New site, new blog

My old website ran on WordPress, and over time it turned into something I avoided touching. Changing layouts was a real struggle: wrestling with a pre-built theme meant massive CSS overrides just to get, sort of, what I wanted.

Basic site management, plugin updates, the occasional broken thing, made me hesitant to even open the site. I stopped working on it altogether.

01What I really wanted

Not much. Okay, done! Okay, done! A simple publishing flow that has writing and getting it live at roughly the same effort. I like Markdown and LaTeX for that reason. I also wanted control of layout and design. So I can change myself in code, without constantly wrestling with a bulky theme system.

That’s why I picked Astro to rebuild my personal website. Astro’s a static site generator built around a simple workflow: write a document, drop it in a folder, and Astro takes care of the formatting. It’s similar, in spirit, to a publishing workflow I designed for Atrias a few years ago.

No database, no admin panel, no plugin ecosystem to keep patched. Where I do want something interactive, it slots in as a self-contained component on just that page. I’m curious to see how it performs once I start integrating some weird tools.

I’m happy with the result: plain static files that load fast.

02Out with the old

Rebuilding the site was also a good excuse Well, it wasn’t really an excuse. I was throwing away my old site, so I was kind of forced to redo it. Well, it wasn’t really an excuse. I was throwing away my old site, so I was kind of forced to redo it. to refresh the rest of it: my portfolio, my illustration work, my typefaces. As most designers know, reworking a portfolio is a ****-load of work.

To give you an idea of the contrast: rewriting the portfolio’s content was ten times the work of setting up Astro, building all the components, and designing the site.

Redoing a portfolio is one of those tasks I always postpone until I need it. I didn’t really need a new portfolio right now. The luxury of not having any pressure allowed me to take my time and finish it on my own terms. I didn’t really need a new portfolio right now. The luxury of not having any pressure allowed me to take my time and finish it on my own terms. Then I have to scramble to figure out what needs updating, and the result is always rushed. I hadn’t looked at mine in close to five years. It needed real work.

03Read more, write more

So the plan from here: write more on the things that keep me busy. Design, systems thinking, platforms, and what design leadership actually looks like inside complex, large organizations. And whatever else I happen to be making in my free time, since that’s usually where the more interesting thinking happens anyway.

So no fixed schedule, no fixed theme. Partly, this is a habit I want to rebuild: keeping better track of what I’m reading, thinking, and making. And to become a better writer.

Let’s see where it goes. Let me know if you find some bugs, I’d love to fix them. Let me know if you find some bugs, I’d love to fix them.