“King of Web Standards”—Bloomberg Businessweek

Whether it’s measured in the thousands of designers and developers worldwide who credit him with launching (or saving) their careers, or judged by the medium’s transformation from such shortsighted solutions as table layouts and Flash to the HTML and CSS semantics, structure, and accessibility that make our modern, mobile, multi-device web possible, no single practitioner has had a greater impact on the history and practice of web design than studio founder Jeffrey Zeldman.

Designing and building client websites, blogging, teaching, and creating independent content since 1995, Jeffrey returned to his roots in 2016, founding studio.zeldman to work more closely with clients whose businesses and products make a difference.

Jeffrey’s professional history as a designer, author, educator, publisher, and serial entrepreneur mirrors that of the medium he loves.

In 1998, at the height of the Browser Wars, he co-founded The Web Standards Project to bring HTML, CSS, and JavaScript standards to our browsers. That same year he founded A List Apart, a leading journal of web design—famous for introducing dozens of revolutionary innovations to the field (including responsive web design, web-centric layout, Sliding Doors, elastic design, Faux Columns, CSS sprites, and more) and for championing such best practices as CSS layout, semantic markup, progressive enhancement, content strategy, accessibility, and inclusive design.

Jeffrey has written two books, most notably the foundational web standards text, Designing With Web Standards—currently in a 3rd edition co-authored with Ethan Marcotte. More than 85 universities—including New York University, UCLA, Dartmouth, and Brigham Young—list it as required reading, and it has been translated into 15 languages.

Jeffrey founded his first design studio, Happy Cog (named “agency of the year” in the 2010 net awards) in 1999, and in 2005, co-founded the multi-city user experience and interaction design conference An Event Apart with Eric Meyer. With Jason Santa Maria, Jeffrey also co-founded A Book Apart—an independent publishing house creating brief books for web and interaction designers, where he serves as publisher. A Book Apart’s titles, including Mobile First by Luke Wroblewski, Design is a Job by Mike Monteiro, Design For Real Life by Sara Wachter-Boettcher and Eric Meyer, and Responsive Web Design by Ethan Marcotte, have profoundly influenced the modern practice of web and interaction design.

Jeffrey is a founding faculty member on the MFA, Interaction Design program at School of Visual Arts, New York, where, one night a week during the Spring Term, he prepares MFA candidates to go out into the world upon receipt of their degree. He co-founded and hosts the  internet radio program The Big Web Show (“Everything Web That Matters”), which has twice been named Podcast of the Year by net magazine. In 2012, Jeffrey was the first human inducted into the SXSW Interactive Hall of Fame. He lives in New York with his daughter and two cats.

Jeffrey spends the majority of his time at studio.zeldman identifying challenging projects and working on them with his small, hand-picked team of perfectionists.

Of Note

Designing With Web Standards 3rd Edition, by Jeffrey Zeldman with Ethan Marcotte,
New Riders, October 25, 2009

Taking Your Talent to the Web: a Guide for the Transitioning Designer, by Jeffrey Zeldman,
New Riders, May 18, 2001

Jeffrey Zeldman: 20 years of Web Design and Community
lynda.com, (documentary video)

The Cult of the Complex by Jeffrey Zeldman, A List Apart, May 31, 2018

We need design that is faster and design that is slower by Jeffrey Zeldman, Medium, February 24, 2018

Beyond Engagement: the Content Performance Quotient by Jeffrey Zeldman, Medium, February 19, 2018

A beginning consultant brings skills, an experienced consultant brings value by Jeffrey Zeldman, Medium, February 7, 2018

Look Back in Anchor Tags by Jeffrey Zeldman, Codeburst Magazine, January 3, 2018

A11y Rules Podcast Episode 22 — Interview with Jeffrey Zeldman — Part 2, December 19, 2017

A11y Rules Podcast Episode 21 — Interview with Jeffrey Zeldman — Part 1, December 12, 2017

Betteridge Jewelers: a Redesign With Heart, by Jeffrey Zeldman, Noteworthy – The Journal Blog, November 27, 2017

A Dao of Responsive Liquid, by Jeffrey Zeldman, A List Apart Sidebar, November 19, 2017

Advice for Designers, by Jeffrey Zeldman, Medium, November 6, 2017

Focusing on a Flexible Future: A Talk With Jeffrey Zeldman, AIGA Portland, October 15, 2017

19 Experts Explain Why Your Website Isn’t Bringing in Customers Entrepreneur Magazine, October 12, 2017

Ask a UXpert: How do you prepare for your first speaking gig? (video), Adobe Creative Cloud. July, 2017: “How do you prepare for your first speaking gig? Brad Rhodes, Joe Natoli, Ben Callahan and Jeffrey Zeldman weigh in at HOW Design Live.“ 

Ask a UXpert: Jeffrey Zeldman, A List Apart, Weighs In (video), Adobe Creative Cloud. July, 2017: “Jeffrey Zeldman, founder of studio.zeldman, publisher of A List Apart, and co-Founder of An Event Apart, weighs in on why designers should consider public speaking and the key ingredients to great design.”

