Blog
Notes on the craft of UI and design systems.
Design systems that scale: the case for composability
Composability is essential for UI systems at any scale, but often misunderstood. Here's how to make it the foundation of your design system.
UI components as Lego: an analogy too far, or not far enough?
A box of UI bricks only gets you so far. What happens when product teams need parts that don't exist? Time to examine the Lego analogy more closely.
Start with a slice: 7 steps to get your new design system moving
Design system projects often stall because teams start too broadly to make progress. Here's how to pick a narrow slice that shows value in weeks, not months.
Continuums as a tool for understanding
Complex problems rarely have tidy answers. The continuum is a powerful tool to shift from grasping for quick fixes to finding a considered, effective approach.
In praise of opportunity roadmaps
How do you avoid your roadmap becoming an organisational wish list, with concrete deadlines and complex interdependencies? The key is evolution, not prediction.
The value of the client engagement check-in
Regular client check-ins keep projects on track, build trust, and surface issues early. Here’s how we run them — and why they’re worth the time.
Problems with font distribution, and why versioning matters
When we rebuilt the Measured site, we didn’t expect fonts to be a problem. But meeting our requirements while keeping file sizes down became a bit of a mission.
The power of saying it three times
We’ve found that when communicating a complex idea, it helps to say it three times to make sure it takes hold.
Why we use Kanban — not Scrum
The right thing at the right time in the right way: When it comes to agile, we favour the flexibility of Kanban over the rituals of Scrum. Here’s why.
Creating a new visual identity for Measured
When you work in UI and branding, your own shop window should reflect your expertise. Here’s how we upgraded our visual identity to show what we’re about.
Understanding the trade-offs of using Tailwind CSS
Tailwind helps you build web pages quickly with a utility-first approach — but is it right for your project? Here we explore its benefits and trade-offs.
We’ll be back for State of the Browser 2025
We’ll be returning to State of the Browser in London at the end of March. We’ll be around all day to talk about UI and branding. We’d love to see you there.
12 tips to make project handovers a success
Project handovers are always tricky. They’re as much about people as they are processes. Here’s what we’ve learned over the years, distilled into 12 tips.
Why design systems fail
Disaster is rare, but design systems often fail to meet the needs of the teams they’re meant to help. Here are 11 reasons why, and what to do to address them.
Let’s talk design systems at Converge this October
We’re going to the 2024 Converge design systems conference on October 3 and 4 to chat about all things UI. There’s a great speaker line-up. We hope to see you there!
Don’t build a design system — build what you actually need
Design system means different things to different people. Avoid the risk of misunderstanding by starting out from the problems your organisation wants to solve.
Scott’s Law of Rebrands
Rebrands landing during a large web project cause disruption, but they can be a benefit when approached the right way.
How to do great live demos — and why they’re important to get right
Live demos are a great way to share progress and the best way to get feedback quickly. So it’s important to do them well. Here’s how.
Why we’re called Measured
Names are hard. We thought a lot about ours. We thought we’d share our thinking in case it helps people understand us better.
Let’s catch up at this year’s State of the Browser
We’ll be going along to State of the Browser in London in September 2024.
Accessible syntax highlighting colour schemes for developers
Why we designed and released two base-16 colour schemes for publishing code on the web.