The web is turning 20. Has it lived up to its early promise? I say no. The web was intended as a space for sharing human creativity and ideas. It’s been partially successful in that role. But it’s become dominated by an advertising economy that relies on confining creators — especially designers — to an ever smaller box. I’ll make the case that the trend can be reversed, if designers are willing to re-assert themselves. But getting there will require puncturing some comfortable myths.
![mb-hedcut-web](https://dqdzq01yr6ixf.cloudfront.net/uploads/2012/02/mb-hedcut-web1.png)
Matthew Butterick
Matthew Butterick is a typographer, writer, and lawyer in Los Angeles. After graduating from Harvard, he worked as a type designer for David Berlow and Matthew Carter. He then founded Atomic Vision, a web-design studio, which was acquired by Red Hat. He attended UCLA law school and became a lawyer…