2019-05-01+net

Welcome

EDITOR’S NOTE

FEATURED AUTHORS

WELCOME

Compared to other creative industries, web

design is a chimera. Neither one thing or

the other, it sits halfway between mathematical,

scientific rigour and intuitive, aesthetic creativity.

That’s why I think one of the most important

qualities a designer or developer can have is

flexibility – having tools that adapt to the task at

hand means you can tackle problems as they arise.

This is what makes variable fonts such an

exciting technology. Rather than having to package

umpteen different fonts just to produce a formulaic

site, they’re enabling designers to produce radical

typographic sites – all while shipping less code. And

if this has whet your appetite, Mandy Michael is on

hand this issue to show how you can use variable

fonts to maximise creativity and minimise code.

But they aren’t the only tool offering the best of

both worlds. We’re also joined by Google’s Conor

McGann, who’s exploring how you can combine the

benefits of AMP and PWAs to create sites that load

fast and offer rich experiences. And if you’re looking

to add more flexible strings to your bow, don’t forget

to grab your tickets for Generate New York, running

from 24 – 25 April. With expert speakers such as Josh

Clark, Sam Richard and Sophia Prater, tickets are

selling fast so grab yours soon (generateconf.com).

MANDY

MICHAEL

Michael is a development manager
and front-end developer with a
passion for creative design. Bringing
this to bear, on page 60 she reveals
how variable fonts can produce
lighter, more innovative sites.
t: @mandy_kerr

CONOR

MCGANN

McGann is a shopping and mobile

specialist at Google and has worked

with retail clients, digital agencies

and startups. On page 68, he shows

you how to bring together the

awesome power of AMP and PWAs

t: @instamcgann

RICHARD

MATTKA

Mattka is an award-winning creative

director, designer and developer. On

page 76, he shares this expertise

in his guide on creating custom 3D

geometry in Three.js.

w: richardmattka.com

t: @synergyseeker

FRANCESCA

CUDA

Cuda is technology director at ustwo

and has held engineering roles for

over 10 years. On page 88, she gets

her maths on, showing you how to

use vectors and matrices to perform

CSS transformations.

w: ustwo.com