RWD Summit
by Matt Griffin
I’m going to to be speaking about responsive web design and client process at RWD Summit this week. RWD Summit is an online web conference, so you can do experience the whole thing right from your desk!
The conference chock full of great speakers like Dave Olsen, Trent Walton, Dan Mall, Sara Wachter Boettcher, Tim Brown, Ben Callahan, Jen Simmons, Dave Rupert, and more!
...
March 2013
1 post
4 tags
Lou Ferrigno Gives His Body 110%, Should You?
by Matt Griffin
The other day, Patrick and I were discussing approaches to setting the base font size of our websites. When we use relative measurements like ems, you see, that relative measure has to come from somewhere. Historically we’d do that by setting the font-size of the element. There have been several approaches over the years, and perhaps most recently the Filament Group made a...
February 2013
3 posts
3 tags
Pittsburgh Glass Center
by Matt Griffin
We just launched the new Pittsburgh Glass Center website, and boy are we excited! We began the planning and research for the project back in June, and now all those ideas and months tapping away at our keyboards have coalesced into a live, functioning piece of the multi-device web. It never ceases to amaze me.
The new Glass Center site has loads of great functionality (which you...
Bearded Work at Indiana University
Recently we were fortunate enough to have a bunch of Bearded work on display at the Grunwald Gallery at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
On display were our responsive websites for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, American Association for Homecare, and Bearded – as well as letterpress posters for Wood Type Revival.
Check out some of the lovely images, below.
WTR Cosmopolitan Is Here!
woodtyperevival:
Our latest WTR font, Cosmopolitan, is here! Go get it now at the Wood Type Revival store!
Not only that, but Cosmopolitan is also available on Typekit for all your web font needs!
Cosmopolitan is a script face that knows how to hold its own. Big and bold, but not afraid of a flourish, it’s the typographic equivalent of getting old gramps to whittle you a doily with his...
January 2013
5 posts
Matt Griffin at Artifact Conference →
Bearded’s Matt Griffin will be speaking at Artifact Conference in May!
ARTIFACT is a two-day, single-track conference for DESIGNERS adapting to the challenge of designing for a MULTI-DEVICE world.
3 tags
Slide Rules
by Matt Griffin
I hereby declare this week The Week of The Slider! After seeing Erik Runyon’s very helpful (if not surprising) post about slider interaction statistics and Brad Frost’s fervently thoughtful post about the feature we love to hate, I’ve decided to dredge up my almost-finished-never-published post about same said feature. However, rather than discussing user interaction and...
Wood Type Revival: WTR Borders and Ornaments... →
woodtyperevival:
Go check out the latest Wood Type Revival release: Borders and Ornaments! Loads of fun decorative elements drawn from original wood type from the WTR collection. Just like all WTR fonts, it’s only $15. And if you were one of our wonderful Kickstarter bakers and still have credits – it’s a…
2 tags
Bearded Work at the Grunwald Gallery, Bloomington,... →
Indiana University is showing work representing all the departments in the School of Art, and Graphic Design is being represented by BFA alum and Bearded founder Matt Griffin.
On display will be letterpress and web work involving the talents of past and current Beardeds: Brett Bender, Matt Braun, Dominic Dagradi, Mark Frey, Patrick Fulton, Matt Griffin, and Michael Hellein.
If you’re in...
2 tags
Matt Griffin Interviewed for Responsive Design... →
Since December, Responsive Design Weekly has been interviewing people at the forefront of the RWD movement and publishing their answers to the same four questions. This week Bearded’s own Matt Griffin shares the stage with Ben Callahan.
December 2012
1 post
Work for $ Design for ♥ →
by Matt Griffin
A nice excerpt from David Airey’s new book Work For Money, Design For Love on AIGA’s website talks about how and why Matt Braun and I created Wood Type Revival.
November 2012
2 posts
Living in Interesting Times
by Matt Griffin
2012 is almost over, but in Beard Years, we’ve already hit our big annual milestone. On 11.11.12, Bearded turned four years old. A not insignificant moment, for what began as two guys in their homes with an iMac and a pink laptop. For Bearded, 2012 has been clearly marked by change. Over the course of the last year, we switched our primary development platform from Drupal to Ruby...
Web Developers, Inquire Within
Note: This position has been filled. Thanks to all who applied!
In a rare alignment of the Internet Planets, Bearded is hiring a web developer! Here’s what interested parties need to know:
Us
We are a small, collaborative group of designers and developers who are working to build the device-agnostic web of the future. We ♥ the Internets like crazy, and are constantly looking to better our...
