New Site Part 1
This latest site update has been a long time coming and I think it’s the first that truly reflects me.
From 2002 to about a year ago my plan was to put everything I could under one brand – arkay. I thought creating something sounding like a business would bring clients in droves. After six years, I have learned that nothing is more powerful than my personal brand. It was me who was the driver, not some name I created.
With this change I focused more on increasing the value of my personal brand. I have mostly done this with social networking tools like facebook and twitter. I created my profiles, connected with friends, and have been regularly active. Nothing breakthrough and probably something any web professional should do. There was one thing that was missing and that was an updated site to help promote my brand and act as home base for all that I do.
Creating the experience
When starting this process I knew the first thing I needed to do was to create the content. I worked with a friend, a professional writer, to create some solid copy to explain very simply who I was and what I did. I was also able to develop short headlines, quips and descriptions for portfolio pieces. By getting copy first I could better plan the importance of each element on the page.
Using color and paint to create texture and focus I put together a first comp of my new site.
Ryan Keiser - Version A
For the most part I was happy with this and felt it accomplished what I needed. I felt it expressed my personality, got a lot of great colors working together and had a large solid banner explaining clearly what I did. But, in the end I just was not feeling it completely. There were too many unnecessary sections.
I decided to aim for putting everything on one page. I couldn’t think of a reason why I needed multiple pages. I understand that many Web design and development businesses are focused on providing as much information as possible and provide an exhaustive description of services they offer. I didn’t need that.
I also felt it was time to abandon the sprout and ground to sky feel and focus solely on color. I also didn’t want to create something that was fun, hip or trendy. I needed it to truly reflect who I was as a designer and a person and it needed to be something that would reflect me for some time.
I then put together my second comp.
Ryan Keiser - Version B
I was getting somewhere. I tweaked the statement that I had used previously to make it even clearer what I did. I used, “I create usable, accessible and colorful experiences.” I also explored removing as much navigation as possible and bringing all the content on to this one page. I wasn’t quite there. There were some things that I wanted to differentiate (work pieces and play pieces), but couldn’t get it to work right. I also wasn’t feeling the grid and wanted to break free as much as I could.
Using the previous comp, I expanded on it.
Ryan Keiser - Version C
There was a lot that I liked about this. I liked that it got everything moved to the front. I was able to separate the work and play content, but still treat them similarly. What got me excited the most was the color. I took a leap using color and shape to really express myself and differentiate me in the crowded pool.
Unfortunately the layout of the home page did not work well for a blog, so using the home page as a basis for look, I created a simple template that conveyed the same message, but made a blog usable and simple. Visiting http://ryankeiser.net/blog, you can see the difference.
I will cover the process of developing the WordPress template in a later post. In all, this process took me about six months to complete. There were many hurdles along the way, but I think I have a solid foundation with which to build my personal brand.
What do you think of the new design? Be honest, I can take it.
I think it’s nice and bright but a bit confused in parts. Why is “PREVIEW” randomly in capital letters on the home page, for instance? Why is the comment box so darned small? And why is there no box for me to type my website URL into – is it an anti-spam measure (which won’t work really since there’s no stopping nefarious types using the comment box)? Apart from that, pat on the back; worthy of the extra-special “FAV” from CSS Mania which took me here.
May 23, 2009 at 3:05 pmOh, sorry to double-comment, but what’s with the circular Gravatars? Also, what’s the font – nice to see you’re using Cufon?
May 23, 2009 at 3:06 pmThanks Josh. I’ll definitely look at some of those, especially expanding the comments box and adding a field to provide (and for me to link to commenters’ sites) a Web site address.
For the avatars there is a mask over them that was meant to give the impression of a quote bubble and the font I used was Dax.
May 23, 2009 at 9:16 pmYour site is beautiful! Love it! I know I’ve already sent out a Tweet about that but I wanna say it again
Jun 10, 2009 at 6:33 amHave a comment?