New Portfolio Design. Again.

Anyone that knows me well enough can tell you I'm hardly satisfied with the level of quality in my own work. This trait of mine, along with external feedback and critique, has led to nine iterations of my personal website. While the current version has lasted a whole year (a record), recent changes to my career outlook have necessitated a tenth iteration and fourth complete redesign. 

I've been designing websites for 8+ years now, and in the past I have done a few freelance gigs and part-time work. Freelance always scared me, because I held sole responsibility for the client's experience - I designed, built, and launched someone's product by myself. I was never confident about my abilities, always second guessing my designs and getting discouraged by other's impressive work. Thankfully, having a stable job here at UAT working in code every day has made me realize something immensely profound: I know my shit.

With this realization as a springboard I came to the decision I'll be pursuing freelance web design work again, because between a full time job, indie game development, and a girlfriend I obviously have far too much free time. But before I try to persuade someone to give me money in exchange for a website, I want to show them what I can do, and that means a new portfolio is needed.

I'm pretty stoked about the new site. I'm ditching the grungy level-designer look (a style I emulated to try and fit in with competing portfolios) and going for something more...me. Minimalist, clean, and succinct. I've been doing my homework too; I just finished reading Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think and have been analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of literally hundreds of websites. My goal is to whip up a new look and include my best web design work, and soon. I have three possible clients in the near future, and I'm ready to rock n roll.

On an unrelated note, HeroCraft has survived several playtest sessions now, and I couldn't be more excited. Recently, a Kickstarter project called Pebble has broken records ($5.5 million as of this post). This gives me hope that if I put it up on Kickstarter, I can get enough capital to create a production-quality boardgame. It's still a far-off goal, but it's changed from a dream to a goal, and that's a big leap.