My Sketchbook

August 21st, 2010

Breaking down the SPD redesign

At the beginning of any project, you rely on your process. You gather the clients requirements, objectives, and all other necessary parameters. Then, you do some research and begin sketching out some ideas based on all of your requirements and research. But what happens, when there really are no client requirements, objectives, etc.? It's just you the designer and a blank canvas.

As a designer, I find designing for myself is the hardest challenge, as I am most definitely my own worst critic. Creating your own website is your opportunity to actually design for yourself and establish who you are as a designer. After, experimenting with several different ideas and directions, I kept going back to the drawing board, not content with where any of them were going.

Finally, I broke down the project as if I were a client and established requirements and objectives for the site. Once, I broke the project down in this sense, the ideas started flowing. My main personal requirements, besides the obvious, to create a site to display my work as a designer, was to establish myself as a proficient web designer and as a proficient print designer. But not one over the other. It was important to me, that I did not come across as just a web guy or print guy, but instead, a visual designer that can help build your brand.

To do this, I wanted to merge styles of both types of designs. By using elements such as the scanned paper and icons for the navigation, I feel both styles are accounted for in a unique way. The waves in the footer, were a personal touch, as I just love the beach!