Kyle Meyer

This Friday will be my last day at Big Cartel. I couldn’t...

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:12:35 -0500

This Friday will be my last day at Big Cartel. I couldn’t have asked for a more awesome time with even more awesome people. I’ll be joining the Facebook product design team next week.

Photo

Thu, 03 May 2012 20:40:22 -0500

Earlier last month I was fortunate enough to design the teaser...

Thu, 03 May 2012 20:37:00 -0500

Earlier last month I was fortunate enough to design the teaser site for Build 2012, which sold out in 1 hour 8 minutes. Yowch!

It was a lot of fun creating a somewhat story-based experience which would give visitors a taste of the week long design festival. Big thanks to Tim Boelaars for doing an amazing job on the icons we commissioned for each part of the event.

After months of work, we launched our new customization...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:24:00 -0500

After months of work, we launched our new customization interface today. Easy-peasy visual customization for your online Big Cartel store—along with a sexy new theme from Carl Decaire.

Kill the Blockbuster

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:16:00 -0500

The following was written by Matt Wigham, one of the co-founders of the company I work for, Big Cartel. It was initially written for a book—which was never published—on the topic of entrepreneurship. After speaking with Matt about it, I’d love to share it with you.

—

Let’s talk about movies for a moment. According to a recent article in GQ magazine, here’s what Hollywood has on tap for us this summer:

“Four adaptations of comic books. One prequel to an adaptation of a comic book. One sequel to a sequel to a movie based on a toy. One sequel to a sequel to a sequel to a movie based on an amusement-park ride. One prequel to a remake. Two sequels to cartoons. One sequel to a comedy. An adaptation of a children’s book. An adaptation of a Saturday-morning cartoon. One sequel with a 4 in the title. Two sequels with a 5 in the title. One sequel that, if it were inclined to use numbers, would have to have a 7 1/2 in the title.” (source)

Why does Hollywood continue to rehash the same formulaic ideas over and over again? Because that’s the safer bet. More people are likely to go see Transformers 19 than sit through an Oscar-winning dramatic film. Sure, a couple of these blockbuster movies are bound to be pretty good, but the bottom line is that it’s never been more difficult for filmmakers to get an original story made. It’s too risky. It doesn’t test well in focus groups. It’s not made for everyone.

Luckily there’s a talented group of independent filmmakers that will fight endlessly to get their films made, in the face of a system built against them. Of course, these films have small budgets, don’t have huge grosses or opening days, don’t always feature big names, and might not be suitable for all audiences, but without them we would be without some of the most important art of our lifetime.

Why do I bring this up? Because it’s happening in my industry too.

In the internet startup world, we have our own version of Hollywood – Silicon Valley. Just like Hollywood, Silicon Valley is investing heavily in finding the next big blockbuster. Unfortunately they also suffer from the mentality of repeatedly rehashing the same recycled ideas.

Every day on the tech blogs you read about the new social networking site that promises to be the next MyFace, and received 80 bazillion dollars of Series A funding, or the hot new iPhone app that is a mix of Twitter and Flickr that will change the way people eat and breathe. Entrepreneurs around the world are clamoring to come up with that next big sequel, and they’re racing to find venture capitalists and angel investors to back their blockbuster idea.

Unfortunately, just like Hollywood, this system is broken. Sure, a couple of these companies will be pretty good, but the majority will be as unoriginal, short-lived, and forgettable as Transformers 19. Is that what you want for your company? I hope not.

I’m here to invite you to join an independent movement.

I run a company called Big Cartel that helps bands, designers, crafters, and other artists sell their stuff online. I founded the company with a friend back in 2005 because I needed a way to sell my band’s merch online, and since I’d been making band websites for years, I figured I could build something better for my needs than the complicated e-commerce software that was available at the time.

We worked on the site on top of our day jobs, spending countless hours obsessing over design details, improving features and functionality, and helping our customers use our product. We did no marketing, and instead relied on the product being good enough for people to tell their friends about. Finally, after two years, the business was making enough money for the two of us to quit our jobs and work on Big Cartel full-time. It was a great feeling.