How We Write Proposals in my My Design Studio (article), A List Apart Sidebar: Medium April, 2017

In the Studio With Jeffrey Zeldman – Postlight broadcast, November 1, 2016

What Comes Next is the Future (documentary by Rick Griffin), 2016

To Save Real News, December 2016

In Defense of Font Size Widgets, December 14, 2016

Jeffrey Zeldman Shares His Advice for Aspiring Freelance Web Designers, video and article, Shopify blog, December 2, 2016

This Year More Than Ever, Blue Beanie Day Matters, November 22, 2016

20 Expert Strategies to Help Overcome Creative Blocks – Shopify Blog, September 28, 2016

Jeffrey Zeldman on agency life, the changing web and why he had to get back to his roots ,
Creative Boom, June 24, 2016

Has Design Become Too Hard? | Jeffrey Zeldman in Communication Arts,
June 2, 2016

User Defenders: Stay Enchanted with Jeffrey Zeldman (Part II),
June 1, 2016

User Defenders: Stay Enchanted with Jeffrey Zeldman (Part I),
May 9, 2016

The Web Ahead № 115: Predicting the future with Rachel Andrew, Jen Simmons, Eric Meyer, and Jeffrey Zeldman
April 29, 2016

Non Breaking Space Show № 64: Jeffrey Zeldman – Web Design History,
January 26, 2016

Ask Dr. Web—Live, 60-minute audience Q&A video with Zeldman and Sarah Parmenter,
A List Apart, December 2, 2015

Looking for Love: Standing Out from the Crowd of Web Job Seekers (Ask Dr Web),
A List Apart, November 18, 2015

Ad Blocking and the Future of the Web,
The Observer, September 23, 2015

If Ever I Should Leave You: Job Hunting For Web Designers and Developers by Jeffrey Zeldman,
A List Apart, July 30, 2015

Publishing Versus Performance: Our Struggle for the Soul of the Web by Jeffrey Zeldman,
Medium, July 29, 2015

Web Standards and Responsive Typography—an Interview with Jeffrey Zeldman (transcription and 24-hour web type design of live interview conducted by Nick Sherman),
Typetester.org, June 14, 2015

Ask Dr Web: No Good Can Come of Bad Code, by Jeffrey Zeldman,
A List Apart, June 4, 2015

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Medium? by Jeffrey Zeldman,
Medium, April 20, 2015

Designing the Web with Jeffrey Zeldman,
The Web Ahead, March 18, 2015

Jesus and the Über Driver by Jeffrey Zeldman,
Medium, March 3, 2015

The FWA: A Week in the Life of … Jeffrey Zeldman,
February 24, 2015

Ask Dr Web № 3: The Love You Make by Jeffrey Zeldman,
A List Apart, February 12, 2015

A Holiday Wish by Jeffrey Zeldman,
24 ways, December 18, 2014

Ask Dr Web № 2: Help, My Portfolio Sucks! by Jeffrey Zeldman,
A List Apart, October 30, 2014

Jeffrey Zeldman: The Job Is Never Done, by Teddy Rhys,
Kontent, October 7, 2014

Ask Dr Web: The Doctor Is In, by Jeffrey Zeldman,
A List Apart, June 26, 2014

A History Lesson Apart – with Jeffrey Zeldman,
April 24, 2014

Jeffrey Zeldman Interview, The Great Discontent,
August 3, 2012

What Comes Next Is the Future
(documentary in progress), April 2014

Why Designers need to Craft Words Not Pixels: William Channer interviews Jeffrey Zeldman,
September 18, 2013

The Gently Mad Podcast: Jeffrey Zeldman,
September 19, 2013

An Event Apart Video: Jeffrey Zeldman – Content First,
(video), July 25, 2013

Industry-Leading Designers Share Their Current Top 3 Favorite Typefaces,
April 29, 2014

Jeffrey Zeldman: Ten Commandments of Modern Web Design,
Adobe.com, May 2013

Podcast 001, Part 1 – Gary Lockwood interviews Jeffrey Zeldman,
October 16, 2012

Devs respond to Opera WebKit switch, Craig Grannell,
.net Magazine, February 13, 2013

Large Type: One Web Designer Puts Content First in a Big Way by Anthony Wing Kosner,
Forbes, May 20, 2012

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