Setting Out to Stand Out
Creating my portfolio website was an important project for me, as it allowed me to merge my design sensibilities with newfound coding skills. I wanted the site to reflect my personality and approach to work, which led me to choose a bright, energetic color palette of complementary blue-purple and yellow. Bold fonts and capital letters gave the design a stronger visual identity while remaining simple. My goal was to strike balance between professional, personal, and exciting. I wanted visitors to leave with a clear understanding of who I am and what I can create. The container that houses my work is a reflection of my work itself, so I wanted to make sure this website was beautiful, useful, and functional.
Designing Through Development
I began by designing the site in Figma, where I created layouts for a few pages. However, as someone new to web development, translating my design into code brought many challenges. The website evolved as I started coding, with simplifications made to accommodate my growing understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This iterative process taught me how design and development inform one another, especially when you're learning and doing both simultaneously. Starting with zero knowledge of web development, I worked one step at a time, researching and solving to create a responsive and interactive website that alligns with my inital design vision.
Looking Back
While I'm proud of the outcome, I can now see countless opportunities for improvement. Since building this website, I've learned more advanced techniques like React.js, CSS variables, and modern development practices, all of which would streamline and elevate the site today. These changes would simplify the source code and allow for easier updating and additons. I plan on some day revisiting this project to implement these improvements, but for now, I'm happy with the site as it stands.