This is my playground

More than a Re-design, this site exists as a playground for me to tinker with modular layouts, responsive design and to experiment with html5 and CSS3.

For a few years, this site has been a simple place for me to through out samples of work, and personal notes. Different themes were used as a way to refresh the look without slowing me down. The version you are viewing today is the first version of jeffrummel.com that was designed by Jeff Rummel. It was built on the backbone of the wonderful html5 reset theme, with too many modifications to count.

HTML5 & CSS3

Web designers and developers know html5 and CSS3 are the future. It will take a while for the w3c to adopt it as a standard, but as browser manufacturers and the needs of users refuse to wait for that standardization to take affect, it’s not easy for me to sit idly by knowing there is a more semantic way of defining and delivering content. I have had a few sites on my local server for months, but there really is no fun in that. I wanted to test-drive it, put a site built in html5 and CSS3 out into the world, see how it handles.

According to the analysis conducted by the Martin Prosperity Institute of the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Lancaster County is projected to add between 1,500 and 100,000 jobs by 2018. This would be an 8-10% growth in jobs overall.

The service class will grow between 764 and 50,000 jobs over the next eight years, with a percentage growth in the service industry between 9 and 10%. This study goes on to show an overall share of between 40 and 50% of all jobs will be in the service industry. 45% of the U.S. workforce is a part of the service class, so it looks like Lancaster will be a shining example of the U.S. Average.

I certainly never gave any thought to changing my physical environment at work. I interface with my digital desktop, and make sure there is plenty of elbow room on the physical one. Life goes on and work moves forward. Until now, I never approached my work space the way I have my living space. I do, in fact, spend more waking hours there then anywhere else. I certainly do the majority of my creative work there. But I went years without ever switching things up.

When I started this business in 2006, I was working out of my apartment and shortly moved into a co-op space where I stayed for a little over two years. My (then) partner and I would get inspired by talking about growing and expanding, hiring new employees, designing and getting our own office. I dreamed of a work space so clean and modern it looked like Herman Miller and the Eames’s created a Justice League style team to design the office specifically for our company. A flagship of technology driven business. A space that is sleek, modern, paperless and wireless. In my naivete I saw change and growth as events, something to happen suddenly, rapidly, after a long period of toiling away behind a desk. (This perspective was no doubt just as much a product of youth as a product of all of those garage start-up features in business magazines.) In reality the business itself evolves over time, growing everyday, and change is most noticeable when looking back.

As the business grew, I dreamed less of big changes, I focused my creative energy on my work and my clients. When it came time to move into a new space, I realized many of those dreams had turned into goals. I was now facing the the mission of finding a new office, one that reflects my business as it stands now and how it will grow. Good is a two man shop, for more then two years it’s operated in a co-op space with as many as four other small businesses. The co-op was good for me and I knew I wasn’t prepared to give up the relationships and camaraderie I got from my peers. Through conversations with Kevin and Luke my fellow co-op members, I realized they were in the same position, and the three of us had gained a lot from sharing work space. Each of our businesses were transitioning, and all three of us needed a space that could allow us to grow into or grow out of. So the three of us began looking for new spaces together.

After a few months of looking, Kevin discovered a space opening up across the street from where we were. What used to be the second floor of Shaub’s Department Store, had remained empty for 16 years before becoming a snow and skate shop. Behind a thick coat of bright orange paint, and display racks for cloths and gear, was the remnants of an art deco children’s toy and clothing department. With classic art deco lines built-in bookcases, storage and generations old hardwood floors, the space was immediately inspiring. The building manager refinished the floors, and we were able to talk him into painting an accent wall Good Red. We decided to take the members from the existing co-op and invite them into the new space, changing little more then ownership over the space.

The lease was signed, renovations made, boxes packed, moved and unpacked. The new co-op had its members and as part lease-holder (and only designer) I was given carte blanche over the interior design of the new space.