Robin Rendle
Robin Rendle
Robin Rendle
I’m Robin, a British designer, writer, and typographic nuisance from San Francisco. Today I’m a designer at Apple although previously I’ve made software at Retool, Sentry, and Gusto as well as for clients like Buttondown and XOXO.
Latest Posts
Okay, so we’re moving the ol’ site from Eleventy to Astro. I think what finally convinced me to make the switch was, of all things, gulp. gulp is an important tool to automate stuff like image optimization, JavaScript minification, and...
So I don’t know bash. But why do I need to learn it to, say, grab all the files in a folder and prepend some text to the beginning? Why if I want to do anything with files or text or manipulate any file into another kind of file I always...
The most important thing about any website is the measure. Okay, so that’s a lie. It’s not the most important thing but it most certainly is a thing. The measure is the fancy typesetting word for the width of a paragraph. Ah!—that...
Because of, you know—the omens—I’ve started working on a new design again. I’m not entirely sure what version I’m up to at this point but it doesn’t really matter. With each iteration of this website I feel like I’m getting closer to...
It starts with the jaw; wires taught, grinding teeth, clenched muscles running up and down each cheek. I catch myself biting my lower lip and pulling funny faces in an effort to release the tension. But where is all this stress coming...
I just finished reading Marcia Bjornerud’s Timefulness this morning. Marcia writes about Deep Time of the past— mountain formation and the Cambrian explosion—and Deep Time of the future—the disappearance of the Atlantic ocean and the...
Sloan explains why his newsletter is just a link to a post on his website: My enthusiasm for the approach is related to my enthusiasm for the potential of the web page circa 2021. Typography, layout, inline interaction… a bunch of things...
For the newsletter last week I jotted down some quick thoughts about Astro—it’s a static site generator that lets you build with React/Vue/Svelte components but then it produces plain ol’ HTML and CSS: I guess that’s what’s so exciting...
I need a new project; something enormous and scary, something to sweep my evenings up and away. Because now, looking back on everything I’ve made over the last decade, I realize just how much these side projects have helped me during...
Robinson Meyer on what folks get wrong about technology: Zoom out a bit, and you can see a deeper problem with how Americans think about technology. We tend, perhaps counterintuitively, to overintellectualize it. Here’s an example: You...
You know those documentaries where you see a tiny octopus on a reef and they’re getting completely annihilated by the crushing waves above and all around? They’ll clutch onto that tiny rock with all their tiny might and won’t ever let...
Okay, so I finally got around to watching Invincible—a new show on Amazon Prime based on a comic book I’d never heard of—and holy shit did it wreck an evening for me the other day. If you like great shows, go watch it. But if you like...
I do not hate many things in this world but I will make one exception. Each day I pour all my vitriol and hatred into this thing and hour by hour my hatred increases steadily. So I ask you to please bear with me whilst I throw off this...
Chris made some notes about turning 40 and what he’s learned so far. Of all the great notes and takeaways in here I think the most important one is perhaps this: Be a big fan. Good things will come from your enthusiasm.
Yesterday the sky was so very blue. It was the sort of day that’s impossible in England, a country where the blue is rare and on the occasion it does appear, it’s now faded somewhat to my eye. But just when I thought the color yesterday...