After deciding to explore the world of freelance a few months back, I’ve decided to change up the website. New design, new brand, new content and resources. I’ve done a lot of research on the value of design and ROI, and I want to offer something that most designers.contractors.etc completely neglect.
As far as the new design goes, I think I’ve finally settled on something. How it only took two mock ups is beyond me, as designing for yourself is always the toughest challenge. It was strangely easier than any project I’ve ever designed for. Isn’t there some sort of saying along the lines of “if it doesn’t feel like work, it won’t work”? Well, I always get nervous when something feels too easy. Regardless, here’s the process I used to develop my own brand.
The Name
Point Brake was something I developed while still in high school. I was dreaming of starting a car modification shop with the guy I was dating, his brother, and one of his friends, and I came up with Point Brake as a possible name. It evolved from the term Point B (as in “from point A to point B”), and it was to have the tagline of “getting you to point B faster than the competition”.
Inspiration
I think what set my design process on the fast track was that I didn’t overthink it. I looked at my personality and style, what I’ve done in the past and some of my favorite things that have always inspired me. And, going along with the origin of the name, I kept in mind my unhealthy obsession for cars. I went to CG Textures (a site I can’t sing enough praises of) to look for some textures and images to possibly use in a design. I looked for things related to cars, but I also stumbled upon a beautiful image of some red silk fabric. From that venture, I developed this concept:
I imagined the centerpiece being a Flash element comprised of beautiful movement and navigation. The metal is cold, and the fabric image helped to soften it up. I thought this well illustrated the hardcore backend work that goes into creating designs/websites, but also the bit of a touch of luxury that the end-user of those designs/sites feel when they see them.
I wasn’t completely satisfied, though. This design doesn’t quite reflect my personal style, at least not as far as web design goes. After reading Elliot Jay Stocks’ take on what trends might be coming in 2009, a few thoughts were left swarming around in my head. His thought that trends might go back toward minimalism in the coming year reminded me of my roots, of my favorite design I’ve ever had for any personal website:
Now, by nature, I’ve generally never been one to follow trends. I’ve taken a lot of flack in the process of starting them, actually. As I’m still trying to figure out how to work these wings of [web] design, I’ve often just followed the crowd. If for no other reason, because those are the designs that clients expect to see. So, reading that article spurred a long train of thoughts which led me to realize that, hell, I might as well go back to the basics of my personal style–only with a new take on them. So, whether EJS is right or not, I’m resisting the temptation to follow my favorite trends and going back to my roots.
Coming Soon
The design is complete and already developed, the hierarchy is set, and the content is currently being conjured. I believe I’ve come up with a perfect solution for the portfolio (far better than my current set up), as well as a few other things I might drop in here or there. I’ll be using it as somewhat of a playground to experiment with a lot of different technologies I’ve been wanting to get some hands-on experience with, so that might force my timeline to slow down more than normal. But, hopefully I’ll have it up before embarking upon any major time consuming tasks.