Over the last six years we’ve grown from just my band’s store to over 200,000 stores, and we’re doubling that every year. We’ve slowly built the company itself from the two founders to a twelve person company, using only the profits generated by the business. We’ve also been able to help our customers make a living doing what they love. Last year our stores generated over 100 million dollars of revenue, and we’ve seen a staggering amount of new brands and entrepreneurs bootstrap and hustle their way to success using our service.

Of course, we’re not talking about Facebook type of money, we’ll never get Twitter type of press, and we may seem boring compared to the glitz and glamour of the Silicon Valley celebrities, but what we have is even more valuable – freedom. Now, just like the independent filmmakers, we can build something with a heart and soul, that cares more about the art and culture of our craft than just doing what is most profitable.

The ironic part is, we never really set out to build a business, we just started doing something we loved and the money part took care of itself. In fact, since we have no investors or shareholders beyond my partner and I, we rarely even talk about money. Instead we’re able to focus all of our attention on whatever we want to do next. It’s incredibly liberating.

Now you may think we’re a fluke, or perhaps we just got lucky, but I don’t. Money is a natural byproduct of doing something valuable – so why not focus on doing something you love, that is valuable to you, and I think you’ll be surprised to see how valuable it is to others. Luckily we have it a lot easier than our filmmaking counterparts. We don’t need millions of dollars for sets, cameras, actors, editors, costumes, and the rest. All we need is an idea, some hard work, and a cheap server to get started.

I want to challenge you to forget about the Hollywood dream of huge rounds of funding and giant acquisitions, and instead focus on building something you’re proud of. I think you’ll find that the joy of doing something you love, and the freedom to control the vision to be uniquely yours, is worth much more.

Pixel Perfect Open Tracking and Alignment

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:20:00 -0600

I was reminded while working on the redesign of The Manual website this weekend that letter-spacing and text-align don’t play as pixel-perfect-nice as they should out of the box if you’re working with centered or right-aligned text.

The Issue

When you open up your tracking, the text will always push out to the left as letter-spacing is applied from the right. As a result, if you’re centering or aligning your type to the right, it will be a few pixels further to the left than it should be. If you’re just leaving it in standard left-alignment, you don’t need to do anything—browsers handle this situation just fine.

The Fix

Resolving this is simple, but easily overlooked.

If you’re centering your copy, just add padding on the left side which is equal to the value you assigned for letter-spacing. You may want to play with this +/− a pixel or two depending on the typeface and amount of letter-spacing used. Optical alignment will always trump whatever the computer renders in these situations, so use your best discretion.

If your text is right aligned, you will want to substitute a negative right margin for the left padding.

Example CSS

h1 {
font-size: 36px;
text-transform: uppercase;
text-align: center;
letter-spacing: 3px;
padding-left: 3px;
}

Boom, your OCD is satisfied.

The art of Karin Anna Henny Angstrom Ludwig. Artist...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:05:00 -0600

The art of Karin Anna Henny Angstrom Ludwig.

Artist statement:

My work touches on several issues, such as: the seduction of consumerism, the fetishisation of female commodities and the female body, fetishism, the restraints of the “beauty myth” (see The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf). I explore these issues by constructing my own visual ideas about them using my own body as well as glossy, golden latex fabric, documenting and further constructing them using photography and Photoshop. I have considered how the female body in itself is treated as a commodity in, for example, advertising and. The body used in those mediums is never an unrendered and natural body. It’s a body dependent on treatments, make-up, airbrushing, starvation, surgery and youth in order to even be present in these mediums. It is often presented as perfected isolated parts, stripped of its circumstances.

The department stores have also made an art out of these kinds of displays, creating seductive sagas and narratives around banal objects. The display dolls are often displayed, perfected and beautifully dressed, so that they are most often positioned above the women as they consume, made almost goddess-like, gazing down on us. I’m interested in this relationship, it seems almost like the doll has taken over the role of the “perfect woman”, yet the department stores are places where women are given a sense of control, where she can be the voyeur, she can be the one who desires and “looks at”.

