Sparkbox Foundry Articles

Catch Kasey, Nathan, and Lindsey at CodeMash this January 2019 where their sessions will cover design systems, unit testing Sass, and CSS architecture.

In our first issue of "Let’s Talk," we tackle design systems. Should you build one? How do you make sure yours is successful? We provide different perspectives and examples to help you figure out what’s right for your organization.

She's a rock climber, piano player, and designer-turned-developer. Meet Melissa, the newest member of the Sparkbox team.

Our frontend design apprentices showcased their culminating projects and shared some fun, creative, and clean ways of how they approached animation.

Gaining reliable forecasting is monumental for sustainable business practices. Sparkbox has worked hard to collect insights that help us plan and manage our projects, and support our clients and team. Rob Harr, Sparkbox's VP, will share the ins and outs of forecasting and its value at the Bureau of Digital's upcoming Forecasting Workshop.

Get a behind-the-scenes peak at Ethan's latest side project in this video from our biweekly all-staff demo.

A self-starting globetrotter who uses his love of language and tech to change the world. Meet Yosevu, our new full-stack developer.

Our six-month apprenticeship is full-stack and full awesome. Apply by October 1, 2018.

Crafter. Mandarin speaker. Writer of graphic novels. Meet Corinne, the latest full-stack apprentice turned full-time Sparkboxer.

Drummer. Community volunteer. Former robot-builder. Meet Byron, our new full-stack developer.

Soccer player. Avid cook. Speaker of five languages. Meet Nana, our newest developer.

How are design systems changing the way our industry works? We conducted a survey, and are excited to share findings on the benefits and challenges of this impactful, systemic work.

We’re excited about our new “Making Design Systems Work” workshop, where we’ll help you navigate the challenges of building and maintaining the right design system to meet your needs.

The latest addition to the Sparkbox family is both a Pittsburgher and a craft beer enthusiast. Meet Lindsey.

He's a JavaScript pro with a background in explosives. Meet Bob, the newest dev at Sparkbox.

Ready to level up your design skills by learning how to create smart web design concepts and craft the code to build them? Our four-month Frontend Design Apprenticeship is waiting for you! Apply by March 25th.

She's Sparkbox's newest problem-solving powerhouse and Project Manager.

She's an American muscle car aficionado and a tenacious coder. Meet Heather, our newest spirited developer.

Meet Gary, the incredibly interesting technomad, citizen scientist, and newest member of the Sparkbox team.

He's jumped out of planes and played in a heavy metal band. Meet our newest dev and dog-lover: Jon.

Our six-month apprenticeship is full stack and full awesome. Apply by October 15, 2017.

Coder by day, and author by night. Meet our newest hire and calligraphy enthusiast: Katy.

She has the brains and the brawn. Meet Anastasia, Sparkbox’s new powerlifting, hockey-playing, do-it-all developer.

Conference season continues. We share our presentations and takeaways from ConvergeSE.

Small in stature but big on efficiency—meet Leah, our newest logistical master and fellow coffee lover.

She brings to Sparkbox a rounded perspective of the web and zealous hunger for learning. Welcome Lindsay, a full-stack developer and chocolate chip cookie connoisseur.

She tackles project management and UX efforts by day and navigates the ukulele and crochet needle by night. Say hello to Julie, our newest project manager.

With great excitement and anticipation, we announce the next chapter for Sparkbox.

He's committed to quality code. He's a life-long learner and meetup enthusiast. Welcome Patrick as Sparkbox's newest frontend developer.

Our newest Business Development Director is all about relationships. Meet Masten.

Andrew's been delighting us with his methodical creativity since his apprenticeship at Sparkbox. Meet our newest frontend designer.

Our six-month apprenticeship is full stack and full awesome. Apply by October 31, 2016.

A hunger for good food, good music, and good code has driven Nate—all the way to our Sparkbox offices. Meet the newest member of our team.

Comfortable with a novel, keyboard, or sword in her hand, Catherine brings an extra helping of passion and commitment to the Sparkbox team.

Curious, hilarious, and ready for any challenge. Meet our newest team member and Project Coordinator.

A writing project designed to help us produce and consume unique perspectives on topics relevant to the web industry.

She's a maker and a baker. Meet Kasey, a creator and problem-solver.

A few thoughts from the leadership of Sparkbox about our industry’s inclusivity problems.

Don't miss your chance to apply for next year's apprenticeships. We are taking applications now through the end of October.

A smooth operator when it comes to numbers.

Bike rider. Thoughtful researcher. Father. Developer.

Come hang out with Brad Frost for a day to learn about Atomic Design in Dayton, OH.

We love CodePen. We love Converge. We love nerds! Let's all hang out and share our joy at ConvergeSE.

A roundup of our favorite events, talks, and takeaways, along with a challenge for organizers next year.

Sparkbox is looking for a UX leader to take us to the next level.

Sparkbox is looking for driven individuals to join our team as full-time web developers.

And we feel great! 2014 has been a blur, and we're so thankful for every single person who contributed to making it great.

Melissa recently joined the Sparkbox team as a planner, but it’s tough to put what she does into one word. She believes that building quality sites and applications requires a lot of roles working together, and Melissa is interested in understanding just about every single one of those roles.

An outgoing extrovert, our new team member Katie digs design and tacos. Learn more about this kooky, creative creature.

