A few months back, Airbnb released its design-focused blog, teasing brief inside looks at the thought process behind the latest incarnation of its app. These design-oriented articles are very thorough, and the whole idea so far can be tl;dr’d by saying: "We needed a design system, so we built one." We told you about Pattern Libraries and Style Guides being pretty cool, remember?
Lead designer Karri Saarinen goes through the process detailing concepts, terminologies, components, whys and wherefores and of course, tasty screenshots and tech information. Airbnb's use of Git and Sketch for version-control sounds especially delicious, and we’d definitely love to set up something similar within the design team. Of course, a system such as this will never go unscathed not only because of the magnitude it can achieve as the app evolves, but also because of software updates or changes – for instance, Karri talks about some issues his team faced with Symbols in Sketch in the past. All in all, this is a great read and an excellent source of inspiration coming from one of the most forward-thinking startups out there. And if you need more, Karri himself held an AMA on Designer News a few days ago, so check it out as well.
OTHER DESIGN-RELEVANT NEWS
FAHRENHEIT 451 AND REIMAGINING VISUAL STORYTELLING
A small agency going by the name of Lifeblood released a concept that displays how it would like to take visual storytelling one step further for the web, using parallax effects, subtle transitions, moody artwork, and excerpts from Ray Bradbury’s classic novel Fahrenheit 451. We are wondering, though, if Lifeblood's experiment evokes the feel of the novel successfully?
MORE VISUAL STORYTELLING, NOW IN THE SHAPE OF A 123-METER POSTER
You might have heard about that guy who adapted the whole Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope into an infographic. If not, well, uh. Here's the deal: A guy adapted the whole Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope into an infographic. One of his main motivations in undertaking this task was, seemingly, society's stunted attention span; we’re too used to getting information in small dosages. This poster is a very good rebuttal to that.
TUNNEL RATS - YET ANOTHER APPROACH AT VISUAL STORYTELLING
Naturally, Lifeblood was not the first to challenge digital storytelling conventions. And probably the guys behind the seemingly short-lived Frames Collection weren’t either, but this short tale from 2013 is a fine example of using web design as a means for storytelling. And yes, Tunnel Rats is even darker and moodier than Lifeblood's experiment.
TOONHOLE - AN EXAMPLE OF THE QUINTESSENTIAL MEDIUM FOR VISUAL STORYTELLING
…meaning a webcomic. Ryan Kramer is a storyboard artist working at Cartoon Network, involved in shows such as Uncle Grandpa. Additionally, he has this side project called Toonhole, a regularly updated webcomic packed with a solid art direction, irreverent black humor and a knack for poking fun at the mundanities of daily life.
SO, WE WENT ON THE INTERNET AND FOUND...
Comixology goes unlimited – And on the subject of stories, Amazon’s Comixology has unveiled a new payment plan. Sign up and read classic graphic novel series such as Sandman, Transmetropolitan, Fables and Preacher!
Hemingboard makes it to OSX – Spice up your writing skills with some sweet synonyms, puns and rhymes right from your desktop!
Highly Reco – Maybe you have wondered what do some of the cool kids on the Internet read and recommend. Highly Reco helps you answer that!
