Hello, I’m Ste Grainer.
I’m a designer and developer from Richmond, VA. I design, code, and write with a focus on clarity, usefulness, and delight.
I love to create
And here are some favorite projects from the last few years.
I love to write
About design, development, and anything else that’s on my mind.
On UXcellence
Building Blocks to a Great Experience
Sep 8, 2016 — In the rush to learn the latest tools and techniques of user experience design, it can be easy to overlook the basic foundations. Here are some important building blocks to keep in mind regardless of what you’re creating or how you’re making it. Care. A great deal. Sometimes … Continue reading
Sketch Plugins: 14 Useful Tools to Improve Your Workflow
May 27, 2016 — If you read my last post about Sketch, then you know that it’s an incredibly capable tool by itself. With its built-in plugin architecture, you can level it up with even more nifty tricks. Whether you want to generate placeholder content, improve how you work with others, or simply … Continue reading
Sketch Hacks: Little Tricks to Improve Your Sketch Workflow
Apr 15, 2016 — I started using Sketch early last year and was almost immediately floored by how much it got right compared to other tools (ahem Photoshop and Illustrator) I’d been using for years. In just over a year, it’s quickly become the first digital tool I reach for when trying … Continue reading
On my journal
Anatomy of a Push Quote
Aug 23, 2016 — Or how to use quotes on the web to build better threads between ideas. Continue reading
The Web Is Still Amazing
Jun 26, 2016 — Everything is amazing. Now make something awesome yourself! Continue reading
DIY: Photo Clothesline
May 29, 2016 — How to spruce up a wall with easily changeable photos Continue reading
Apple Watch One Year In
May 16, 2016 — Scattered thoughts on why the Apple Watch is getting mixed reviews one year in Continue reading
A Daily Challenge
Apr 23, 2016 — I’m super proud of my wife for capturing creative inspiration every day for a year. Continue reading
Wildcard Sub-Domains
Apr 21, 2016 — How to configure a Digital Ocean droplet for multiple domains and wildcard subdomains Continue reading
I love to share
Helpful tools and techniques that others have made or written about
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Checkout Pages
A curated directory of the best checkout pages
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Pricing Pages
A curated directory of the best pricing pages
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The 30 Elements of Consumer Value
Fundamental attributes that drive consumer engagement
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Swift Education
Swift Education is a collection of resources to assist educators in bringing Swift into the classroom.
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Fabricator
Another handy tool for building style guides and design systems
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plainJS
Vanilla JavaScript repository with a library of plugins and common functions with no dependencies.
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Staticman
Handles user-generated content on static sites and stores it in your GitHub repository
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WTF, forms?
Friendlier HTML form controls with a little CSS magic
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Drizzle
A streamlined tool for developing, documenting and presenting UI pattern libraries.
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Practical Typography
A great guide on how to implement good web typography
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Frontend Guidelines Questionnaire
A one-page questionnaire to establish effective front-end guidelines, so that you can write consistent & cohesive code together.
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Fractal
Powerful component libraries & styleguides that fit the way you work.
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Creating pixel perfect icons
Good introduction to creating icon sets in Illustrator
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FFFFALLBACK
Makes it easy to find the perfect fallback fonts, so designs degrade gracefully.
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MarkSheet
A nicely designed free tutorial to learn HTML and CSS