October 2012
4 posts
Bearded's Matt Griffin Interviewed On the... →
2 tags
Responsive Comping on A List Apart
by Matt Griffin
My new article, Responsive Comping: Obtaining Signoff with Mockups, is now live on A List Apart. In it I take a detailed look at Bearded’s browser/code-based approach to designing responsive websites – something that’s been very much on our minds for the last 6 months. I hope it’s helpful to you.
I am once again grateful to Jeffrey Zeldman and the entire ALA...
4 tags
The Thing About Those Media Types
by Matt Griffin and Ben Callahan
After my last blog post about vertical media queries, I received an intriguing tweet from Sparkbox’s Ben Callahan. He asked: “Curious, why do you use ‘only screen and…’ by default?” When someone like Ben asks you a question like that, you may quickly realize that you do not have a great answer prepared. A few weeks later and we were digging into the implications...
French Octagon Is Here!
woodtyperevival:
Our new typeface release, French Octagon is now available on the Wood Type Revival store!
Thanks to Evan Stremke for the awesome slide designs this time around.
As usual, it’s available on Typekit for all your website needs!
Keep on pressing on,
Matt & Matt
September 2012
3 posts
2 tags
What's Your Vertical?
by Matt Griffin
You know that thing where you think of the same solution twice in one week to two different problems? Well for me that’s a huge, screaming klaxon that it’s time for a blog post. Earlier this week, Anna Debenham had a terrific article on A List Apart about websites on gaming consoles. One of the issues she brought up had to do with responsive layouts on portable gaming systems....
Designing Is Coding Is Designing →
by Matt Griffin
I’ll be presenting at Refresh Pittsburgh on Monday evening. I’ll be talking about Bearded’s current browser/code-based responsive web design process. Come on out, should be a blast!
–MG
3 tags
2009's Web of the Future
by Matt Griffin
The following is a description I wrote for a web design course proposal I was creating for Carnegie Mellon University back in November, 2009. I got too busy, and never actually submitted it (I didn’t even get beyond this description). Nevertheless, I’ll stand behind the assertions it makes, and think it’s largely still relevant today.
When I first caught wind of...
August 2012
1 post
4 tags
Making It Look Easy
by Matt Griffin
Sometimes when I see design work that I like, my response is “wow – that looks like it took a lot of work.” I am impressed in a very serious way with work like this. I appreciate the dedication and craft of the people responsible. I probably even feel a tinge of jealousy or envy. It can be hard not to, in the face of great talent. After a time, I sometimes question my reaction to...
July 2012
3 posts
TypeCon 2012
Matt Griffin of Bearded and Wood Type Revival will be on a panel at TypeCon this weekend discussing Kickstarter’s role in starting WTR. Heads up, Milwaukee folks!
And if you’re at the event, please do say hello with Twitter.
3 tags
Build Responsively
by Matt Griffin
I’ll be on a panel at the Pittsburgh Build Responsively workshop in August, where there will be much learning to be had about building responsive websites. Excited to meet Ben Callahan of Spark Box and talk more with friends and fellow panelists Jay Fanelli and Brad Frost.
Get your tickets while they’re still available!
-MG
Improvising in the Boardroom
by Matt Griffin
My latest article, Improvising in the Boardroom, was just published by A List Apart. It would be an understatement to say I’m thrilled.
I’ve always held A List Apart in the highest esteem – the information they curate is invaluable to the success and progress of the web design world. It’s an honor to be acknowledged by them, even in this small way.
Many thanks...
June 2012
1 post
Children's Museum Gets Responsive
by Matt Griffin
At some point in the last five years you may have visited the website for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. If you had visited on your smart phone or iPad, you’d have been greeted with Flash menus that rendered the site inoperable.
A couple of weeks ago, we quietly launched their new site. It’s a flexible, responsive layout that adapts to the size of your...
May 2012
1 post
Fewer Is More
by Matt Griffin
At Bearded we believe in fewer options. For logos, no more than three. For websites? Just one.
Most of the time clients don’t flinch at this. But sometimes they have questions or reservations. They may wonder if one option will be enough to arrive at the right solution. Sometimes they feel uncomfortable with the idea of not having a choice. More choices, they may think, mean a...
April 2012
3 posts
Mocking Up Is Hard To Do
by Matt Griffin
Recently at Bearded we made a pretty drastic decision in terms of our web design process: we’re not creating mock-ups anymore.
That is to say: we’re not creating flat, Photoshop/Illustrator-produced mock-ups of websites, which we present to clients as JPGs or PNGs. And that’s because we’re not designing in those programs anymore.
