{"collectionById":{"d4a5b68c-8afd-4bbe-a7ac-e9a8422fedde":{"id":"d4a5b68c-8afd-4bbe-a7ac-e9a8422fedde","name":"Blog Articles","fieldSchemas":[{"id":"112a5d36-c2fe-4270-89db-11332b6d141c","name":"Topic","type":"plain_text"},{"id":"0b77f83b-c31a-4889-b9b3-9a6d2e41fc86","name":"Author Bio","type":"rich_text"},{"id":"0a981f8a-7dbb-440d-a940-25d9060c9b11","name":"Author Job Title","type":"plain_text"},{"id":"402ba26f-8f6d-4f5f-bf20-62e6549f4ad4","name":"Slug","type":"slug","role":"slug"},{"id":"df1c88d1-4bd8-4ecd-9059-463b9589de92","name":"Author Name","type":"plain_text"},{"id":"1f58afa6-2748-4188-b4a4-f1e54e37eca9","name":"Hero Image","type":"image"},{"id":"3084d9ba-ab55-4e5a-931b-b9db3d09105f","name":"Article Content","type":"rich_text"},{"id":"b7712ee6-f9fd-4781-8c5c-e7e10ce8f81e","name":"Publish Date","type":"date"},{"id":"f2ba59b9-49cc-4ec6-9416-bda99d4c8383","name":"Title","type":"plain_text","role":"primary"},{"id":"676063ae-971f-41f4-a8ff-51f75c78431d","name":"Reading Time","type":"plain_text"},{"id":"7eeb4aed-e691-4ca9-b11a-c4bff166e4f6","name":"Summary","type":"plain_text"}],"itemById":{"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c":{"id":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","index":"'r","collectionId":"d4a5b68c-8afd-4bbe-a7ac-e9a8422fedde","fields":[{"id":"b8b57ed6-f8e5-4628-9004-bcd9c59a7a8a","value":"Hugo Villarreal","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"df1c88d1-4bd8-4ecd-9059-463b9589de92"},{"id":"a9c1f6e8-965c-4667-9342-f59fe6f17ef5","value":"What The Simpsons' No-No Sheets Teach Us About Design Systems","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"f2ba59b9-49cc-4ec6-9416-bda99d4c8383"},{"id":"f5343f2c-501e-4bfe-a77a-45eb9c23ae1d","value":"2026-08-23","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"b7712ee6-f9fd-4781-8c5c-e7e10ce8f81e"},{"id":"c54c1f1c-9966-4f51-88f0-8be409774cb1","value":"{\"root\":{\"children\":[{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"When I first stumbled upon a YouTube video dissecting \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The Simpsons' style guide\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"link\",\"version\":1,\"rel\":null,\"target\":null,\"title\":null,\"url\":\"https://ilustrablog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/the-simpsons-handbook.pdf\"},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\", I felt a flicker of recognition. The show's artists work from what they call \\\"No-No\\\" sheets: drawings of what a character must never look like, down to the shape of their teeth. As a designer, I've spent years wrestling with brand guidelines and design systems. And here was proof that even one of the most anarchic cartoon families on TV runs on rigid rules.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"That sent me down a rabbit hole. Style guides have been quietly organizing creative work for centuries, long before anyone called them design systems. So let's look at how these invisible frameworks shape (and sometimes get pushed against by) the worlds they define.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"From cathedrals to cartoons\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The word \\\"cartoon\\\" is a small time capsule. It comes from the Italian \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"cartone\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\", \\\"large paper\\\", and it originally meant a full-scale preparatory drawing for a fresco or a tapestry. Renaissance artists like Raphael used them to transfer a composition to its final surface: they pricked holes along the outlines, then dusted charcoal through the holes to leave a guide on the wall. \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The process is called pouncing\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"link\",\"version\":1,\"rel\":null,\"target\":null,\"title\":null,\"url\":\"https://artenet.it/en/raphaels-technique/\"},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\".\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Those cartoons weren't style guides in the modern sense, but they did the same job. A master's design could be handed to assistants and still come out as one coherent work, with every figure where it was meant to be.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Fast forward to the twentieth century and animation studios faced the same problem at industrial scale. A short film needs thousands of drawings by many hands, and the character has to look like itself in all of them. Studios answered with model sheets: reference pages showing a character from every angle, with proportions and expressions pinned down. The 1920s and 1930s \\\"rubber hose\\\" style, with its bendy limbs and circle-based bodies, was popular partly because it was easy to repeat consistently across frames.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"By the time The Simpsons came along, the model sheet had become a whole system of rules.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The Simpsons as a case study in constraint\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The Simpsons' No-No sheets, largely associated with director and animator David Silverman, work like a list of anti-patterns. Among the rules that have circulated online:\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Characters shouldn't look cross-eyed.