Framer Interviews

Framer Creators: Lee Black, from print to Best Framer Designer

3:37

2.7K views

Apr 13, 2026

About this lesson

Framer Creators Ep. 2 shifts it's focus to legendary designer, Lee Black, founder of 1042 Studio. From a background in print to building stunning websites and components in Framer, Lee is a man whose curiosity and experimental nature has contributed to a portfolio of remarkable design work that he then gives back to the entire community. He learned the rules, broke them, and reaped the rewards.

Lee Black:

Twitter: https://x.com/mrblackstudio

Business: https://www.1042.studio/

Follow: https://framer.link/yt-x

Learn: https://framer.link/yt-academy

0:02My background 0:05is perhaps quite interesting because I'm 0:08a rule breaker and actually my mother 0:10used to say to me when I was a kid she 0:11would say that rules were made for 0:13breaking. Uh and I stick by it and I 0:16love challenging the status quo. I 0:19always just have this burning desire 0:22to create. [music]0:24I'm Lee. I'm the founder of 1042 Studio.0:28I started having an interest in design 0:31before I I went to college [music] to to 0:33study design and a lot of that came from 0:36and vinyl. I was really interested in 0:39the way that the the artworks were 0:41composed. It was interesting [music]0:42back then because you did a lot of um 0:45printing on acetates. You did a lot of 0:47cutting out from magazines [music] and 0:48you know building up your own 0:50typographies. It was very slow back then 0:52compared to the speed that we run it 0:53today. But it was also super [music]0:55interesting just to do things with your 0:56hands. when Flash came on, you can do 0:59all these kind of original animations 1:00you can build inside a canvas. For me,1:02it just kind of blew my mind because the 1:04web was such a kind of static and boring 1:06place. And it was probably my first 1:08taste of, you know, becoming an 1:11interaction designer. And I think it's a 1:13wonderful time that we're in where, you 1:15know, I didn't have the tools that we 1:18have today 25 years ago. I haven't 1:21actually never felt so excited about 1:23anything uh since Framework came along.1:26My first foray into using framer was 1:29[music] um yeah just building some basic 1:32landing pages just to get the feel 1:33[music] for it and that was the real 1:36getting into you know asking the 1:38question of what can framework really do 1:40apart from just being a web builder had 1:42a lot of fun since I think trailer is a 1:44great platform because you know you have 1:47this canvas [music] you can be 1:48completely free in there if you have an 1:51idea you can build something extremely 1:53quick and and you can ship it super past 1:56on the same day.1:57>> Since then, I've released around 26 2:00components,2:01maybe move a bit more into a space that 2:03I really love working and serving within 2:06the framework community.2:08It it gives me a place where I can 2:10continue pushing, you know, how far can 2:12we go with components?2:13>> Uh, and yeah, just continue this 2:15journey.2:16>> Designers need to understand that 2:17[music] we have this platform where you 2:19can dream up anything and build it, but 2:22it also doesn't have to follow 2:23traditions. I I've always had this kind 2:25of passion for for music over the years 2:27and I find that [music] music has been 2:29something that really helps me cope with 2:31my emotions. You know, I I could be 2:33listening to a piece of music and it can 2:36inspire something visually in my mind 2:38and I can combine that with the [music]2:40tools that we have today. The other 2:42thing is to also design with story in 2:45mind. [music] Good design will draw you 2:47in, but you know, if there's no meaning 2:49or story behind it, then you can quickly 2:51lose interest. [music]2:52If you have the skills and you're 2:53passionate about what you're doing, I I 2:55I believe anyone can turn their 2:58framework skills into a business, you 3:00know, if if you're going to go and set 3:01up a studio, you have to be passionate 3:03about it and you have to [music] be 3:04willing to work hard. So, yeah,3:07Framework changed my life in a really 3:09positive way and and like I've said 3:11before, it reminded me of the early days 3:14of why I really got passionate about 3:18design. It's a bit of a framer 3:19obsession. You know, I open framer and I 3:21feel like anything is possible. You have 3:23an idea, you can build it.

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