The new site is live, finally

After hunkering down for many hours the new site is officially live. The design process took a few extreme detours before I settled on a good compromise. My first plan was a very basic three-column layout with a primary left column for the portfolio and two narrower, secondary right columns for my services list and biographical information. I appreciated its simplicity but I eventually soured on the muted, brown earth tones that seemed drab compared to other more engaging sites.

Then I moved into a minimalism phase with Apple as my model. One of Apple’s defining strengths is its ability to destroy the unnecessary. By removing all distractions, the user can direct its focus to the task at hand. Minimizing visual noise requires identifying what is truly necessary, down to minor details like borders and background colors.

So with this goal I scrapped my first attempt and tried to focus the user on one thing: my portfolio. I had a fairly good concept in place before I realized that the ideal I was hoping to espouse was not entirely applicable to my situation. Apple is an established brand with a devoted user base already familiar with many of its products and using the home page to focus almost completely on a new or updated product is a logical approach.

I still wanted focus and simplicity, but I had to make room for basic pieces of information like an ‘About’ section and a list of services. I also decided on a bold, engaging color scheme that attempts to remain readable. I took navigation usability a little further by removing links to the page you’re on (with WordPress conditionals and some tricky CSS). WordPress’ heavy use of includes can lead to inappropriate markup so I spent some time adding conditionals to make sure the H1 tag on every page was actually describing that page’s content. I’m still unsatisfied with a few minor elements, but I have what I hope is a usable, accessible, and attractive design!

May 18th, 2008