Introduction
Stopdesign is the creative outlet of Douglas Bowman. That’s me. I am passionate about design, typography, and the media and tools of my craft. I am currently the Creative Director at Twitter, where I’m leading a small design team, and overseeing an evolving set of design challenges for a growing list of features and uses of the service. This site is a collection of creative thinking, writing, and work that represents the problem solving, simple solutions, and cost-effective results I’ve produced and delivered for clients and readers around the world. This site is also where I ramble on about design and all things that interest me.
Biography
Douglas Bowman is an influential designer whose creations and strong convictions have pushed him to the forefront of modern web design. Bowman left a long career at Wired in 2002 to focus on Stopdesign, a small consulting firm he founded in San Francisco. Under Stopdesign, he designed sites and applications for Google, Capgemini, Blogger, Cathay Pacific Airways, Adaptive Path, and Mighty Goods. In 2006, he put work for Stopdesign on hold to join Google as Visual Design Lead. In 2009, Bowman left Google to join Twitter as its Creative Director, where he leads the Design and Design Research teams, and is helping change the world, one hundred and forty characters (or less) at a time.
History
I founded Stopdesign in 1998 as a small design consultancy while working at Wired in San Francisco. Back then, Stopdesign was basically an entity under which I conducted freelance business. I continued taking on small outside projects while working at Wired through six years of ups and downs, drastic market swings, and two acquisitions by Lycos and Spanish media portal, Terra. After leading a successful, game-changing redesign of Wired News in 2002, I left Wired to dedicate my full attention to Stopdesign.
Previous versions of this site’s design have been partially archived for posterity and for your browsing curiosity:
Philosophy
Design plays a primary role in the interpretation of a message. It creates a crucial, lasting impression. It encourages examination and generates interest. Accessible, understandable information and beauty of form can engage observers and arrest their attention.
A confusing, poorly designed message will miss its target almost every time. In a world where data bits flow abundantly, our minds have developed filters to sift through the overflow of useless and badly designed information. While design must appeal to our sense of aesthetic, it must not stand in the way of delivery, cause complications, or introduce stumbling blocks. Rather, the presence of design should simplify and facilitate our everyday life, enable us to accomplish our tasks more effectively, and help us enjoy them along the way.