Most creative people I speak with hold to getting most of their work done in short bursts of being...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:55:00 -0600

Most creative people I speak with hold to getting most of their work done in short bursts of being in a zone. Me too. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get myself into this mental state so I can have Awesome on Demand™

Activities which result in being more productive

See a movie for the first time which resonates with me
Take a week off from work
Sit somewhere with an amazing view
Be excited about the near completion of a great project
Find a new album which begs to be thrown on repeat (preferably bouncy)
Eat brunch
Have a drink with someone who makes me feel stupid (in a good way)
Drink way too much espresso

Basically, I’m just more able to get things done when I’m feeling happy.

Happiness = productivity.

Wilson Miner’s talk from Build 2011, When We Build.

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:09:27 -0600

Wilson Miner’s talk from Build 2011, When We Build.

Trailer for Wes Anderson’s upcoming Moonrise Kingdom.

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:15:00 -0600

Trailer for Wes Anderson’s upcoming Moonrise Kingdom.

Photo

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:59:23 -0600

Design is a Machine

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:24:00 -0600

I posted a quote from Sol LeWitt before—I love the way he sees art as a machine rather than something creative. It’s a mirrored way of thinking which will simultaneously humble and confuse you.

If you’re unfamiliar with the man, he typically does not create physical pieces of art that are then bought or sold. Rather, what is bought and sold is a simple set of instructions on a certificate that can be used to recreate the piece many times over. Ownership of the piece is implied by who owns the instructions in the same way that knowing the secret formula to Coca-Cola would allow you to create and consume it whenever you please. Knowledge is power—and free soda.

In some ways I wonder if design can be seen in the same light. After all, design is typically an applied process of problem solving for visual communication. If art, a true form of self-expression, can be a machine than surely design can.

There are formulaic approaches to visual problems that often yield a solid result or act as a foundation for commonly-defined creativity (grids, typographic scales, everything that is The International Style). My own work is so largely predicated on these approaches that I often feel that the term ‘creative’ is questionable for how I do what I do.

Everything is a Remix is a great video mini-series by Kirby Ferguson about what I like to think of as the “It’s All Been Done Before” line of thought. Whenever you read an interview with anyone remotely creative the question of inspiration pops up. It’s always the same answer: whatever is around them—their experiences. After all, many of us have a black box of design tricks that get us out of creative binds, built from the works of others and our past experiences. Sounds formulaic to me as well.

Many creative processes, especially if you went to a design school, involve multiple rounds of iteration. Break a larger problem into smaller pieces, figure out the variables, and make a dozen thumbnail sketches. Pick the best few and see if you can improve upon them. Survival of the fittest thought on pen and paper. Design evolution. Logical. Granted, if there is a spark of ingenuity, it usually occurs here. Darwin would be proud of your design mutation.

Is design as simple as everything you’ve experienced being digested, iterated upon, and spat back out on top of a foundation of principles? I’m not sure either, just thinking in writing.

2011

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:15:00 -0600

Last year was massive, and since I promised myself I’d be better about documenting things (and that I’d write more, but we all know how that goes), here’s a shameless quick recap:

I was lucky enough to visit Dublin, Belfast, New York City, Austin, Salt Lake City (3 times), San Francisco and Las Vegas—I’m hoping to continue to travel more in 2012. Flying is no fun, but seeing friends and new things is always worth the sacrifice.

Friends. I met a whole slew of new ones—too many to list for fear of leaving anyone out. It was wonderful seeing everyone at SXSW, Brooklyn Beta, Build, as well as David and Andria’s wedding. Great craic and hugs all around.

