The past year has left me feeling scattered and incomplete, like a half finished thought. Distracted, unproductive, unfulfilled. I’m making a conscious effort to refocus my time and attention and produce mindful, high quality work – starting with a cleanup of this website.
Instead of adding as many animations, features, and case studies as possible, this iteration reflects my values of performance, simplicity, and craft. Personal websites are used to describe yourself, over-engineer, showcase your work, and write. I just want mine to describe me, what I’m thinking about, and what I’m building.
Such a simple goal was a struggle; it feels like everything I build must use some novel interaction. Like what if each page was really a frame on an infinite canvas? What if your site was actually a lil OS? What if each page had changing weather and climates? It feels like a step backward to land on a simple collection of documents and links. But I also simplified as much as possible in pursuit of better maintenance. My previous site felt disingenuous and abandoned, while in this iteration there’s practically nothing to keep up-to-date.
Another mental roadblock was this “tension” between public and private. Am I building a personal website for you, or for me? One of my initial goals was to build a place that felt like my home on the web. A private space full of self-worth. That didn’t happen, at all, because I don’t think a site can (effectively) be both for you and others. If you leave your home unlocked, it is no longer a home, but an exhibition. I’ll keep working on this.
Anyways, here it is. A small improvement, beginning a better 23rd year ahead.
Colophon
Set in Inter, Söhne, and Newsreader with a particular focus on typography that feels good. Built with Next.js with JavaScript disabled; you don’t need it to read documents, and there’s no interactivity. Deployed with Vercel.
Inspired by Frank Chimero, Manuel Moreale, and Carl Barenbrug .