In January, I committed to write and design an article each month this year. As you may have noticed, there is no June post. The those that have being paying attention (all two of you), you know that I’ve been up to something new.

When I embarked on this project seven months ago, I had a few goals:

1. To experiment with my design
2. To test the viability of regular art direction online
3. To create a system that allowed easy customized posting

I have a system, been experimenting like never before, and yes, believe that regular art direction online is not only a possibility, it’s the future. With a small talented team and a clever framework, the art directed approach is feasible and has the potential to turn the online publishing industry onto its stubborn, boring skull.

In my experience, the difficult part is writing. Designing and coding take little more than a few hours but composing an article can take days or even weeks to flesh out. Instead of battling this every month, I’m changing it up and will be working with some talented people on a series of upcoming sites with a similar publishing philosophy.

Taking what I’ve learned from this project plus several hours of research and a metric shit-ton of trial and error, I’ve developed an even more punishing publishing system. It uses a lethal combination of Object Oriented CSS, a customized grid framework, and a skull-crushing Expression Engine concoction garnished with some delicious add-ons.

The first project to use the setup is the upcoming redesign of The Stray Muse. Each of the exisitng articles are undergoing a full redesign and will be posted in their individual glory. Plus, we’ve got a giant archive of content straight from the depths of Rachel’s notebook. This is the diary of a brilliant madwoman just waiting to be unleashed onto your psyche. I’m eager to present these with all of the expression they deserve.

So where does this leave TravisGertz.com?

Am I going to continue on my 12-post per year plan on this site? No. Am I going to stop entirely? No. I’m going to keep it around for when I do feel the primal urge to write, but the frequency will be pretty organic. Instead, I’m pouring effort into designing and producing more in collaboration with other writers and designers on new projects.

Sometimes a new path reveals itself and you know it’s the path you need to take. I’ve learned what I needed here… time to evolve even further.