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":1},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Teeth are never square or pointy.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":2},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Ears stay close to the eyes and mouth.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":3},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Secondary characters don't borrow Bart's spiky head.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":4},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Homer's beard line belongs to Homer (and a few relatives).\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":5},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"No fangs, horns or deliberately cruel faces, because the Simpsons aren't cruel characters.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":6}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"list\",\"version\":1,\"listType\":\"bullet\",\"start\":1,\"tag\":\"ul\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"That last one is my favorite, because it isn't really about drawing. It's about personality. The rule protects the characters' intentions, and the drawing follows.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"This is the part I find useful as a designer. The constraints aren't there to limit the artists. They're guardrails against drift: without them, hundreds of animators working over decades would slowly pull the characters in hundreds of directions. Instead, after more than 750 episodes, Homer still has four fingers on each hand and the show still looks like itself.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Pixel-based style guides\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"In the digital world, style guides grew into design systems. Apple's Human Interface Guidelines and Google's Material Design don't only describe how things look. They also describe how things behave: interaction patterns, motion, accessibility. They share DNA with The Simpsons' sheets, though. Material's 8dp grid does for a layout what the No-No sheets do for Lisa's teeth.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"There's one big difference. The Simpsons' handbook that circulates online is a static document, a snapshot from decades ago. Modern design systems are meant to be living. They're versioned, updated as the product changes and tested against real use. A design system isn't about preserving a fixed identity forever. It's about letting a product grow without falling apart.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The designer's dilemma: creativity vs. consistency\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Here's the tension: style guides thrive on repetition, and creativity often thrives on breaking patterns. The answer, I think, is intentional exceptions.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Animation history has a good example. In the late 1940s and 1950s, UPA, the studio behind Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing-Boing, broke away from Disney's increasingly realistic style with flat shapes, bold color and simplified backgrounds. They didn't abandon rules. They wrote different ones. Brands do something similar when they put personality into the guidelines themselves: Mailchimp's voice and tone guide is a well-known case, where the rules about how to write are part of what makes the brand feel human.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"In my own work, I've learned that the best style guides are a bit of a paradox. They're meticulous but flexible. They're authoritative but inviting. And most importantly, they don't just say \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"what\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\" to do. They explain \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"why\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\". \\\"No pointy teeth\\\" is a rule. \\\"The Simpsons are not cruel\\\" is a reason, and a reason lets people make good decisions in situations the rule never covered.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Frameworks in the age of generative tools\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"With image generators able to produce a hundred logo options in seconds, it's fair to ask what brand consistency means now. If anything, I think it makes the \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"why\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\" more important. A tool can follow a color value. It can't decide whether a new situation fits the brand unless someone has written down what the brand is trying to be.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The lesson from the past still holds. The Renaissance cartoon kept every part of a fresco in line with one vision. The No-No sheets have kept Springfield recognizable for more than three decades. Whether it lives on paper, in a PDF or in a component library, a good style guide is what lets a lot of people make one coherent thing.