Yes, a designer's site can be a sandbox
but I wanted to avoid this redesign from becoming something I refer to as "rearranging furniture".
I loved having a one-page site for the last several years... it was fun and easy to update (and quick to put up), but I could tell over the last six months that it wasn't doing its job. So during the redesign I was ruthless about finding a purpose of every element on the site. If you've ever attempted to do this by yourself, you know it isn't easy... but I think the time using Lowdownapp has really helped me view building sites in a similar way.
I have to admit, I was surprised at the results. Some new additions felt like a total throwback, yet they addressed the gaps in the previous "less is more" version of the site. Dropping things was refreshing... like titles on posts, commenting, redundant labeling, categorizing, or a cool footer that really didn't do anything meaningful. Of course these things have their place... but if I couldn't come up with a reason, I didn't include it.
On the outside, it's just a website... but the behind the scenes work made me feel like a real designer again.
RSS Feed
@paulducoudray