How Do You Squarespace? Matt Stevens

Matt Stevens was the kind of kid who was always doodling on pieces of scrap paper. Which is to say his future as a designer was fairly obvious at an early age, especially to him. "I think around early middle school I realized what a logo is and it just made sense to me," he says. And he's certainly grateful for the clarity. "Taking a message and figuring out the best way to communicate that idea through words and pictures just felt like the thing I had to do." 

From there it was a simple matter of deciding whether design or illustration would win the battle for his creative career. He went on to study both in college, eventually choosing to stick with design. Most of his career since then has been in small, design firms. But if you take a look at his recent work, you'll see the strong illustrative element creeping back in, which just goes to show you can always revisit the path not taken.

These many years later, Matt is still the kind of grown-up who fills scraps of paper with drawings and ideas, which he says strike entirely on their own schedule. To make sure he doesn't lose them, he keeps notepads and sketchpads with him at all times, even in the car. "[I'm] not condoning sketching and driving," he clarifies. "Red lights only please."  

What's been one of your favorite projects to date?

I am currently doing a branding project for a group of cool folks in Manhattan, Kansas, starting up a unique donut shop. It's a labor of love for both them and myself, trying to do something fun and special that adds to their community. They're taking over an old art deco post office in downtown Aggieville, to create a gathering place in an area that is primarily bars. They have a neat vision for what this place can be and are letting me tackle all kinds of pieces: logo, apparel, glassware, signage and even graphics for a cool old bread truck that they are converting into a place to make donuts outside the shop. They've been awesome to work with thus far. 

As a designer in North Carolina, do you find there are any advantages or disadvantages to being outside of the New York design scene? 

North Carolina is great. I grew up in Asheville, NC, since the age of 9 up until I went to college in Charlotte. We have settled here to remain close to family in the Southeast and it's a great place to have a family. It's certainly not as active or packed with design as many of the larger cities, but the connections you make online have really shrunk the world in my opinion. Where you are matters, but a fraction of what it used to.  

How do you keep the job interesting and challenge yourself?

I am a firm believer in doing work for yourself. As a designer, I have to find that angle or that hook that really engages me on a project. The more personal things I have going, the easier I can find those insights into client work. It allows me to exercise those muscles. The constant pursuit of ideas and thinking lead to better ideas and thinking. 

What other creative pursuits are left to try?

I would love to speak more. I really enjoying taking the design battle scars and using those experiences to give someone else some insight or enlightenment. I spoke about doing personal work to the Dallas Society for Visual Communication last year and it was one of the most satisfying experiences I've had as a designer.  

How long have you been using Squarespace? How did you find us?

I've been using Squarespace for around 2 years. I was looking for a simple way to get my current work up online and be able to share my process and thoughts. In my search, I had many folks recommend Squarespace to me personally as a good platform.  

Why does Squarespace work for you?

I'm not a super technical guy. The simplicity and ease of use was key for me. I love things that "just work" without having to dive deep and have a ton of developer skills. I know the basics and that has allowed me to do what I need to do. I also have seen a lot of other Squarespace sites that have been customized, so I know that should I need to do a lot of customization, I can. I love the built in analytics. The whole UI of the analytics are so well done and easy to use. I also love having all of that available in the iPhone app.  

What's next for you?

I've been obsessed with sneakers since middle school, and I started a kind of mad scientist personal project, taking the Nike AirMax 1 sneaker, and doing a slightly different version each day. It was just an excuse to illustrate more, but I really got hooked into the project and ran with it, producing 60 originals and 15 tributes to other designers over the course of several months. It really got a great response, so I've been building it as a KICKSTARTER project over the last several months. I really learned a lot from the success of Frank Chimero's "Shape of Design" project and Simple Scott's "Designing Obama" book. So the goal is to produce a great book with the 60 originals and 40 new ones and some behind the scenes kind of content. I'd love for people to support it.

An Introduction to Squarespace V6

Over the next few weeks, Squarespace will begin inviting early testers to experience the next version of the Squarespace platform, Version 6. This project is the culmination of eight years of learning about user interface, content management, scalability, front-end engineering, and, most importantly, the ambitions and needs of our customers.  

Squarespace V6 is a reinvention of many core Squarespace concepts that will become the foundation for our company over the years to come.  It allows the extremely talented folks who work on Squarespace to create the sorts of sites they've always dreamed of creating on Squarespace.  It incorporates a totally redesigned consumer editing experience, backend site manager, and template system.

What does this mean for consumers?

For consumers who are just interested in editing content with no coding, Squarespace V6 will be much easier to use versus the current experience.  Sophisticated gallery and portfolio templates, better support for larger and more complex sites, robust community features, and simplified, yet powerful, administrative and content management functions are all included.

Images speak much louder than words — so we’ll be posting captures of our interface over the coming months to give you a tour of the new system.

What does this mean for developers?

Behind the scenes, Squarespace’s core has been rewritten so our staff developers – now with full control over HTML and the use of greatly expanded widget functionality and types -- can deliver the templates which will power tomorrow’s web. While our initial release will focus on technologies for consumers, our new template SDK will be released later this year, after we perfect the underlying technologies and methods.  

