I started off with the most common trends of today, noise filtered background, 1px borders and a lot more, but ended up removing them one by one, till there was nothing left to remove from the design.
If you are reading this, you probably already know me through Twitter, Facebook or one of my blogs. However, in the unlikely event that you do not, I would recommend you to check the About page and if you like the vibes then feel free to connect with me.
Idea
“Perfection (in design) is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but rather when there is nothing more to take away.”
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
This personal adobe in the interwebs has been long in the making. At first I had this idea of a single page showing all my nodes among social networks in one place. But then, thanks to Tim Van Damme, it became a trend and I was too afraid to follow it in fear of being bashed out (needless to say, I was wrong). That gave way to the idea of a full fledged portfolio. However, with the frequency of posts at Inspiring Pixel going down to once a month due to lack of time, I decided it was time to have a medium that allows me to publish my views on things I am very passionate about (read Web, Design, Apple and Geekery) without forcing me to jeopardise my other commitments. This led to the addition of the Journal aptly titled “Incoherent Thoughts”. The integration of Pangaea, my Tumblr Blog was only a matter of time.
Design
As mentioned, I worked with the design backwards, removing all that I can from my initial iterations untill there was nothing “removable” left which did not have a functional or emotional role to play which could not be further compromised. So while the design may appear as bland or boring to many, underlying it is a simplicity that has grown over me during the design phase. I had made the colorless version and left it in my design folder for a month or so. It was only when I reopened it that I knew at that instant that this was the design I would go ahead with. The reason for the decision to go forward with it was also supplemented by the fact that I like to think of it as characteristic of my design skills. Hopefully with time and experience I can do justice to the colors. The design is based on the 960px grid though some elements have been aligned against the grid as an when needed. I wanted the site to be different from anything that is out there while at the same time being a mirror of my true personality, and I sincerely hope I did a decent job at it.
Typography
Before you jump to see my font stacks, my line heights in the CSS 0r even the very basic aliasing of text on Windows, please read this with patience. I am no expert at typography. Having said that, I know a thing or two and I have applied those to the maximum of my abilities in the design. The native font stack uses Adobe Caslon Pro, Hoefler Text, Garamond, and Baskerville before falling to Times New Roman in case of unavailability. The exquisite typography was something I could not part away with due to its aesthetic value if you may say so. At the same time, I use Georgia as the default body text for posts with no exclusive styling (like this one) to enhance readability. Also with all the magic of @font-face somehow traditional or rather overused fonts like Georgia and Times have a new place all of a sudden.
Why Art Direction?
I am a designer, however not a full time one. I am in my last month of graduate studies as an engineer after which I shall be working with some great folks as an Associate Analyst at Dunnhumby. This means I work on projects and designs more out of my passion for design than the very need for it to support my livelihood. Having said that, while it is good for the blissfulness of soul and sanity of mind, it also means the flow of work is not regular. As any designer would tell you, being out of touch with designing is a bad thing, a very bad one indeed (unless you are having a burnout). So to maintain my promiscuity with design and give a platform to my thoughts, art direction was the way to be. I know people have been catching it like flu with a new art-directed blog coming up every week, but for my case it is the best way to stay in touch with design and expand my horizons as a designer. So forgive me if the post I design is not upto your taste or if it is just not readable in your primitive browser.
Imperfections
While I have released the site, I know there are many folds to be ironed, especially in terms of design. I know the Search in the footer looks hideous, just like I know that the logo on the top has 1 pixel blur as compared to the border in the navbar or that the “T” and “K” in the logo are not perfectly aligned due to mismatching serifs. Speaking of logo, fellow designer Naina Redhu has been kind enough to create a logo for me in return for a web design and I am really excited about this exchange deal. I also know that the site does not validate or that the design breaks on an iPhone (I am yet to find a solution to this). So while I am aware of these imperfections and probably many more which I shall hope to receive from you in the comments, please stick around while I iron these out over time.
Request
I am here to learn as much as I can. So if there is a bug you find, or an example of bad design you see on this site, please feel free to guide me in the right direction. I am just getting started and I am sure most of you out there know a lot more than me and it feels safe to be watched over by such a great community. I would also appreciate if you leave your feedback about the design of the site in the comments and spread the word around. Ah! I almost forgot, do check the 404 Error Page.
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