All I wanted was something new that absolutely made sense to me, and reflected who I am

Simon Collison: Redesigning the undesigned

Design is not my talent. I hold some awareness of technique, I recognise where particular tricks could work, but I just don’t have the skills or practice to realize ideas visually. Critique, I can do quite well (biased back toward a design’s effects on usability and information architecture.) Actual execution? That’s hard. Even before trying to physically create anything, I have a block.

Simon Collison, in his reintroduction, nails it in this sentence. That’s why I don’t have ‘a design’ on my site. Because whilst I have surrounded myself with beautiful art from the likes of Burgerman, Fowler and Eric Tan—swirls and characters, weathered screen prints and bright colour, these are styles I adore—they do not identify me; I identify with them. Not being a natural producer of visual media, finding an accurate, honest visual representation of ‘me’ is something that for years I’ve found to be a monumental creative challenge. In the end I’ve just been sitting around, waiting for inspiration, and trying to focus on my writing instead.

Colly’s story of developing his design is interesting, and—of course—the actual realisation is magnificent, and I love the restraint and subtlety of it. Waiting two years to see something of this quality seems entirely justifiable. Via: colly.com.