386: Designing with Grid Systems

386: Designing with Grid Systems

Author: Brian Lovin, Marshall Bock February 24, 2021 Duration: 24:52

This week, we talk about designing with grid systems. In particular: when grid systems break, and what to do when they don’t align with our hardware screens perfectly. In The Sidebar, we talk all about design debt: how to work with it, pay it down, and eventually learn to accept it.


Golden Ratio Supporter:

A huge shoutout to Copilot, the best app for budgeting and tracking your personal finances. It’s our favorite tool for categorizing our spending, having our net worth available at a glance, and getting monthly (and yearly!) digests of all your spending.

Get the app at copilot.money.

Latest VIP Patrons:

  • Leigh LaMon
  • Edyta Niemyjska
  • Jaime
  • Brandon Hills
  • Jonathan De Wet
  • Guilherme Kaiser
  • Lillian Lin
  • Aris Acoba
  • Kyle Stuart
  • Hugo Tunius
  • Kish Patel
  • Michael Otto
  • Denis Zastanceanu
  • Kelvin O'Shea
  • Scott Underwood
  • Lachlan Campbell
  • Lucas VanGombos
  • Sam xia
  • Ravi Aujla
  • Brian Nelson

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to full episodes going forward! Sign up at https://patreon.com/designdetails.

In this week's Sidebar, we answer a listener question that can be ultimately paraphrased as: How do you deal with design debt?


Main Topic:

Joey Jungle asks on GitHub: Designing with grid systems? – and continues with many words asking why grid systems are often unintuitive, and don’t align neatly with our hardware screens. Great question!


Cool Things:

  • Brian shared the iA Quattro typeface, one of three beautiful (and free, open source!) typefaces from the iA team. It seems to be striking a happy middle ground between a sans and a mono, making it useful for adding a computer-y tone to an interface while staying readable.
  • Marshall shared Little Nightmares II, a beautiful (and scary) indie side-scroller. It looks gorgeous, and the sound design is incredible.

Design Details on the Web:


Byeee!


Every week, Brian Lovin and Marshall Bock settle in for a thoughtful, often meandering chat that pulls back the curtain on how things are made. Their Design Details podcast lives in the rich space where technology and the arts intersect, focusing less on polished case studies and more on the real, sometimes messy, work of design. You’ll hear them dissect the nuances of product decisions, debate the evolving culture of creative teams, and share personal stories from their own experiences in the industry. It feels less like a lecture and more like eavesdropping on a conversation between two deeply knowledgeable friends. The discussions regularly venture into the philosophical side of craft, examining why certain choices resonate and how design shapes our daily interactions with the world. For anyone curious about the thinking behind the pixels and interfaces, this show offers a consistent, grounded perspective. Tuning in provides a sense of community and a candid look at the process, making it a staple for designers and creators who appreciate substance over flash.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Design Details
Podcast Episodes
454: Is UI Design Actually That Important? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:48
This week, we answer a crucial question: is UI design actually that important? Our answer may shock you 🫢The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1…
453: Building a Type Stack [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:25
This week, we discuss strategies for building an excellent type stack in your designs.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for acce…
452: Design Trends for 2023 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:51
This week, we discuss current visual design trends and how the web will look in 2023.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for acces…
451: The Whole Twitter Thing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:49
This week, we talk about the whole Twitter thing, and how we'd handle the verified badge design debacle.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1…
450: Designing Hefty Interfaces [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:18
This week, we talk about what gives software the feeling of heft and the effect of that feeling on how customers perceive the value of a tool.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon support…
449: Google Pixel 7 Event [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:54
This week, we recap Google's Pixel 7 Event and dig into our favorite design details of the new Pixel phone, tablet, and watch.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can sub…
448: News Desk, Vol. 5 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:03
This week, we break down new Figma features, dissect the Live Activities HIG, and share our cool-takes on the Adobe + Figma acquisition.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. Y…
447: Stranded on Dynamic Island [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:46
This week, we share our hot takes and first impressions of the new Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 p…
446: Grab Bag, Vol. 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:44
This week, we share our preferred naming convention for design files and react to the new Gmail redesign.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1…
445: Designing the Perfect Desk [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:27
This week, we talk about a surprising new "smart desk" being shared online, and we talk about what our dream desk would look like. In the Sidebar, Marshall shares his tips and tricks for keeping his Figma files squeaky c…