the details
Here are the resources and tools used to create this website, accompanied by some thoughts on why we use them and mostly love them.
Typography
In order to remain consistent on as many platforms as possible, we use Source Sans Pro, Source Serif Pro, and occasionally Source Code Pro. They are robust in their variety of weights, clean and easy to read at small sizes, elegant and professional at larger sizes, while remaining modern and timeless.
Panobook
I still find I explore ideas best with pencil and paper. I will no doubt be poorly sketching out my random thoughts on how to approach what I want to create on Tuesday. Several years ago I bought my first Panobook (by StuioNeat), and I’ve stopped using Moleskines and all other notebooks all together. They fit perfect along side my keyboard, wonderful integrated and subtle grid with hash lines, and beautifully packaged. You should get one or three.
Whimsical
Work smarter, not harder is a terrible cliché that is completely true and I wish there was a better way to say it. For decades I custom created wireframes and site maps and user flows. Hell, back in 2008 or so I create a website called Web Without Words which was an early precursor of many tools we use today (may she rest in peace) for wireframing. But rather than spend lots of time on something clients quite often either didn’t value or didn’t want (which does not mean you shouldn’t do it, if nothing else they are invaluable to internal processes regardless of the tepid responses from clients and stakeholders), I started to use Whimsical. It has a great blend of simplicity and feature sets that allow me to explore ideas, understanding problems, collaborate on processes, and blah blah blah. I even used it to tried and understand what was happening in the German TV series Dark. It did not work. It’s inexpensive and immensely useful, check it out. I will likely skip any wireframing or user flow exploration.
Figma
So boring. But yes, I like almost everyone else who design websites or digital products, I use Figma — sometimes I even create brands with it. it is natively in the cloud (meaning it has some built in version control, though I wish more robust like Abstract with branching and deploying), has prototyping tools (making InVision unnecessary. Sorry InVision, it’s true), and create collaboration and sharing capabilities (goodbye Sketch and for the 13 people still using AdobeXD). You get it. I don’t know how much I will be designing within Figma on Tuesday, but there’s a 86% chance I will.
Webflow
One of the big reasons I feel I can create a fairly expansive and effective website isn’t just because I’ve been doing this for over 25 years (though that is a huge factor), it’s because I am able to use tools which greatly increase my efficiency and ability to create things. The website is built in and hosted through Webflow. I was incredibly skeptical of “no-code” tools (such as Wix and SquareSpace) because they all lacked the ability to build whatever I wanted without compromises. When I experimented with Webflow by building LAIM, I became quickly enamored with the possibilities. And that has yet to subside. AND NO, I am not at all in anyway affiliated with or paid by Webflow. I just truly think it is a game changer. Is it the perfect tool of everything? Of course not, there are several things I wish it did (like allow calc() functions, alllowed for simple user-submitted CMS additions without the need for Publishing, added some user-based access controls within the CMS, etc), but it’s pretty fantastic.

Rules

There aren’t a lot of rules that I will be following, but I think there ought to be a few that I adhere to in order to create some context and insight into the process you — for whatever reason, I mean no judgement, I thought this was a good idea, so — are going to be watching.
I realize these are barely rules, but I thought it was important to show some semblance of order and planning to all this.
1
The “event” (I still don’t know what to call this?) will begin sometime in the morning on Tuesday May 24th 2022, on Eastern Standard Time. Or is it Eastern Daylight Time? Who cares. Anyway. I will likely post a quick update after I wake up and do some morning chores. Then I take my son to school, play Wordle and Spelling Bee, drink coffee, and go to the bathroom (I want to be unimpeded). So around 7:30-8am one can expect to see things begin.
2
I will do my very best to publish, regardless of my progress or lack thereof, every 10 minutes. That feels like enough time to make some progress as well as provide enough activity to make any of this worthwhile.
3
I will create a status update on the Diary page, whether that includes an image of some sketches I’ve made, insights about what I’m attempting to capture or create in a design, or just random thoughts that pop into my head at the moment I’m writing. Since I have just one day to do this, my writing will be unsparingly weird. I make no apologies.
4
If anyone wishes to send me thoughts or feedback, the best place to do so is on Twitter. Just reply to this Tweet.
5
Add the hashtag #livedesign so the one or two people watching can follow along easily, that sounds like something a savvy social media person would tell me to do despite hating it to the very core of my dusty heart.
6
I’ve also done my best to make this current design that you are seeing right now as minimal as possible. I’ve attempted to code it in ways that should not provide any significant advantages to what I will be creating (i.e., I used some really weird class names or just generic styling for text which are easy to update and revise).