Foundation, our front-end responsive framework, taught us a lot about being opinionated. When we come up with the idea, we knew we were being bold and taking a stance. But this talk isn't about building Foundation. It's about how product designers have to be opinionated, stand for something, and risk being wrong.

1. @GhaidaZahran from @ZURB
How to be an opinionated in product design and other love stories.
Building a Front-end Framework
#yoloswag

2. Foundation

3. We needed consistency.

4. It started with The Grid.

5. We built a style guide.

6. It wasn’t enough.

7. We wanted to help people.

8. We didn't want to create YAFB.

9. What was our message.

10. We spotted a trend that wasn’t
going away ...

11. ... and found our voice.

12. We built a framework that was
responsive from the ground-up.

13. Predicting the future is hard.

14. That opinion was our starting point.

15. We have to be opinionated ...

16. ... but we can't be too opinionated.

17. Use your opinion as a starting point.

18. Be flexible.

19. Participate in the community.

20. Build something greater than
yourself.

21. Ship. Test. Iterate. Repeat.

22. Your team will share
a common vision.

23. Your customers will love you.

24. Pick a fight.

25. There will be naysayers.

26. Embrace the naysayers.

27. Fail fast.

28. “But if I'm wrong no one will like me ...”

29. “... I’ll be ostracized by my peers ...”

30. “... My dreams will be crushed.”

31. “... and Jeffrey Zeldman will write me
a strongly-worded letter.”

32. “... and Jeffrey Zeldman will write me
a strongly-worded letter.”

33. What are opinions
and where do I get one?

34. “You are not entitled to your
opinion. You are entitled to your
informed opinion. No one is entitled
to be ignorant.”
– Harlan Ellison

35. Basic research will get you there.

36. “I learned that the process of
making a decision is more important
than the decision itself.”
– Donald A. Norman

37. You have to let feedback shape
your framework.

38. Sometimes you back the wrong team.

39. The emails started rolling in ...

42. Sometimes the correct answer
isn’t so simple.

43. We had to ship the framework to
find out the problems with using a
new JS library.

44. We’re betting big on Mobile First.

45. min-width vs. max-width

46. We ended up confusing
everyone, including ourselves.

47. $small-screen: 768px

48. $small: “min-width: #{$small-screen};”

49. $medium-screen
$small-screen
.small.medium.large

50. $medium-screen
$small-screen
.small.medium.large

51. $medium-screen
$small-screen
.small.medium.large

52. Don't let philosophy get
in the way of functionality.

53. Keep an open mind.

54. You’ll learn more
about your product.

55. You know what you’re doing.

56. Thank you, Converge!
zurb.com/speak
zurb.com/stickers
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@GhaidaZahran