Allow me, if you are interested, in sharing some of the decisions I made when designing my personal website (this one).
Let me make it very clear first. I am no graphical designer. I have never been trained or educated to become a graphical designer. If you have a keen eye, and can tell which typeface I am using on this website in one glance, I guess my declaration is redundant. However, what I do believe myself to be, is simply a builder. I love building things, and I learn tools that are necessary for the job. So learning as much as I could about color theory, typography, layout, spacing, brand importance and user experience has led me to be able to build a website for my own thoughts. The necessity of graphical design to this site was apparant during the planning phase.
Let's run through the planning real quick:
Purpose:
To present myself to the world via: my inner thoughts and my work, and to provide it with ways to get a hold of me. Decision: Three pages besides the front page: Thoughts, Apps, and Contact.
Target Audience:
Anyone who understands even a little bit about programming.
Decision: Logo can have syntax in it. It's unique, shows what I am about, and only relevant to users that I am targetting.
Emotions to be generated:
To show that I am full of energy and yet intelligent enough to make good decisions.
Decision: Color pallete of orange and blue to create the mood along with white for simplicity and trust. A reccomended emotion for any professional.
First page impression:
To greet the world, and introduce myself. Along with a picture without smiling like a dork.
Decision: Photo of self looking at the greeting. Trustworthiness + attention directed towards the end goal.
More (Typography, spacing, etc..):
Get in touch! I would love to take you through, and show off, all the remaining little decisions that I have made on my website!
This website was created using Jekyll and is hosted on Github.