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"If you maintain a design system, try this: pick three of your rules and write the reason behind each one next to it. If you can't find the reason, that rule might be the first thing to revisit.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"This piece started as a draft written with help from AI. The obsession with Lisa's teeth is all mine.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":2,\"textStyle\":\"\"}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"root\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":2}}","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"3084d9ba-ab55-4e5a-931b-b9db3d09105f"},{"id":"5aa03339-0b8a-4025-8c03-5f280fcca4c8","value":"Hugo Villarreal","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"df1c88d1-4bd8-4ecd-9059-463b9589de92"},{"id":"5b9ff69c-bd7f-43a0-85e5-0f3d6be028bc","value":"Senior Experience Designer · Design Educator","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"0a981f8a-7dbb-440d-a940-25d9060c9b11"},{"id":"0e8e5e3d-1373-42e0-ab0c-47626cd6f4de","value":"Senior Experience Designer · Design Educator","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"0a981f8a-7dbb-440d-a940-25d9060c9b11"},{"id":"0b74f4e6-1857-4359-a52c-4929dea19f06","value":"From Renaissance cartoons to Springfield's drawing rules, a short history of style guides and what designers can learn from them.","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"7eeb4aed-e691-4ca9-b11a-c4bff166e4f6"},{"id":"865f2999-44ad-4288-8696-bf5c801f9ae6","value":"From Renaissance cartoons to Springfield's drawing rules, a short history of style guides and what designers can learn from them.","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"7eeb4aed-e691-4ca9-b11a-c4bff166e4f6"},{"id":"b4c44b7b-3845-4c61-baf7-1cefbf5971b2","value":"Essays","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"112a5d36-c2fe-4270-89db-11332b6d141c"},{"id":"49dc817a-153a-480f-95e9-dad25579c246","value":"4 min read","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"676063ae-971f-41f4-a8ff-51f75c78431d"},{"id":"daedb126-9b06-42a9-b632-bcb350b683a3","value":"4 min read","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"676063ae-971f-41f4-a8ff-51f75c78431d"},{"id":"112e6162-11e4-4077-bfa4-1e893d3c01ba","value":"{\"root\":{\"children\":[{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"When I first stumbled upon a YouTube video dissecting \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The Simpsons' style guide\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"link\",\"version\":1,\"rel\":null,\"target\":null,\"title\":null,\"url\":\"https://ilustrablog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/the-simpsons-handbook.pdf\"},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\", I felt a flicker of recognition. The show's artists work from what they call \\\"No-No\\\" sheets: drawings of what a character must never look like, down to the shape of their teeth. As a designer, I've spent years wrestling with brand guidelines and design systems. And here was proof that even one of the most anarchic cartoon families on TV runs on rigid rules.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"That sent me down a rabbit hole. Style guides have been quietly organizing creative work for centuries, long before anyone called them design systems. So let's look at how these invisible frameworks shape (and sometimes get pushed against by) the worlds they define.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"From cathedrals to cartoons\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The word \\\"cartoon\\\" is a small time capsule. It comes from the Italian \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"cartone\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\", \\\"large paper\\\", and it originally meant a full-scale preparatory drawing for a fresco or a tapestry. Renaissance artists like Raphael used them to transfer a composition to its final surface: they pricked holes along the outlines, then dusted charcoal through the holes to leave a guide on the wall. \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The process is called pouncing\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"link\",\"version\":1,\"rel\":null,\"target\":null,\"title\":null,\"url\":\"https://artenet.it/en/raphaels-technique/\"},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\".\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Those cartoons weren't style guides in the modern sense, but they did the same job. A master's design could be handed to assistants and still come out as one coherent work, with every figure where it was meant to be.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Fast forward to the twentieth century and animation studios faced the same problem at industrial scale. A short film needs thousands of drawings by many hands, and the character has to look like itself in all of them. Studios answered with model sheets: reference pages showing a character from every angle, with proportions and expressions pinned down. The 1920s and 1930s \\\"rubber hose\\\" style, with its bendy limbs and circle-based bodies, was popular partly because it was easy to repeat consistently across frames.