Redesign, Part 1

Doing it right-ish

Given my newfound role as a manager, and all of the process and research experience that goes with it, I’m going to try to be a little more methodical about how I redesign danielboyle.net this time.

What’s good

  • Flexibility – it displays well in on tablets and desktop
  • Content updates – PHP build sit off of an XML file

What’s bad

  • There’s little sense of personality.
  • With more of my day job focused on thinking and writing and less on pushing pixels, that work gets segregated to my blog
  • Better integration of side projects
  • The smartphone experience isn’t ideal.
  • Lacking animation
  • Bloated code

Notice I left out design. Really, the design is OK. But it looks a bit like a wordpress template, and given how I want to change the content, I don’t think it’ll work.

But really, content is king

Yes, I pulled out an awful cliche, but it’s true. I have a couple school projects masquerading as “personal” projects. I’m over 10 years out – that’s not right. Also, there are many projects that don’t represent my. Yes, that Tecaté Chicas calendar was fun to make, and has given my great insight into the retouching process, but that’s not the type of work I want to do. Also, even outside of increasing my writing about design, work, craft, and life, my projects deserve more than a couple sentences – particularly when they’re collaborations with other designers, developers, and managers.

Why will this time be different?

I’m taking advantage of Evernote to catalogue everything I like when I look and individual portfolios and agency sites and preemptively preparing content. Also, for once in my life – I’m doing this because I want to, not because I’m afraid of getting laid off tomorrow.