The more time...
AIGA Portfolio Day →
by Matt Griffin
I’ll be doing portfolio reviews and will be part of the panel discussion at this year’s AIGA Portfolio Day. Friday, April 13, 2012
-MG
Wood Type Revival Shirts Back In Stock!
woodtyperevival:
Go get ‘em while they last!
http://www.unitedpixelworkers.com/products/wood-type-revival
March 2012
3 posts
Don't Go It Alone: Collaborative Web Design
by Matt Griffin
My article on collaborative web design and how it benefits designers, developers, and clients is live on .net magazine.
Please take a gander.
-Matt Griffin
“.net is the world’s best-selling magazine for web designers and developers, featuring tutorials from leading agencies, interviews with the web’s biggest names, and agenda-setting features on the hottest issues...
Grecian Light Face
woodtyperevival:
Our latest font, Grecian Light Face, is live!
And check out the beautiful slides designed by Trent Walton.
Now go download that thing!
Bearded.com Featured on Spyre Studios →
Nice to have Bearded’s website featured on Spyre Studios’ “24 Outstanding Design Agency Portfolio Layouts.”
February 2012
4 posts
4 tags
The Medium is the Message
by Matt Griffin
A hot topic of debate in recent months has revolved around the question “should designers know how to code?” Folks in the web design community have come down on either side rather passionately with responses ranging from “who cares, good design thinking can solve any problem” to “if you don’t how to code, get out of my face.” The flurry of responses on the Interwebs is not...
Free WTR Font w/ T-shirt purchase!
woodtyperevival:
You heard correctly! Everyone that places a Wood Type Revival t-shirt order at United Pixel Workers will receive a free font of their choice at woodtyperevival.com!
Spread the word – shirts on sale until February 10!
Everyone that places a shirt order before the deadline will receive an email with details on how to get their free font after February 10. Limit 1 free font per...
Take a Break
by Matt Griffin
Breaks are important. At Bearded, we’re often tackling several big, complicated problems at a time. And it can be hard to keep your head straight, and clear your cognitive buffer before moving on to a new task.
What you need, in other words, is a mental sorbet, and taking 5 minutes for yourself won’t ever blow a deadline. In fact, it’ll probably make you more...
LISC iPad App Wins at HOW Interactive
The iPad application we designed and developed for LISC was chosen as a winner in the 14th Annual HOW Interactive Design Awards!
January 2012
2 posts
You Should Work At Bearded
Bearded Is Hiring an Interaction Designer / Front-end Developer
Bearded is a web design and development agency. We’re a small group of web experts focused on inter-disciplinary collaboration as a means to create great websites and applications. Because we’re a small team working on complex projects, our duties frequently overlap, and the ability to work well with others is essential.
Bearded is...
Wood Type Revival T-shirts →
Go order your WTR t-shirts over at United Pixel Workers!
Eligible Kickstarter backers will get their free shirts once they’re printed.
December 2011
3 posts
Wood Type Revival Holiday Sale! →
woodtyperevival:
We’re taking 33% off all font orders from right now until the end of the year! That means all fonts will be $10 each instead of $15.
During checkout, just use the code HOLIDAYWOODTYPE2011
Go ahead and get the designer you love the gift of digital wood type font-ery. Yay!
No limits, buy all the fonts you want through December 31.
Happy Holidays,
Wood Type Revival
Happy Holidays!
Happy holidays to all our friends on the Internets from the Beardeds!
XOXO,
Dominic, Matt G., Lauren, Brett, Michael, and Matt B.
November 2011
5 posts
11.11.11: 3 Years of Bearded
by Matt Griffin
Wow. Three years.
Yes sir, three years ago today, we started a little thing called Bearded. We were just two guys working out of our homes with a dream of helping make a better Internet, and I feel quite confident now that we’re well on our way.
This year was a pretty momentous one for us Beardeds. So much so that it will be difficult to condense it to the highlights. But...
Bearded Goes Responsive
by Matt Griffin
To celebrate our third anniversary, Bearded just launched a new website! It’s a great new site design (owing much to the hard work of Bearded designer Matt Braun). But just as interesting as the new visual approach is our approach to building the site.
Responsive web design (a term coined by Ethan Marcotte in his book of the same title) is an approach that allows a...
We ♥ Letterpress Exhibition
woodtyperevival:
Hey #letterpress fans! Check out this letterpress exhibition project on Kickstarter from We ♥ Letterpress: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/weloveletterpress/we-letterpress-your-exhibition