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"By the time The Simpsons came along, the model sheet had become a whole system of rules.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The Simpsons as a case study in constraint\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The Simpsons' No-No sheets, largely associated with director and animator David Silverman, work like a list of anti-patterns. Among the rules that have circulated online:\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Characters shouldn't look cross-eyed.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":1},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Teeth are never square or pointy.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":2},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Ears stay close to the eyes and mouth.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":3},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Secondary characters don't borrow Bart's spiky head.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":4},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Homer's beard line belongs to Homer (and a few relatives).\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":5},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"No fangs, horns or deliberately cruel faces, because the Simpsons aren't cruel characters.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":6}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"list\",\"version\":1,\"listType\":\"bullet\",\"start\":1,\"tag\":\"ul\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"That last one is my favorite, because it isn't really about drawing. It's about personality. The rule protects the characters' intentions, and the drawing follows.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"This is the part I find useful as a designer. The constraints aren't there to limit the artists. They're guardrails against drift: without them, hundreds of animators working over decades would slowly pull the characters in hundreds of directions. Instead, after more than 750 episodes, Homer still has four fingers on each hand and the show still looks like itself.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Pixel-based style guides\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"In the digital world, style guides grew into design systems. Apple's Human Interface Guidelines and Google's Material Design don't only describe how things look. They also describe how things behave: interaction patterns, motion, accessibility. They share DNA with The Simpsons' sheets, though. Material's 8dp grid does for a layout what the No-No sheets do for Lisa's teeth.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"There's one big difference. The Simpsons' handbook that circulates online is a static document, a snapshot from decades ago. Modern design systems are meant to be living. They're versioned, updated as the product changes and tested against real use. A design system isn't about preserving a fixed identity forever. It's about letting a product grow without falling apart.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The designer's dilemma: creativity vs. consistency\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Here's the tension: style guides thrive on repetition, and creativity often thrives on breaking patterns. The answer, I think, is intentional exceptions.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Animation history has a good example. In the late 1940s and 1950s, UPA, the studio behind Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing-Boing, broke away from Disney's increasingly realistic style with flat shapes, bold color and simplified backgrounds. They didn't abandon rules. They wrote different ones. Brands do something similar when they put personality into the guidelines themselves: Mailchimp's voice and tone guide is a well-known case, where the rules about how to write are part of what makes the brand feel human.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"In my own work, I've learned that the best style guides are a bit of a paradox. They're meticulous but flexible. They're authoritative but inviting. And most importantly, they don't just say \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"what\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\" to do. They explain \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"why\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\". \\\"No pointy teeth\\\" is a rule. \\\"The Simpsons are not cruel\\\" is a reason, and a reason lets people make good decisions in situations the rule never covered.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Frameworks in the age of generative tools\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"With image generators able to produce a hundred logo options in seconds, it's fair to ask what brand consistency means now. If anything, I think it makes the \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"why\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\" more important. A tool can follow a color value. It can't decide whether a new situation fits the brand unless someone has written down what the brand is trying to be.