— Ethan Marcotte

Ethan Marcotte is a renowned independent designer based in Boston, known for his impressive career in web design. With 15 years of experience, Marcotte has worked with prestigious clients such as New York Magazine, the Sundance Film Festival, The Boston Globe, and People magazine. However, he gained the most recognition for coining the term responsive web design back in 2010.

Marcotte's journey in the web industry began unexpectedly. As a literature major in university, he started experimenting with web design using Photoshop. Eventually, he found himself immersed in this new medium and fell in love with the industry because of the people involved.

Responsive web design was born from Marcotte's encounter with John Allsopp's article on the Dao of Web Design in 2000. Allsopp's article opened Marcotte's eyes to the idea of embracing the web's flexibility and moving away from the confines of print design. This led him to develop the concept of responsive design, which allows websites to adapt to different platforms and user preferences.

Drawing inspiration from responsive architecture, Marcotte envisioned a conversation between users and designs, where the design itself responds to the needs of the user. This idea of adaptability and interaction became the foundation of responsive web design. Join Ethan Marcotte at Generate New York, where he will be a keynote speaker, and use the code generate100 to get $100 off your ticket at checkout this week