Over the past several years that I’ve been writing on webclique, the site has undergone two formal versions, each of which contained several iterations before a formal redesign. With version 1, I actually released a v1.25, v1.50 and a v1.75 before coming to a proper 2.0 launch. This time around, I’ve apparently opted for letters on each of my releases. It may seems strange to do iterative releases on a website, but my main impetus for handling design changes in this manner are two-fold. 

The first is that while I do love the process of designing a new site from the ground up, I rarely release a site that, when it’s launched, utilizes everything I want to do over the life of the design. As a result, my site becomes a work in progress. 

Version 2a was the first iteration of webclique.net

I try to hit all the important things in my launch (initial look/feel, links, about me, etc.) and then over the coming days/months I add other elements/functions and fine tune as time rolls on. Each new major set of revisions ends up changing the current release number of the site. In this way, my personal sites end up operating more like a software company than a traditional design and release site. This process of natural site evolution ends up feeling more comfortable to me than having everything done up front and remaining visually static for the life of the site. This leads directly to the second reason I work in this manner.

There are so many good designer-based sites out there these days, but a lot of the time they feel so static to me because they go up, they stay for five or six years without any major (design) revisions, and then they are replaced with something new. The content, of course, changes constantly because of the nature of these sites primarily being weblogs and platforms for speech. Yet, the visuals of the site, the presentation layer and the inner workings don’t generally change (or evolve) much throughout the course of the version’s lifetime. 

In this way most sites go the course of more traditional print materials and collateral. You design, you publish and that shiny new design becomes a static (and sometimes visually stagnant) piece of collateral branding that gets updated every few years with a shiny new piece of collateral branding that then becomes static (and sometimes visually stagnant) piece of blah blah blah… (insert universal image for cycle repeating itself here.)

I think that what people forget sometimes is that we have been given a dynamic, immediate medium. So, why are we utilizing it like it was printed collateral? Why don’t sites evolve and change daily, weekly, monthly? They should. I’m getting off the point, so let me refocus.

I mainly re-organize, refresh and re-arrange little visual portions of my site from time-to-time to reset my visitor’s visual palettes (as well as my own.) The general structure of the site does not change extensively, because frankly I like to get my mileage out of a site structure, but swapping out or souping up the visuals and portions of the layout through an intermediate release can help to ward off the feeling of stagnation. Again, I’m not against a site design staying in place for five or six years, but a change up every now and again can make the site feel fresh and visually re-engage visitors in my opinion.

Of course this doesn’t really translate to client sites as these are built to be either static or dynamic designs based on the initial brief. I’m mainly speaking about our professional sites as designers. There are some individuals that are already taking this step by making their sites a living portfolio, while others are encouraging that change, but periodic visual change is still the exception rather than the norm. The “hold it all in until the re-design” mentality seems to be the way of things.

Design experimentation can create critical mass, and our sites can be the catalyst to that if we let them.

New fire element wallet design from our side project, Dolls for Friends

We were so excited when we found out that one of our illustrations had been chosen to be made into a wallet by the awesome Portland, Oregon accessory company, Tinymeat. Our excitement was compounded four-fold when we learned that we were going to do three more wallets to complete a themed series on the “elements.” 

Our first wallet and element, fire, was released today. All we’ve see so far are the photos, but the man himself, Merch Mikey, said that they turned out great. I’ll be heading into Portland tomorrow to pick up a few of them that we get to keep and then it’s time to set in on finishing the other three elements. The next one to be released should be water and then Earth and wind. Collect all four, make sure they face East, and they should bring you added value on the value menu… of life. Hawr hawr.

They can be seen here at the Tinymeat store.

Jason Santa Maria’s wonderful redesign is a powerful example of what can be done with weblogs

I just noticed Jason Santa Maria has re-designed his site after five long years. While I always thought his old site design was wonderfully unique and a great example of his talent, his new version takes design on the web to a whole new level. 

He has masterfully utilized css in a very forward thinking fashion that allows him to actually art direct and design each post. This fine tuned approach to design gives him the ability to lay style on top of each entry essentially making his entire weblog a living portfolio of design. The only other site I’ve see to really utilize this effect well has been A Brief Message, which takes editorial writing to a whole new level by applying a new style over the top every time they publish.

Looking through JSM’s site code (and structure) a bit and reading over his first post of the new version, detailing his rationale for the change, has really got me to thinking about whether this could be a completely new direction for designer-based websites. 

As a designer I’m always looking for opportunities to extend my design abilities through a variety of projects (personal and professional.) Sometimes coming up with new ideas and avenues can be difficult, but this method of design actually provides a virtually limitless base of opportunities for design exploration-just by initiating the a new post. Amazing!

Congrats to my fellow ALA-er, Jason, on his wonderful new design.