I used to think that Paul Rand was my only god.
In my first life, I learned the sanctity of the grid, the weight of a Swiss serif, and the logic of a logo that could hold the world together. Then came the 90s—my second life. We tore the grid apart. We lived in the deconstructed chaos of Ray Gun, David Carson, and the digital birth pangs of Emigre. We weren’t just « designing »; we were breaking things just to see how they’d look in the dark.
Now, standing here in 2026, I’m looking for a third life.
I’m tired of the « Director’s Chair. » I don’t want to go back to the heavy render-bars of AfterEffects or the clunky timelines of MacroMind Director. I don’t want to get lost in the cold, mathematical geometry of Blender or Three.js. I’ve realized I don’t want to build « worlds »—I just want to play with the ink again.
The 2026 Breakpoint
We’ve been discussing how to bring that 90s tactile soul into the React ecosystem. I was torn between the 3D depth of Three.js and the 2D precision of GSAP.
The verdict? I’m choosing the digital scalpel.
In this third life, I’m embracing GSAP (GreenSock) as my primary instrument. It’s the closest thing to having a physical printing press inside my code. Here is why this path matters for the « me » of the future:
- The Power of the Split: Using SplitText to break React strings into individual characters—not for « clean » UI, but to let letters bleed, stagger, and fall across the screen like they did on a deconstructed lightbox in 1994.
- The Living Font: We’re finally at a point where Variable Fonts are fully mature. I can use GSAP to make a typeface « breathe »—changing its weight and width in real-time as the user scrolls, blurring the line between static layout and living organism.
- The Play, Not the Work: While Three.js offers a stage, GSAP offers a canvas. It keeps me in the DOM, working with the CSS and fonts I’ve loved for thirty years, without the « Blender fatigue » of vertices and light-sources.
In the 90s, we had to wait for things to render. In 2026, with the @gsap/react hook and WebGPU, the reaction is instant. It’s kinetic. It’s the « joy of discovery » I thought I’d lost when I put down the X-Acto knife.
Paul Rand gave me the foundation. The 90s gave me the courage to break it. And 2026? 2026 is giving me the tools to finally make the letters move the way I’ve always seen them in my head.