Nathan's love of teaching and sharing made him a great fit to join our team as a developer. Meet this dedicated dude.

A big fan of music and code, Daniel joins our team as a developer.

Don't miss your chance to apply for next year's apprenticeships. We're taking applications now through the end of October.

After impressing us for six months with her determination and skill as an apprentice, Divya is joining us as a fulltime developer.

The workshop series that gives you a chance to engage with people making timeless things on the web. These are the people you respect and follow—the people shaping our industry.

If you love collaboration, can manage responsive frontend and web application projects well, and can also do something else super well, we'd love to have you join our team!

Health junkie. World traveller. And ping pong nut.

Together we can build a better, stronger web. Find out more about our workshops and help us make the web better.

We had the privilege of hosting the first Build Right workshops of 2014 at our Dayton headquarters. We loved it and so did our attendees! We’re all polished and ready to bring the love your way. Join us!

Hear Don Livanec's experience transforming a Rails server app into an Ember SPA app.

Be the first to attend the 2014 Build Responsively workshop and our brand new workshop, Frontend Tooling, before all the other cool kids do. Join us at our office in Dayton, OH February 24 and 25. Come for the great workshops and brilliant conversation. Stay for the delicious food and a homemade tequila sour from our favorite local bartender.

Let’s build a better web together. We have high hopes for 2014, and we want you to join us on this ride with new workshops, new inspiration, and new ideas. Let’s get started!

We've had a crazy, exciting 2013. And we're looking forward to an even better 2014.

Our newest developer now changes diapers, but he once changed gravity.

Where our traveling RWD workshop has been and where it's going in 2013.

Having a hard time picking SXSW talks? We rounded up some winners that feature our team. Check them out and vote.

Crunch-time scenarios are a fact of life. It doesn't matter how well you plan. So you'd better come up with ways to cope or learn to enjoy the fetal position. The team shares how we each get through those long days and nights.

Adapter. Tinkerer. White glasses enthusiast.

You might have noticed we've gotten bigger. Now our office has too!

An enthusiast for words and the web—Emily joins the Sparkbox team as Content Strategist and Project Manager.

Our new front-end web developer, Marshall, is an actual rock star. We probably don’t need to say more than that, but we will.

We’re happy to introduce you to Jody—sassy, new team member and great gal.

New dad. New-ish Sparkboxer. Lover of efficiency.

We, the 2013 Sparkbox Apprentices, have built Threeve: an app to help you track your Jeopardy score, share your total, and finally achieve the acclaim you so rightfully deserve. All in a beautifully designed and written responsive Ruby and Rails web app.

The Sparkbox development team gains some more awesome talent. Meet Mike Yockey, the latest experienced addition to an already great team.

Introducing Ryann, new Sparkboxer and longtime popcorn fanatic. We think you're going to like her.

Our second round of apprenticeships are coming around quick, and we're ready to accept applications from hungry web grasshoppers starting now.

We have someone we'd like for you to meet. His name is Jeremy, and he's the newest member of the Sparkbox family.

A quick update of how 2013 is shaping up for our traveling RWD workshop now in its second year.

A quick look back at 2012, and a look ahead toward 2013.

Introducing our newest team member, Patrick Simpson — developer, soldier, family man, and hooligan.

Another great addition to our front-end development team, Adam Simpson is also an all around nice guy. Get to know him.

We're excited to introduce you to Ethan Muller, a great addition to our front-end development team. Take a moment to get to know him. We like him. You will too.

The College of Mount St. Joseph has the distinction of having one of the first fully responsive collegiate websites in the country, and we had a great time doing it.

After our first appearance at SXSW in 2012, we're ready for more. We humbly ask you to vote for our panels and bring us back to SXSW in 2013!

Our second Build Responsively Workshop is in the books. A special guest appearance from the über smart Ethan Marcotte and some fantastic sponsors made for a fun two-day event.

What's it like interning with Sparkbox? Pretty wicked awesome if you ask Summer 2012 interns Linnie and Ethan. (Technically, yes, we did pay them to say that.)

Sparkbox is taking the Build Responsively Workshops on the road again, hitting Northern Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. It's time to roll up our sleeves with the great local talent of these hard-working cities.

Ben will be sharing a workshop on responsive web design at Refresh LX this September among some of our industry heroes.

Drew's article on design process in the age of the responsive web was published to industry-leading Smashing Magazine this past week. Pretty awesome.

Announcing our second responsive workshop, slated for July 9-10 in beautiful Columbus, Ohio.

We're proud to announce the recent launch of Stry.us. An unconventionally designed news site for an unconventional news organization.

Andy shows how you can use Photoshop’s “Layer Comps” feature to mimic Fireworks’ helpful “States” functionality. It's pretty awesome.

Our first ever Build Responsively workshop went even better than we could have hoped for. In no small part due to awesome attendees.

We reminisce about our fledgling days in the world of web and design with our stories of first jobs in the industry.

We pull our skeletons from their closets in this embarrassingly honest (and pretty funny) look at our first websites.

Oh yeah, they have robots. Which Pickd Bot are you?

Merry Christmas, happy New Year, and an awesome Decemberween to you all.

A quote from Charles F. Kettering about the value of standards.

The Sparkbox team takes a trip down memory lane to reflect on those who inspired them to work in the wonderful world of the web.

Believe it or not, we do occasionally take our fingers off our keyboards to eat. Check out the team’s list of favorite food-related websites.