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The lesson from the past still holds. The Renaissance cartoon kept every part of a fresco in line with one vision. The No-No sheets have kept Springfield recognizable for more than three decades. Whether it lives on paper, in a PDF or in a component library, a good style guide is what lets a lot of people make one coherent thing.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"If you maintain a design system, try this: pick three of your rules and write the reason behind each one next to it. If you can't find the reason, that rule might be the first thing to revisit.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"This piece started as a draft written with help from AI. The obsession with Lisa's teeth is all mine.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"root\",\"version\":1}}","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"3084d9ba-ab55-4e5a-931b-b9db3d09105f"},{"id":"7f1a62f8-4d1a-4bbf-a4e7-1c3f54cb67ef","value":"{\"root\":{\"children\":[{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"I design interfaces, design systems and motion for enterprise products, and I teach graphic design at Universidad de Monterrey.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"root\",\"version\":1}}","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"0b77f83b-c31a-4889-b9b3-9a6d2e41fc86"},{"id":"814a1449-23c8-4292-9871-025e56dec3a5","value":"{\"root\":{\"children\":[{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"When I first stumbled upon a YouTube video dissecting \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The Simpsons' style guide\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"link\",\"version\":1,\"rel\":null,\"target\":null,\"title\":null,\"url\":\"https://ilustrablog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/the-simpsons-handbook.pdf\"},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\", I felt a flicker of recognition. The show's artists work from what they call \\\"No-No\\\" sheets: drawings of what a character must never look like, down to the shape of their teeth. As a designer, I've spent years wrestling with brand guidelines and design systems. And here was proof that even one of the most anarchic cartoon families on TV runs on rigid rules.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"That sent me down a rabbit hole. Style guides have been quietly organizing creative work for centuries, long before anyone called them design systems. So let's look at how these invisible frameworks shape (and sometimes get pushed against by) the worlds they define.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"From cathedrals to cartoons\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The word \\\"cartoon\\\" is a small time capsule. It comes from the Italian \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"cartone\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\", \\\"large paper\\\", and it originally meant a full-scale preparatory drawing for a fresco or a tapestry. Renaissance artists like Raphael used them to transfer a composition to its final surface: they pricked holes along the outlines, then dusted charcoal through the holes to leave a guide on the wall. \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The process is called pouncing\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"link\",\"version\":1,\"rel\":null,\"target\":null,\"title\":null,\"url\":\"https://artenet.it/en/raphaels-technique/\"},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\".\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Those cartoons weren't style guides in the modern sense, but they did the same job. A master's design could be handed to assistants and still come out as one coherent work, with every figure where it was meant to be.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Fast forward to the twentieth century and animation studios faced the same problem at industrial scale. A short film needs thousands of drawings by many hands, and the character has to look like itself in all of them. Studios answered with model sheets: reference pages showing a character from every angle, with proportions and expressions pinned down. The 1920s and 1930s \\\"rubber hose\\\" style, with its bendy limbs and circle-based bodies, was popular partly because it was easy to repeat consistently across frames.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"By the time The Simpsons came along, the model sheet had become a whole system of rules.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The Simpsons as a case study in constraint\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The Simpsons' No-No sheets, largely associated with director and animator David Silverman, work like a list of anti-patterns. Among the rules that have circulated online:\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Characters shouldn't look cross-eyed.