Hacking Design Language With Funsize and ProPublica
Last summer, the team at Funsize invited ProPublica down to Austin for a studio tradition they call Method Week.
During Method Weeks, Funsize pauses their regular projects and gathers the staff for team and skill-building activities. These could be anything from hosting a hackathon to bringing in a local chef to teach them about sustainable cooking.
For their ninth installment, they decided to donate their time and design talents to several nonprofits, including ProPublica. After a little pre-gaming, we decided to use the opportunity to experiment with new design system ideas for our newsroom. It’s something the team at ProPublica had been thinking about for awhile, and it was a fantastic way to bootstrap the process.
![Front door of building with Funsize signage on it](/media/funsize-IMG_6545-320w-lznmLqpRfF.jpeg)
![Rob Weychert (left) and Anthony Armendariz working on laptops](/media/funsize-IMG_6553-320w-fP-LwBFz8d.jpeg)
![Lindsay Rife (left) and Ethan Leon working on laptops](/media/funsize-IMG_6551-320w-x0ihDy5bD9.jpeg)
![Lindsay Rife gesturing at a card sort exercise](/media/funsize-IMG_6524-320w-KUPxFmCGrN.jpeg)
![A whiteboard with project notes](/media/funsize-IMG_6527-320w-CjzPrP_yub.jpeg)
![Rob Weychert gesturing at a TV displaying design mockups](/media/funsize-IMG_6621-320w-QnIAVO_-Pl.jpeg)
![A group presentation in the Funsize office](/media/funsize-IMG_6676-320w-Qso5wu4rIc.jpeg)
I’m grateful to the wonderful and generous folks at Funsize, especially Anthony, Natalie, Lindsey, Ethan, Patrick, and everyone else who pitched in on our project. They’ve posted a nice writeup from the event with more about all the design fun we got up to.