The pandemic gave me me an itching need to be distracted on times where actual work wasn't distracting enough, specially in those early COVID days in which it seemed like we were witnessing the end. As much that feels like an epic overreaction today I'm glad that, during those times, as many other designers, I started building my personal website.
I've been a professional designer for 5 years. I've been part-time freelancing pretty much since the day 1, full-time for 2 years now. I managed to get by without a website for all this time, although I'm convinced it was purely out of luck. It's a relief to see this live and working and, as much as just it's a simple portfolio site at this point, it's truly a landmark for me, and I'm eager to see how it evolves.
I studied design in college and during that course I also learned how to code. I liked to code but, it always felt that knowing how to do it was only to allow me overcome the obstacle of putting a design to life, instead of an enjoyment by it self. While it's certainly makes my life easier having that bit of knowledge, it doesn't feel like it's something I should especialize in, specially given that there are so many talented people capable of doing it better than me.
I used webflow to build this website. It's a tool I advise my clients to work with, and I'm glad to have chosen to build my own website as well. It's the perfect combination of a design freedom, and technology power that a designer needs to put good website live, while making it stupid easy for anyone to manage their site as well. It's not limitless and it certainly won't put all developers out of business. But it's game changer for designers, and it's simplicity actually helps the creative process, instead of the other way around.
Designing a website can be a simple task, but when it's your own, not so much. Gathering all your work and thinking about it in a way it is ready to present to the world really is a whole other story. Specially for a chronic over-thinker like myself. It's daunting in ways I wasn't expecting. "I am doing too much? Am I doing too little? Why does everyone else's work look so much more attractive than mine? How does everyone else do it?". Eventually I found some focus to overcome all of this. And it started by stop listening to what everyone else is saying a portfolio should look like.
The goal is never to show everything, but simplifying the projects I work so hard on didn't feel right to me either, as it wasn't going to be an actual representation of how that project developed.
So, what's here is my understanding of a compromise. Some projects are probably overly presented (cof cof The Admin). Other not so much. But it's truest way I found to show what I can do, and what can be expected of me, if you choose to work with me.
Anyway, welcome to my humble website. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to reach out.
Regardless of what you do for a living, you can and you should add that tiny bit of magic to your job. It won't cost you anything. It won't take you more time, or be harder to do. But if you're serving someone, going that extra mile makes you look better and helps making the organisation you represent more trustworthy.