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":1},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Teeth are never square or pointy.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":2},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Ears stay close to the eyes and mouth.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":3},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Secondary characters don't borrow Bart's spiky head.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":4},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Homer's beard line belongs to Homer (and a few relatives).\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":5},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"No fangs, horns or deliberately cruel faces, because the Simpsons aren't cruel characters.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"listitem\",\"version\":1,\"value\":6}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"list\",\"version\":1,\"listType\":\"bullet\",\"start\":1,\"tag\":\"ul\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"That last one is my favorite, because it isn't really about drawing. It's about personality. The rule protects the characters' intentions, and the drawing follows.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"This is the part I find useful as a designer. The constraints aren't there to limit the artists. They're guardrails against drift: without them, hundreds of animators working over decades would slowly pull the characters in hundreds of directions. Instead, after more than 750 episodes, Homer still has four fingers on each hand and the show still looks like itself.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Pixel-based style guides\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"In the digital world, style guides grew into design systems. Apple's Human Interface Guidelines and Google's Material Design don't only describe how things look. They also describe how things behave: interaction patterns, motion, accessibility. They share DNA with The Simpsons' sheets, though. Material's 8dp grid does for a layout what the No-No sheets do for Lisa's teeth.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"There's one big difference. The Simpsons' handbook that circulates online is a static document, a snapshot from decades ago. Modern design systems are meant to be living. They're versioned, updated as the product changes and tested against real use. A design system isn't about preserving a fixed identity forever. It's about letting a product grow without falling apart.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The designer's dilemma: creativity vs. consistency\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Here's the tension: style guides thrive on repetition, and creativity often thrives on breaking patterns. The answer, I think, is intentional exceptions.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Animation history has a good example. In the late 1940s and 1950s, UPA, the studio behind Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing-Boing, broke away from Disney's increasingly realistic style with flat shapes, bold color and simplified backgrounds. They didn't abandon rules. They wrote different ones. Brands do something similar when they put personality into the guidelines themselves: Mailchimp's voice and tone guide is a well-known case, where the rules about how to write are part of what makes the brand feel human.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"In my own work, I've learned that the best style guides are a bit of a paradox. They're meticulous but flexible. They're authoritative but inviting. And most importantly, they don't just say \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"what\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\" to do. They explain \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"why\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\". \\\"No pointy teeth\\\" is a rule. \\\"The Simpsons are not cruel\\\" is a reason, and a reason lets people make good decisions in situations the rule never covered.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"Frameworks in the age of generative tools\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"heading\",\"version\":1,\"tag\":\"h2\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"With image generators able to produce a hundred logo options in seconds, it's fair to ask what brand consistency means now. If anything, I think it makes the \",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"why\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1},{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\" more important. A tool can follow a color value. It can't decide whether a new situation fits the brand unless someone has written down what the brand is trying to be.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"The lesson from the past still holds. The Renaissance cartoon kept every part of a fresco in line with one vision. The No-No sheets have kept Springfield recognizable for more than three decades. Whether it lives on paper, in a PDF or in a component library, a good style guide is what lets a lot of people make one coherent thing.