Developers will be able to create sophisticated sites with many display options, have full control over HTML and scripts, all while having full access to Squarespace's widget and data frameworks.  Squarespace V6 will allow for very custom sites that remain highly usable for end users.

When will Squarespace V6 be released?

Beta testing will begin in the coming weeks with a small pool of testers, which we will expand as the summer progresses. Like all Squarespace releases, we reserve the right to delay the release until we think it is right. We’d like to have it done yesterday, but creating something of quality takes time. With our talented and expanding team, we are able to deliver to you products of a level that Squarespace hasn’t been able to previously achieve. This is a big one for us, and we appreciate your patience.

What if I’m an existing Squarespace customer?

You are first and foremost in our minds. We guarantee three things:

1. Your publishing workflow, design, and content will be uninterrupted while Squarespace V6 is released. 
2. This is not a forced upgrade — you will be able to test Squarespace V6 without switching over to it by moving your content to the new platform in a structured way while continuing to run your current site as is. 
3. If you are a current customer, you will receive preferred pricing when V6 is released.  We are making it a priority to ensure user content is easily portable to V6.

Can I see it?

Yes.  Below are some shots of some new templates and the new manager interface. We obviously can't give everything away right now, but stay tuned and we'll dive into some of what's to come.

How will I be notified when testing begins?

Simply fill out this form and you'll be added to our beta invite list.

your name *

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Squarespace account name (if you have one)

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How Do You Squarespace? Dana Tanamachi

Photo by Kelsey Foster

When you catch a glimpse of one of Dana Tanamachi's chalk drawings, two things hit you: how stunning the drawing is and the utter simplicity of the medium. The strong nostalgia about chalk on slate her drawings evoke almost make you wish you'd spent more time in trouble after school, writing lines on chalkboards.

The chalk drawings are Dana's after-hours, when she creates large-scale typographic drawings on chalk walls or portable boards all around New York City. By day she has a regular job at a boutique design studio, Louise Fili Ltd, where she focuses on restaurant and food packaging. It has only been three short years since Dana moved  here from Houston, Texas, for an internship at Good Housekeeping Magazine, which led to her first job designing Broadway show posters. 

The simplicity of why she loves chalk so much is striking. "To be honest, I love that it's so cheap," she says. "Many mediums require a lot of extra supplies and money... I only buy the dollar store brand and my only other supplies are old rags from around the house and a little step stool. Doesn't get much better than that!"

What has been your favorite chalk installation? My favorite installation thus far has to be a piece that I did for a Mad Men themed holiday party last year in Brooklyn. My friends are known for hosting amazing themed parties, so when they told me about the 'Mad Men Holiday Soirée' I had to get in on it. It was so fun to see all the gentlemen sporting their best Don Draper duds, and the ladies with their pearls and pencil skirts—all with my mid-century themed piece as the backdrop. 

What do you find yourself being drawn to typographically? Currently, I'm really drawn to hand-painted signage. Vintage or faux-vintage. I discovered Pete Vogel's work a little while ago and have been really inspired and encouraged, to say the least. He creates new signs inspired by vintage typography that are simple, yet stunning. Beautiful craftsmanship, too.

What's your dream project, or surface you'd love to cover? One of my dream projects would be to do a series of book covers in chalk. I just saw these incredible embroidered covers for Penguin Threads Classics and was really inspired. I love seeing craft, design and typography working so well together. 

If you weren't designing and drawing, what would you be doing instead? I know I'd definitely still be doing something crafty, that's for sure. I could see myself working with my hands —perhaps stained glass, mosaics, signwriting, calligraphy, or patternmaking/sewing.

How long have you been using Squarespace? How did you find us? I've been using Squarespace for about a year now. I learned about it through my friend, Eric Ryan Anderson, who uses Squarespace for his incredible photography blog, I've Got Friends.

Why does Squarespace work for you? Squarespace is a dream come true. I have tried a few different website-building services but always felt extremely limited in terms of design and usability. It works for me because I'm not someone who has the time or interest to spend hours upon hours online when there's work to be done and art to be made! My favorite thing about Squarespace is that it's built for visual people like myself. I have no background in coding or the technical side of websites, so features like the column width slider are lifesavers. Being able to preview what your changes will look like in real time is genius! I am also a fan of the way Squarespace seamlessly integrates with Typekit, which gives designers more options when choosing typefaces that best suit their site.

What's next for you? I'm currently working on a series of posters for a progressive Opera Festival which I'm really thrilled about. I’m also excited to be working on a fun piece for a vendor at the Brooklyn Flea (which is one of my favorite weekend spots in the borough!). As summer approaches, I'll be preparing to do installations for a couple of beautiful Brooklyn weddings—but I'd also like to use the spring and summer to rest a bit and take some long bike rides around Brooklyn.

Check out more of Dana's amazing chalk drawings on her website, www.danatanamachi.com, or follow her on Twitter @dana_tanamachi.