I was also fortunate to design a few sites for friends: Build 2011, Permanent Art & Design Group, 8 Faces, and an update for The Manual. I’m proud to have been able to contribute something to their new endeavors. There’s a rekindling feeling of entrepreneurialism from those close to me that is a lovely motivator for all sorts of things—or maybe that’s just jealousy. Well done.

A few of the aforementioned side projects were done on faster than sane timelines as a result of limited working hours (evenings and weekends). Balancing an obsession with trying to produce my best results in a condensed timeline can be an exercise in sleep deprivation and occasional alienation—not something I’m proud of. Establishing a more realistic and less stressful plan for future projects is something I want to work on.

Thankfully I’ve spent my days working for Big Cartel with a super-talented team and founders who truly care about work/life balance as well as creating a product of quality. 2011 was a great year for Big Cartel and I can’t wait to show off what we have planned for this one.

Lastly, I made a big move to San Francisco from Minneapolis in mid-November. I’m still working on settling in and have made a commitment to explore new cities and living situations thanks to my current flexibility. It’s always tough to leave behind a city where you’ve stayed for the better part of a decade, but life is short, there’s lots to do, and I’m tired of snow. Fuck snow.

My favorite album of 2011. More here →

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:28:00 -0600

My favorite album of 2011. More here →

My new music mix on the awesome Designers.MX just went live,...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:41:00 -0500

My new music mix on the awesome Designers.MX just went live, give it a listen →

"In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses..."

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:13:40 -0500

“In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. This kind of art is not theoretical or illustrative of theories; it is intuitive, it is involved with all types of mental processes and it is purposeless. It is usually free from the dependence on the skill of the artist as a craftsman.”

- Artist Sol Lewitt on conceptual art.

"Each morning begins with a 10 a.m. breakfast at Kanye’s Diamondhead residence. Pusha, Tip, RZA,..."

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:57:00 -0500

“Each morning begins with a 10 a.m. breakfast at Kanye’s Diamondhead residence. Pusha, Tip, RZA, Cudi, Cons, and Kanye’s crew slowly assemble to enjoy the absurdly tasty cooking of Kanye’s in-house chefs. If you’re smart, you order the French toast with the flambéed banana. An hour later, Kanye pulls up in his Porsche Panamera, fresh from the studio. That’s right, from the studio. During my five days in Hawaii, Kanye never slept at his house, or even in a bed. He would, er, power-nap in a studio chair or couch here and there in 90-minute intervals, working through the night. Engineers remained behind the boards 24 hours a day.”

- Noah Callahan-Bever from his experiences at Kanye West’s recording studio during the production of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Fuck yeah passion.

"What is deceptive, especially in the West, is our assumption that repetitive and mindless jobs are..."

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:30:00 -0500

“

What is deceptive, especially in the West, is our assumption that repetitive and mindless jobs are dehumanizing. On the other hand, the jobs that require us to use the abilities that are uniquely human, we assume to be humanizing. This is not necessarily true. The determining factor is not so much the nature of our jobs, but for whom they serve.

‘Burnout’ is a result of consuming yourself for something other than yourself. You could be burnt out for an abstract concept, ideal, or even nothing (predicament). You end up burning yourself as fuel for something or someone else. This is what feels dehumanizing. In repetitive physical jobs, you could burn out your body for something other than yourself. In creative jobs, you could burn out your soul. Either way, it would be dehumanizing. Completely mindless jobs and incessantly mindful jobs could both be harmful to us.

”

- Dsyke Suematsu from his white paper discussed at Why Ad People Burn Out.

The art of Martin Pfeifle.

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:35:01 -0500

The art of Martin Pfeifle.

Hello Tumblr

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 23:14:00 -0500

I’m excited to have spent a few evenings on this personal project over the last few days. It’s been a long time since I’ve sat down and made something only for fun—and creating a Tumblr has been on the perpetual to-do list.

The theme isn’t completely finished—projects like this languish in a state of forever-not-quite-done unless they’re pushed out into the wild—so I’ll be tweaking the design as we go along. The portfolio is woefully outdated to boot, watch for a design update there as well.