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":0,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"If you maintain a design system, try this: pick three of your rules and write the reason behind each one next to it. If you can't find the reason, that rule might be the first thing to revisit.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"},{\"children\":[{\"detail\":0,\"format\":2,\"mode\":\"normal\",\"style\":\"\",\"text\":\"This piece started as a draft written with help from AI. The obsession with Lisa's teeth is all mine.\",\"type\":\"text\",\"version\":1}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"version\":1,\"textFormat\":0,\"textStyle\":\"\"}],\"direction\":null,\"format\":\"\",\"indent\":0,\"type\":\"root\",\"version\":1}}","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"3084d9ba-ab55-4e5a-931b-b9db3d09105f"},{"id":"9821ba62-981b-442f-8c24-c2c640264a68","value":"{\"image\":\"4f790959bdc6a6a54ff9077bc98904121cf6d910\",\"imageThumbnail\":\"2ec4a4f290e6665f342d8e412af9aa2ed4073adf\",\"originalImageHeight\":1067,\"originalImageWidth\":1600,\"altText\":\"\",\"fileName\":\"simpsons-style-guide-and-design-systems.jpg\"}","itemId":"fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c","fieldSchemaId":"1f58afa6-2748-4188-b4a4-f1e54e37eca9"}]}}}},"slugByItemId":{"7c10a08b-d604-4d4d-a009-2400c53b6b59":"understanding-design-systems","8eeee011-eb9d-4fdc-9afe-f856fd33e053":"meeting-figma-slides","bdecb30f-74c1-446a-80d4-315f0db32510":"what-it-takes-to-be-a-good-designer","e44d8219-d7c5-4585-b6f2-3fbb76e9d813":"a-bitten-apple-how-ego-costs-design-teams-progress","b1d7cfd5-94f2-457d-8534-7dc7cd3053f5":"a-readable-timeline-of-graphic-design-history","1b025d59-8cdd-47ab-825c-b44301d9e56c":"computer-buying-guide-for-graphic-designers","7136350e-32b6-4799-a067-2945462c74b9":"anatomy-of-an-infographic","fc376070-6a8e-4885-bc5b-5392f2ea72d4":"design-history-three-eras-part-1-before-modernism","ae5d2846-c99a-4b96-85f4-93be2a63f6cb":"futures-thinking-for-product-designers","778b781d-23e5-45f4-91dd-d0782796c253":"design-history-three-eras-part-2-modernism","36a64540-e6cb-4591-82be-dd3cf13f3168":"letters-grids-and-building-icons","46eb0627-397b-4642-b36b-4eaea8e9375d":"five-directions-in-contemporary-design","c603686b-3d64-4534-bd99-4b3d163907c6":"motion-in-digital-products-guide","1ce96791-887c-4b99-affb-0cb1fa0a94c2":"pestel-for-designers","2d8aef00-9a3b-4648-bc46-0a74a20bac0f":"running-your-own-local-ai-designers-teachers","7c9caf44-7c35-41e3-b325-83ea8fa765b6":"what-is-a-sign-semiotics-primer-for-designers","dde2c9c5-d33d-4485-b79f-16a6fc1135f5":"atomic-design-in-figma","5d5b785c-6b20-4cbc-82cc-fab2f5afe573":"cognitive-biases-in-trend-research","25690feb-ad3f-44f9-a3f9-489c185b724c":"designing-icons-for-screens","d1b6da52-8b7c-4a77-8a9a-2385a1f0a71c":"figma-color-variables-design-tokens","542d1e93-a75a-4dea-8266-d92a1a0749ee":"how-to-test-whether-an-icon-works","ae67180a-23b7-4b1f-90c5-f025c7edd0b5":"how-to-use-the-consumer-trend-canvas","36e45f78-face-4cb3-95cd-cbf6e461ae57":"journey-map-ecosystem-map-service-blueprint","80345e24-6050-439b-9c3b-9e1690a6a5de":"games-design-and-ourselves-please-dont-take-it-the-wrong-way","b4100900-6eb5-4a05-b9b3-ce765168f267":"the-power-of-icebreakers-in-meetings","cc6fe4f9-90f9-4e45-ae3f-b544b044da5a":"ai-ethics-classroom-course-ai-policy","f7429a53-d35f-4e02-8ecf-79254a953eed":"apps-sites-and-games-i-recommend-to-designers","2b3466be-47b4-42f4-9a58-7597a6f22262":"design-history-three-eras-part-3-postmodern-and-digital","7ced4be9-c1c8-40ba-adf8-bc720169b799":"design-thesis-problem-objectives-scope-limitations","c6f9f758-c8bb-4fba-8ca1-1041f2907c86":"how-to-read-an-image-a-practical-toolkit","589e80bb-7281-4b11-8ad5-3c3a72bbd601":"isotype-neurath-arntz-and-the-method","747f580d-9190-4d67-9f5f-0a243e36bce4":"mesoamerica-media-stereotypes-and-better-depictions","fff8a94b-53e2-4624-b63f-cb3466c9146c":"what-the-simpsons-no-no-sheets-teach-us-about-design-systems","240536a4-d1ff-4488-9c25-62af5c228b38":"trend-or-fad-five-criteria","54d55d03-8f64-4a4e-94a6-397cf873c405":"the-chicken-sandwich-perspective","e56a86ac-292e-4bf6-b613-8cab8595e2b9":"our-2025-nominees-for-best-emerging-technologies-in-ux-ui","b9b45e98-7fbc-4cd2-ad25-4de806cdf16e":"my-config-2024-key-takeaways","ca07284f-3eb9-4f2d-8d05-fa25f9997af1":"15-research-methods-graphic-designers-double-diamond","f63b36ff-7f5a-4ddb-b11c-ed57a874252b":"data-visualization-principles-in-practice","bdbda384-5ec9-43ce-8e04-0bcd9f142e02":"designing-for-users-in-distress","ae609892-49be-47e2-9527-ba51e6252944":"figma-auto-layout-explained","7a86437b-217c-46c5-9832-da017c47a463":"figma-glossary","d8836f58-7886-473c-a7af-fe34ee59cd8a":"five-years-to-get-rich-before-ai-futures-thinking","b4cc4258-88ef-4f0b-89ab-90ba61258b4e":"practical-prompting-for-teachers","92cb182c-ea27-4cc5-9d50-40c5dd1eef7a":"swiss-style-and-the-new-york-school","3654f76a-378a-435e-8d84-bfa6a05f6d7a":"trend-is-a-category-not-a-compliment","016a5dc9-d306-443b-8a0c-784607067d45":"standards-and-legibility-in-signage","0d4f66dd-cb0f-4555-84cb-44bb5624a03c":"ten-improv-rules-for-design-critique","79250f89-4bcd-4ec5-b942-1ce0b4d52b78":"the-avant-gardes-that-still-shape-design"}}